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Constraining C iii] Emission in a Sample of Five Luminous z = 5.7 Galaxies

Recent observations have suggested that the C III] lambda 1907/1909 emission lines could be alternative diagnostic lines for galaxies in the reionization epoch. We use the F128N narrowband filter on the Hubble Space Telescope's (HST) Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) to search for C III] emission in a sample of five galaxies at z = 5.7 in the Subaru Deep Field and the Subaru/XMM-Newton Deep Field. Using the F128N narrowband imaging, together with the broadband imaging, we do not detect C III] emission for the five galaxies with JAB ranging from 24.10 to 27.00 in our sample. For the brightest galaxy J132416.13+274411.6 in our sample (z = 5.70, J(AB) = 24.10), which has a significantly higher signal to noise, we report a C III] flux of 3.34 +/- 1.81 x 10(-18) erg s(-1)cm(-2), which places a stringent 3 sigma upper limit of 5.43 x 10(-18) erg s(-1)cm(-2) on C III] flux and 6.57 angstrom on the C III] equivalent width. Using the stacked image, we put a 3 sigma upper limit on the mean C III] flux of 2.55 x 10(-18) erg s(-1) cm(-2) and a 3 sigma upper limit on the mean C III] equivalent width of 4.20 angstrom for this sample of galaxies at z = 5.70. Combined with strong C III] detection reported among high-z galaxies in the literature, our observations suggest that the equivalent widths of C III] from galaxies at z > 5.70 exhibit a wide range of distribution. Our strong limits on C III] emission could be used as a guide for future observations in the reionization epoch.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:arizona.edu/oai:arizona.openrepository.com:10150/623843
Date04 April 2017
CreatorsDing, Jiani, Cai, Zheng, Fan, Xiaohui, P. Stark, Daniel, Bian, Fuyan, Jiang, Linhua, D. McGreer, Ian, E. Robertson, Brant, Siana, Brian
ContributorsUniv Arizona, Steward Observ
PublisherIOP PUBLISHING LTD
Source SetsUniversity of Arizona
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeArticle
Rights© 2017. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.
Relationhttp://stacks.iop.org/2041-8205/838/i=2/a=L22?key=crossref.761cbb09df61d093c3e804ccc5f9f3e1

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