1996/09/10 by M. A. Pahre, Pahre, M. A., S. G. Djorgovski +5
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomical Observations and Instrumentation #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Astrophysics (astro-ph) #FOS: Physical sciences #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.astro-ph/9609077
openalex publication_date 1996/09/10 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We report the detection, both in line and continuum emission, of a galaxy responsible for a damped Ly-alpha absorption (DLA) system at z=3.15 projected 2.3 arcsec from QSO 2233+131. The star formation rate implied by both the Ly-alpha and restframe far-UV continuum is approximately 7 Msun / yr. The galaxy also shows no sign of an active nucleus and has blue colors, both consistent with it being observed early in its star formation history. The Ly-alpha emission is offset approximately 200 km/s from the DLA velocity, which could be explained as the rotational signature of a disk galaxy. We also report on the progress of an ongoing near-infrared narrow-band search with the Keck telescope for line emission from a population of primeval galaxies at high redshift. We have found several promising candidates which are being followed up with optical spectroscopy. Our survey is beginning to place constraints on a possible population of slightly dusty primeval galaxies at high redshift.