Identification of a gravitationally lensed z = 2.515 star-forming galaxy

We discuss the optical spectrum of a multiply imaged arc resolved by the Hubble Space Telescope in the z = 0.175 cluster A2218. The spectrum, obtained with LDSS-2 on the 4.2-m William Herschel Telescope, reveals the source to be a galaxy at a redshift z = 2.515, in excellent agreement with the value...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 1996-08, Vol.281 (4), p.L75-L81
Main Authors: Ebbels, T. M. D., Le Borgne, J.-F., Pelló, R., Ellis, R. S., Kneib, J.-P., Smail, I., Sanahuja, B.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
cosmology: observations
galaxies: clusters: individual: A2218
galaxies: evolution
gravitational lensing
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:We discuss the optical spectrum of a multiply imaged arc resolved by the Hubble Space Telescope in the z = 0.175 cluster A2218. The spectrum, obtained with LDSS-2 on the 4.2-m William Herschel Telescope, reveals the source to be a galaxy at a redshift z = 2.515, in excellent agreement with the value predicted by Kneib et al. on the basis of their inversion of a highly constrained mass model for the lensing cluster. The source is extremely blue in its optical-infrared colours, consistent with active star formation, and the spectrum reveals absorption lines characteristic of a young stellar population. Of particular significance is the absence of Lyα emission but the presence of a broad Lyα absorption. The spectrum is similar to that of other, much fainter, galaxies found at high redshift by various techniques, and illustrates thé important role that lensing can play in detailed studies of the properties of distant galaxies.
ISSN:0035-8711
1365-2966
DOI:10.1093/mnras/281.4.L75