English

Towards a Precision Cosmology from Starburst Galaxies at z>2

Astrophysics 2009-11-10 v1

Abstract

This work investigates the use of a well-known empirical correlation between the velocity dispersion, metallicity, and luminosity in H beta of nearby HII galaxies to measure the distances to HII-like starburst galaxies at high redshifts. This correlation is applied to a sample of 15 starburst galaxies with redshifts between z=2.17 and z=3.39 to constrain Omega_m, using data available from the literature. A best-fit value of Omega_m = 0.21 +0.30 -0.12 in a Lambda-dominated universe and of Omega_m = 0.11 +0.37 -0.19 in an open universe is obtained. A detailed analysis of systematic errors, their causes, and their effects on the values derived for the distance moduli and Omega_m is carried out. A discussion of how future work will improve constraints on Omega_m by reducing the errors is also presented.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.astro-ph/0410612,
  title  = {Towards a Precision Cosmology from Starburst Galaxies at z>2},
  author = {E. R. Siegel and R. Guzmán and Jorge P. Gallego and M. Orduña López and P. Rodrí guez Hidalgo},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:astro-ph/0410612},
  year   = {2009}
}

Comments

7 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS