Journal article

Detecting gravitationally lensed Population III galaxies with the Hubble Space Telescope and the James Webb Space Telescope

E Zackrisson, A Zitrin, M Trenti, CE Rydberg, L Guaita, D Schaerer, T Broadhurst, G Östlin, T Ström

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society | Published : 2012

Abstract

Small galaxies consisting entirely of Population III (pop III) stars may form at high redshifts, and could constitute one of the best probes of such stars. Here, we explore the prospects of detecting gravitationally lensed pop III galaxies behind the galaxy cluster J0717.5+3745 (J0717) with both the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and the upcoming James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). By projecting simulated catalogues of pop III galaxies at z ≈ 7-15 through the J0717 magnification maps, we estimate the lensed number counts as a function of flux detection threshold. We find that the ongoing HST survey Cluster Lensing And Supernova survey with Hubble (CLASH), targeting a total of 25 galaxy clusters..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

Grants

Awarded by Science and Technology Facilities Council


Funding Acknowledgements

EZ, C-ER and GO acknowledge funding from the Swedish National Space Board. EZ and GO also acknowledge funding from the Swedish Research Council. AZ is supported by the 'Internationale Spitzenforschung II/2' of the Baden-Wurttemberg Stiftung. C-ER acknowledges funding from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. The anonymous referee is acknowledged for insightful comments which helped improve the quality of the paper.