English

COOL-LAMPS I. An Extraordinarily Bright Lensed Galaxy at Redshift 5.04

Astrophysics of Galaxies 2021-01-20 v2

Abstract

We report the discovery of COOL J1241+2219, a strongly-lensed galaxy at redshift zz=5.043±\pm0.002 with observed magnitude zAB=20.47z_{AB}=20.47, lensed by a moderate-mass galaxy cluster at zz=1.001±\pm0.001. COOL J1241+2219 is the brightest lensed galaxy currently known at optical and near-infrared wavelengths at zz \gtrsim 5; it is \sim5 times brighter than the prior record-holder lensed galaxy, and several magnitudes brighter than the brightest unlensed galaxies known at these redshifts. It was discovered as part of COOL-LAMPS, a collaboration initiated to find strongly lensed systems in recent public optical imaging data. We characterise the lensed galaxy, as well as the central galaxy of the lensing cluster using ground-based grizgrizJH imaging and optical spectroscopy. We report model-based magnitudes, and derive stellar masses, dust content, metallicity and star-formation rates via stellar-population synthesis modeling. Our lens mass modeling, based on ground-based imaging, implies a median source magnification of \sim30, which puts the stellar mass and star formation rate (in the youngest age bin, closest to the epoch of observation) at logM_{*} = 10.110.26+0.2110.11^{+0.21}_{-0.26} and SFR = 279+1327^{+13}_{-9} M_{\odot}/yr, respectively. We constrain a star formation history for COOL J1241+2219 consistent with constant star formation across \sim1 Gyr of cosmic time, and that places this galaxy on the high-mass end of the star-forming main sequence. COOL J1241+2219 is 2-4 times more luminous than a galaxy with the characteristic UV luminosity at these redshifts. The UV continuum slope β\beta= -2.2±\pm0.2 places this galaxy on the blue side of the observed distribution of galaxies at zz=5, although the lack of Lyα\alpha emission indicates dust sufficient to suppress this emission.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2011.06601,
  title  = {COOL-LAMPS I. An Extraordinarily Bright Lensed Galaxy at Redshift 5.04},
  author = {Gourav Khullar and Katya Gozman and Jason J. Lin and Michael N. Martinez and Owen S. Matthews Acuña and Elisabeth Medina and Kaiya Merz and Jorge A. Sanchez and Emily E. Sisco and Daniel J. Kavin Stein and Ezra O. Sukay and Kiyan Tavangar and Matthew B. Bayliss and Lindsey E. Bleem and Sasha Brownsberger and Håkon Dahle and Michael K. Florian and Michael D. Gladders and Guillaume Mahler and Jane R. Rigby and Keren Sharon and Antony A. Stark},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2011.06601},
  year   = {2021}
}

Comments

Accepted in the Astrophysical Journal, December 2020 (in production). 16 pages, 7 figures, 2 tables