相关论文: Quasar Elemental Abundances and Host Galaxy Evolut…
Quasars are among the most luminous objects in the universe, and they can be studied in detail up to the highest known redshift. Assuming that the gas associated with quasars is closely related to the interstellar medium of the host galaxy,…
Quasar (or QSO) elemental abundances provide unique probes of high-redshift star formation and galaxy evolution. There is growing evidence from both the emission and intrinsic absorption lines that QSO environments have roughly solar or…
We examine rest-frame ultraviolet spectra of 70 high redshift quasars (z>3.5) to study the chemical enrichment history of the gas closely related to the quasars, and thereby estimate the epoch of first star formation. The fluxes of several…
Quasars are powerful systems whose spectrum is rich of metal features that allow us to investigate the chemical evolution of galaxies at very high redshift, even close to the reionization epoch. I review the main observational constraints…
In order to derive information on the star formation history in the early universe we observed 6 high-redshift (z=3.4) quasars in the near-infrared to measure the relative iron and \mgii emission strengths. A detailed comparison of the…
Quasars at large redshifts provide a powerful probe of structure formation in the early universe. Several arguments suggest that the formation of ellipticals and massive bulges may have involved an early quasar phase. At very large…
Intrinsic emission and absorption lines of QSOs provide several independent probes of the metal abundances in QSO environments. They indicate that the metallicities are typically solar or higher out to redshifts z > 4. These results support…
We present results of the analysis of near infrared spectroscopic observations of 6 high-redshift quasars (z > 4), emphasizing the measurement of the ultraviolet FeII/MgII emission line strength in order to estimate the beginning of intense…
We compare the metallicities in high-redshift quasars to the star formation rates (SFR) in their host galaxies using measurements of broad emission lines and far-infrared (FIR) luminosities. The FIR emission indicates the level of ongoing…
The existence of massive ($10^{11}$ solar masses) elliptical galaxies by redshift z~4 (when the Universe was 1.5 billion years old) necessitates the presence of galaxies with star-formation rates exceeding 100 solar masses per year at z>6…
I review recent progress in understanding the formation of the first stars and quasars. The initial conditions for their emergence are given by the now firmly established model of cosmological structure formation. Numerical simulations of…
Magnitude-limited galaxy redshift surveys are now providing large samples of galaxies to beyond z=2, while color-selected and emission-line-selected samples are finding galaxies to z=4.7. A broad picture is emerging of galaxy formation…
Several arguments suggest that quasars at z > 4 may be in the cores of future giant ellipticals, and forming at the very highest peaks of the primordial density field. A strong bias-driven primordial clustering is then expected in these…
Quasars signal a unique phase of galaxy evolution -- when massive spheroids are rapidly being assembled, forming stars and growing their central super-massive black holes. Measurements of the metal abundances around quasars provide unique…
We present observations of 11 high redshift quasars ($3.9 \la z \la 5.0$) observed with low spectral resolution in the restframe ultraviolet using FORS 1 at the VLT UT 1. The emission-line fluxes of strong permitted and intercombination…
We discuss on the early stage of galaxy formation based on recent deep surveys for very high-redshift galaxies, mostly beyond redshift of 6. These galaxies are observed to be strong Lyman$\alpha$ emitters, indicating bursts of massive star…
The chemical composition of high-redshift galaxies is an important property that gives clues to their past history and future evolution. Measuring abundances in distant galaxies with current techniques is often a challenge, and the…
I review recent observations on the evolution of quasars, describe new surveys for quasars at z > 5 and for quasars at z > 3.3 down to luminosities corresponding to L* galaxies, and note the possible connection between the evolution of the…
The cosmic star formation rate density first increases with time towards a pronounced peak 10 Gyrs ago (or z=1-2) and then slows down, dropping by more than a factor 10 since z=1. The processes at the origin of the star formation quenching…
In order to understand galaxy evolution through cosmic times it is critical to derive the properties of the molecular gas content of galaxies, i.e. the material out of which stars ultimately form. The last decade has seen rapid progress in…