Probing the physical properties of low-luminosity galaxies at high redshifts

M. Lemoine-Busserolle, T. Contini, R. Pello, J. -F. Le Borgne, J. -P. Kneib, C. Lidman

Research output: Contribution to conferencePaper

Abstract

We present the preliminary results of a long-term project aiming to derive the physical properties of high-redshift lensed galaxies, intrinsically fainter than the Lyman break galaxies (LBG) currently observed in the field. We thus obtained JHK ISAAC/VLT spectra of two z 1.9 low-luminosity lensed galaxies (S2 and A2), located in the core of the lensing cluster AC 114, allowing us to measure with a good signal-to-noise ratio all the brightest rest-frame optical emission lines ([OII]3726,3728; [OIII]4959,5007; and H-alpha) which provides a direct estimation of the SFR. An exhaustive analysis of these spectra shows that S2 and A2 are intrinsically fainter (by 1-2 mag) and less metal-enriched than the LBG population. Moreover, the chemical abundance analysis reveals a very low N/O ratio in S2 comparable to what is observed in Damped Lyman Alpha systems at z 2-3. This result could indicate that we are picking out a galaxy which has only recently condensed out of the intergalactic midium and begun forming stars.
Original languageEnglish
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jun 2002

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