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Issue A&A
Volume 416, Number 2, March III 2004
Page(s) L1 - L4
Section Letters
DOI 10.1051/0004-6361:20040015



A&A 416, L1-L4 (2004)
DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361:20040015

Letter

The nature of the Ly $\mathsf{\alpha}$-emission region of FDF-4691

C. Tapken1, I. Appenzeller1, D. Mehlert1, S. Noll1 and S. Richling2

1  Landessternwarte Heidelberg-Königstuhl, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany
2  Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris, 98bis Bd Arago, 75014 Paris, France

(Received 23 October 2003 / Accepted 17 January 2004 )

Abstract
In order to study the origin of the strong Ly $\alpha$ emission of high-redshift starburst galaxies we observed and modeled the rest-frame UV spectrum and the Ly $\alpha$ emission of the z = 3.304 galaxy FDF-4691 (rest-frame $EW_{\rm \alpha}$ = 103 Å). The observations show that FDF-4691 is a young starburst galaxy with a (for this redshift) typical metallicity. The broad, double-peaked profile of the Ly $\alpha$ emission line can be explained assuming a highly turbulent emission region in the inner part of the starburst galaxy, and a surrounding extended shell of low-density neutral gas with a normal dust/gas ratio and with Galactic dust properties. The detection of the Ly $\alpha$ emission line is explained by the intrinsic broad Ly $\alpha$ emission and a low HI column density of the neutral shell. A low dust/gas ratio in the neutral shell is not needed to explain the strong Ly $\alpha$ line.


Key words: galaxies: high-redshift -- galaxies: starburst -- line: formation -- galaxies: ISM

Offprint request: C. Tapken, ctapken@lsw.uni-heidelberg.de

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