The FMOS-COSMOS survey of star-forming galaxies at z ~ 1.6. I. Halpha -based star formation rates and dust extinction


الملخص بالإنكليزية

We present the first results from a near-IR spectroscopic survey of the COSMOS field, using the Fiber Multi-Object Spectrograph on the Subaru telescope, designed to characterize the star-forming galaxy population at $1.4<z<1.7$. The high-resolution mode is implemented to detect H$alpha$ in emission between $1.6{rm -}1.8 mathrm{mu m}$ with $f_{rm Halpha}gtrsim4times10^{-17}$ erg cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$. Here, we specifically focus on 271 sBzK-selected galaxies that yield a H$alpha$ detection thus providing a redshift and emission line luminosity to establish the relation between star formation rate and stellar mass. With further $J$-band spectroscopy for 89 of these, the level of dust extinction is assessed by measuring the Balmer decrement using co-added spectra. We find that the extinction ($0.6lesssim A_mathrm{Halpha} lesssim 2.5$) rises with stellar mass and is elevated at high masses compared to low-redshift galaxies. Using this subset of the spectroscopic sample, we further find that the differential extinction between stellar and nebular emission hbox{$E_mathrm{star}(B-V)/E_mathrm{neb}(B-V)$} is 0.7--0.8, dissimilar to that typically seen at low redshift. After correcting for extinction, we derive an H$alpha$-based main sequence with a slope ($0.81pm0.04$) and normalization similar to previous studies at these redshifts.

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