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C III Emission in Star-Forming Galaxies Near and Far

, , , , , , , and .
(2015)cite arxiv:1510.02542Comment: 4 figures, 1 table; Accepted for publication in ApJ Letters.

Abstract

We measure C III 1907,1909 A emission lines in eleven gravitationally--lensed star-forming galaxies at z~1.6--3, finding much lower equivalent widths than previously reported for fainter lensed galaxies (Stark et al. 2014). While it is not yet clear what causes some galaxies to be strong C III emitters, CIII emission is not a universal property of distant star-forming galaxies. We also examine C III emission in 46 star-forming galaxies in the local universe, using archival spectra from GHRS, FOS, and STIS on HST, and IUE. Twenty percent of these local galaxies show strong C III emission, with equivalent widths <-5 A. Three nearby galaxies show C III emission equivalent widths as large as the most extreme emitters yet observed in the distant universe; all three are Wolf-Rayet galaxies. At all redshifts, strong C III emission may pick out low-metallicity galaxies experiencing intense bursts of star formation. Such local C III emitters may shed light on the conditions of star formation in certain extreme high-redshift galaxies.

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