Spectroscopic confirmation of a galaxy at redshift z=8.6

被引:94
作者
Lehnert, M. D. [1 ]
Nesvadba, N. P. H. [2 ]
Cuby, J. -G. [3 ,4 ]
Swinbank, A. M. [5 ]
Morris, S. [6 ]
Clement, B. [3 ,4 ]
Evans, C. J. [7 ]
Bremer, M. N. [8 ]
Basa, S. [3 ,4 ]
机构
[1] Univ Paris Diderot, CNRS, Observ Paris, GEPI, F-92190 Meudon, France
[2] Univ Paris 11, CNRS, Inst Astrophys Spatiale, UMR 8617, F-91405 Orsay, France
[3] Univ Aix Marseille, Lab Astrophys Marseille, OAMP, F-13388 Marseille 13, France
[4] CNRS, F-13388 Marseille 13, France
[5] Univ Durham, Dept Phys, Inst Computat Cosmol, Durham DH1 3LE, England
[6] Univ Durham, Dept Phys, Durham DH1 3AJ, England
[7] Royal Observ, UK Astron Technol Ctr, Edinburgh EH9 3HJ, Midlothian, Scotland
[8] Univ Bristol, HH Wills Phys Lab, Dept Phys, Bristol BS8 1TL, Avon, England
关键词
LYMAN-BREAK GALAXIES; LY-ALPHA EMITTERS; ULTRA-DEEP-FIELD; IONIZED BUBBLES; REIONIZATION; EVOLUTION; CONTINUUM; Z-SIMILAR-TO-3; UNIVERSE; QUASARS;
D O I
10.1038/nature09462
中图分类号
O [数理科学和化学]; P [天文学、地球科学]; Q [生物科学]; N [自然科学总论];
学科分类号
07 ; 0710 ; 09 ;
摘要
Galaxies had their most significant impact on the Universe when they assembled their first generations of stars. Energetic photons emitted by young, massive stars in primeval galaxies ionized the intergalactic medium surrounding their host galaxies, cleared sight-lines along which the light of the young galaxies could escape, and fundamentally altered the physical state of the intergalactic gas in the Universe continuously until the present day(1,2). Observations of the cosmic microwave background(3), and of galaxies and quasars at the highest redshifts(4), suggest that the Universe was reionized through a complex process that was completed about a billion years after the Big Bang, by redshift z approximate to 6. Detecting ionizing Lyman-alpha photons from increasingly distant galaxies places important constraints on the timing, location and nature of the sources responsible for reionization. Here we report the detection of Ly alpha photons emitted less than 600 million years after the Big Bang. UDFy-38135539 (ref. 5) is at a redshift of z = 8.5549 +/- 0.0002, which is greater than those of the previously known most distant objects, at z = 8.2 (refs 6 and 7) and z = 6.96 (ref. 8). We find that this single source is unlikely to provide enough photons to ionize the volume necessary for the emission line to escape, requiring a significant contribution from other, probably fainter galaxies nearby(9).
引用
收藏
页码:940 / 942
页数:3
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