Spatially-resolved HST Grism Spectroscopy of a Lensed Emission Line Galaxy at z~1

TL;DR

This study uses gravitational lensing and space-based spectroscopy to identify and analyze emission line galaxies at z~1, revealing insights into their star formation, metallicity, and potential AGN activity.

Contribution

First space-based census of emission line galaxies in a lensing cluster field, with detailed spatially-resolved metallicity and excitation analysis of a lensed galaxy at z~1.

Findings

Identified 43 emission line galaxies via slitless grism spectroscopy.

Detected a starburst galaxy with solar metallicity and high specific star formation rate.

Observed asymmetrical AGN-like line ratios possibly due to shocks from galaxy interaction.

Abstract

We take advantage of gravitational lensing amplification by Abell 1689 (z=0.187) to undertake the first space-based census of emission line galaxies (ELGs) in the field of a massive lensing cluster. Forty-three ELGs are identified to a flux of i_775=27.3 via slitless grism spectroscopy. One ELG (at z=0.7895) is very bright owing to lensing magnification by a factor of ~4.5. Several Balmer emission lines detected from ground-based follow-up spectroscopy signal the onset of a major starburst for this low-mass galaxy (M_* = 2 x 10^9 solar masses) with a high specific star formation rate (~20 /Gyr). From the blue emission lines we measure a gas-phase oxygen abundance consistent with solar (12+log(O/H)=8.8 +/- 0.2). We break the continuous line-emitting region of this giant arc into seven ~1kpc bins (intrinsic size) and measure a variety of metallicity dependent line ratios. A weak trend of increasing metal fraction is seen toward the dynamical center of the galaxy. Interestingly, the metal line ratios in a region offset from the center by ~1kpc have a placement on the blue HII region excitation diagram with f([OIII])/f(Hbeta) and f([NeIII])/f(Hbeta) that can be fit by an AGN. This asymmetrical AGN-like behavior is interpreted as a product of shocks in the direction of the galaxy's extended tail, possibly instigated by a recent galaxy interaction.