Emission Line Science in the Faint Infrared Grism Survey (FIGS) Sample
Abstract
Emission lines can reveal a bounty of information about the processes occurring within a galaxy. Physical properties such as star formation rate and metallicity can be determined from ratios of emission line fluxes. The study of emission line galaxies (ELGs) through cosmic time gives insight into the processes by which galaxies evolve. Extreme emission line galaxies (EELGs), typified by strong nebular emission lines which dominate their spectra, are of interest because they are well known to be galaxies undergoing periods of intense star formation. Slitless grism spectroscopy offers a significant advantage to the study of ELGs and EELGs, allowing for measurement of the spectra of a large number of galaxies within a field. This allows for detection of ELGs and EELGs with few selection biases. Optical follow-up of FIGS-selected sources allows for analysis of star formation rate (SFR) through H-alpha measurements over the redshift range 0.3<z<0.75 and analysis of mass-metalicity relations, using the gas phase oxygen abundance found with [OII], [OIII], and H-beta fluxes to infer metallicity, over the range 0.3<z<1.3.
- Publication:
-
American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #227
- Pub Date:
- January 2016
- Bibcode:
- 2016AAS...22734234S