High-Redshift Galaxies (eBook)

Light from the Early Universe

Immo Appenzeller (Autor)

eBook Download: PDF

2009 | 2009
XIV, 352 Seiten
Springer Berlin (Verlag)
978-3-540-75824-2 (ISBN)

Infos

The high-redshift galaxies became a distinct research ?eld during the ?nal decade of the20thcentury. AtthattimetheLyman-breaktechniquemadeitpossibletoidentify signi?cant samples of such objects, and the new generation of 8 to 10-m telescopes resulted in ?rst good spectroscopic data. Today the high-redshift galaxies have developed into one of the important topics of astrophysics, accounting for about 5-10% of the publications in the major scienti?c journals devoted to astronomy. Because high-redshift galaxies is a rapidly developing ?eld and since new results are published constantly, writing a book on this topic is challenging. On the other hand, in view of the large amount of individual results now in the literature, and in view of the still growing interest in this topic, it appears worthwhile to summarize and evaluate the available data and to provide an introduction for those who wish to enter this ?eld, or who, for various reasons, might be interested in its results. The end of the ?rst decade of the 21st century appears to be a good point in time to attempt such a summary. The current generation of ground-based 8 to 10-m - optical telescopes, the Hubble Space Telescope, and the most important large radio telescopes have by now been in operation since about one or two decades. Although these instruments will continue to produce important scienti?c results for some time to come, many of the initial programs exploiting their unique new possibilities have been completed.

Prof. Immo Appenzeller is the emeritus director of the Heidelberg Observatory (Landessternwarte Heidelberg). From 1994 - 1997 he served as General Secretary of the International Astronomical Union. He was PI or CO of various large national and international instrumentation and research projects. His current main research topics are very distant (young) galaxies, active galaxies and QSOs, massive luminous stars, cosmic X-ray sources, astronomical instrumentation.

Inhalt

Preface 6
Contents 9
Part I The Context 13
1 Introduction 14
The Relevance of Very Distant Galaxies 14
Space, Time, and Redshift 16
Historical Remarks 17
2 The Nearby Universe 22
Planets, Stars, and Black Holes 23
Planets 23
Stars 23
The Evolution of Low-Mass Stars 32
The Evolution and Fate of Massive Stars 33
Exploding Stars 34
Stellar-Mass Black Holes 39
Galaxies 41
Morphology, Classification, and Dynamics 43
Size, Luminosity, and Masses 49
Chemical Composition 52
The Stellar Content of Galaxies 53
The Interstellar Medium of Galaxies 58
Interstellar Cloud Collapse and Star Formation 61
Galactic Nuclei 67
Interactions Between Galaxies 72
Galaxy Clusters and Large-Scale Structure 74
The Local Intergalactic Medium 78
Dark Matter 80
Dark Energy 81
A Cosmic Inventory 83
3 The Past and the Future 84
The Expanding Universe 84
Basic Equations and Parameters 84
Properties of the Friedmann-Lemaître Models 88
Some Analytic Solutions 90
The Cosmic Expansion at Different Epochs 91
Astronomy in the Expanding Universe 93
The Formation and Evolution of Structure 97
The Origin of Structure 97
Modeling the Evolution of Structure 99
Observational Tests 108
The Formation of the First Stars and Galaxies 119
Evolution of the Dark-Matter Halos 119
Evolution of the Baryonic matter 122
The Cosmic Future 127
Part II Methods and Tools 129
4 Basic Techniques and Their Limitations 130
The Information Content of Light 131
Imaging and Photometry 132
Telescopes and Interferometers 132
Image Detectors 141
Image Reduction and Image Analysis 144
Calibrations, Units, and Sensitivities 148
Spectroscopy 155
Spectrographs 155
Deriving Intrinsic Luminosities and Spectra 158
Virtual Observatories and Archives 160
5 Finding Very Distant Galaxies 161
Identification Techniques for High-Redshift Objects 161
Spectroscopic Methods 161
Photometric Techniques 162
Identifications Using Emission Lines 165
Search Strategies 169
Large-Area Surveys 171
Medium Deep Surveys 173
Deep Fields 174
Searches Using ``Gravitational Telescopes'' 178
6 Deriving Physical Parameters 182
Geometrical and Kinematical Properties 182
Redshifts and Distances 183
Measuring Redshifts 183
Distances 186
Deriving Galaxy Luminosities 187
The Basic Steps 187
Corrections for Dust Absorption 187
Luminosity Functions 189
Stellar Populations and Ages 190
Mass Estimates 194
Star-Formation Rates 194
Deriving the Chemical Composition 197
Abundances from H II Emission-Line Spectra 197
Abundances from the Integrated Stellar Spectra 200
Measuring Interstellar Gas and Dust Properties 203
Properties and Kinematics of the Gas 203
Deriving Dust Properties 205
Probing the Distant Intergalactic Medium 206
Light Attenuation 207
Line Profile Analysis 209
Part III Observational Results and Their Interpretation 210
7 Observed Properties of High-Redshift Galaxies 211
Starburst Galaxies 211
Samples of Distant Starburst Galaxies 213
Properties of UV-Continuum Selected Starburst Galaxies 216
Ly Emission Galaxies (LAEs) 251
Dust-Obscured Starburst Galaxies 262
Passively Evolving High-Redshift Galaxies 264
Properties of the High-Redshift Passively Evolving Systems 265
The Space Density of Passively Evolving Galaxies 269
Quasar Host Galaxies and Radio Galaxies 269
The Host Galaxies of Distant Gamma-Ray Sources 272
8 The Space Distribution of High-Redshift Galaxies 275
The Galaxy Number Density as a Function of Distance 275
Statistics of Galaxy Positions 276
Progenitors of Galaxy Clusters at High Redshift 280
9 Interactions with the Intergalactic Medium 283
Properties of the High-Redshift IGM 283
The Intergalactic Gas After Recombination 283
The Ly Forest Absorbers 284
Hot IGM Plasma at High Redshift 287
Impact of the High-Redshift Galaxies on the IGM 288
Radiative Effects 288
Galactic Winds 293
The Chemical Enrichment of the IGM 294
Accretion of IGM Gas 294
Damped Ly Systems 296
10 Implications 298
Comparison of Observations and Theoretical Predictions 298
Galaxy Sizes as a Function of Redshift 299
The Growth of Galaxy Masses 300
The Early Chemical Evolution 301
Predicted and Observed Space Distribution 302
Constraints on the Beginning of Star Formation 303
Properties of the First Stars 304
The Passively Evolving High-Redshift Galaxies 306
Formation of the Supermassive Black Holes 308
The Progenitors of the Present-Day Galaxies 308
Part IV An Outlook to the Future 313
11 Ongoing Work 314
Enlarging the Data Base 314
Efforts to Derive More Accurate Physical Parameters 317
Theoretical Work 319
Improving the Spectral Synthesis Models 319
Physical Processes at the End of the Dark Age 320
12 Future Facilities and Their Opportunities 322
New Instrumentation 322
New Ground-Based Telescopes 322
New Space Instrumentation 327
New Observational Possibilities and Their Expected Yield 331
Sensitivity Gains 331
Extending the Redshift Range 332
Gains from the Improved Angular Resolution 332
The Long-Term Future 333
Medium and Long-Term Projects in Space 333
Advances in the Detector Technologies 334
References 335
Index 347

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 17.6.2009
• Reihe/Serie: Astronomy and Astrophysics Library
• Reihe/Serie: Astronomy and Astrophysics Library
• Zusatzinfo: XIV, 352 p.
• Verlagsort: Berlin
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Naturwissenschaften ► Physik / Astronomie ► Astronomie / Astrophysik
• Themenwelt: Technik
• Schlagworte: Cosmology • dark energy • Dark Matter • Early Universe • Galaxy Formation • High-Redshift Galaxies • IGM • Intergalactic Medium • Redshift • Star Formation History • Universe
• ISBN-10: 3-540-75824-0 / 3540758240
• ISBN-13: 978-3-540-75824-2 / 9783540758242