Open AccessThe star formation rate at redshift one: Hα spectroscopy with CIRPASS
Author(s) -
Doherty Michelle,
Bunker Andrew,
Sharp Robert,
Dalton Gavin,
Parry Ian,
Lewis Ian
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
monthly notices of the royal astronomical society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.058
H-Index - 383
eISSN - 1365-2966
pISSN - 0035-8711
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2006.10484.x
Subject(s) - physics , redshift , astrophysics , galaxy , hubble deep field , spectrograph , hubble ultra deep field , star formation , hubble deep field south , astronomy , redshift survey , spectroscopy , spectral line
We have conducted an Hα survey of 38 0.77 ≤ z ≤ 1 galaxies over ∼100 arcmin 2 of the Hubble Deep Field ‐North and Flanking Fields, to determine star formation rates (SFRs), with the near‐IR multi‐object spectrograph Cambridge Infrared Panoramic Survey Spectrograph (CIRPASS) on the William Herschel Telescope (WHT). This represents the first successful application of this technique to observing high‐redshift galaxies. Stacking the spectra in the rest frame to infer a total SFR for the field, we find a lower limit (uncorrected for dust reddening) on the SFR density at redshift z = 1 of 0.04 M ⊙ yr −1 Mpc −3 . This implies rapid evolution in the SFR density from z = 0 to 1 which is proportional to (1 + z ) 3.1 .