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The Shining Future of UV Spectral Synthesis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 April 2010

Anne Pellerin  and
Steven L. Finkelstein
Anne Pellerin
Affiliation:
George P. and Cynthia W. Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy, Department of Physics, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA emails: pellerin@physics.tamu.edu, stevenf@physics.tamu.edu
Steven L. Finkelstein
Affiliation:
George P. and Cynthia W. Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy, Department of Physics, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA emails: pellerin@physics.tamu.edu, stevenf@physics.tamu.edu
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Abstract

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With the coming generation of instruments and telescopes capable of spectroscopy of high redshift galaxies, the spectral synthesis technique in the rest-frame UV and Far-UV range will become one of a few number of tools remaining to study their young stellar populations in detail. The rest-frame UV lines and continuum of high redshift galaxies, observed with visible and infrared telescopes on Earth, can be used for accurate line profile fitting such as Pvλλ1118, 1128, Ciiiλ1176, and Civλ1550. These lines are very precise diagnostic tools to estimate ages, metallicities, and masses of stellar populations.

Here we discuss the potential for spectral synthesis of rest-frame UV spectra obtained at the Keck telescope. As an example, we study the 8 o'clock arc, a lensed galaxy at z=2.7322. We show that the poor spectral type coverage of the actual UV empirical spectral libraries limits the age and metallicity diagnostic. In order to improve our knowledge of high redshift galaxies using spectral synthesis, UV stellar libraries need to be extended to obtain accurate age, metallicity, and mass estimates likely to be occuring in young stellar populations observed in the early universe.

Keywords

galaxies: high-redshiftgalaxies: stellar content: line:profilesultraviolet: stars
Type
Contributed Papers
Information
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , Volume 5 , Symposium S262: Stellar Populations – Planning for the Next Decade , August 2009 , pp. 283 - 286
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2010

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