[en] We present the results of a pilot wide-field radial velocity and metal abundance survey of red giants in 10 fields in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC). The targets lie at projected distances of 0.9 and 1.9 kpc from the SMC center (m - M = 18.79) to the north, east, south, and west. Two more fields are to the east at distances of 3.9 and 5.1 kpc. In this last field, we find only a few to no SMC giants, suggesting that the edge of the SMC in this direction lies approximately at 6 kpc from its center. In all eastern fields, we observe a double peak in the radial velocities of stars, with a component at the classical SMC recession velocity of ∼160 km s^-1 and a high-velocity component at about 200 km s^-1, similar to observations in H I. In the most distant field (3.9 kpc), the low-velocity component is at 106 km s^-1. The metal abundance distribution in all fields is broad and centered at about [Fe/H] ∼-1.25, reaching to solar and possibly slightly supersolar values and down to [Fe/H] of about -2.5. In the two innermost (0.9 kpc) northern and southern fields, we observe a secondary peak at metallicities of about ∼-0.6. This may be evidence of a second episode of star formation in the center, possibly triggered by the interactions that created the Stream and Bridge.

[en] We explore the relationship between the spectral shape of the Lyα emission and the UV morphology of the host galaxy using a sample of 304 Lyα-emitting BVi-dropouts at 3 < z < 7 in the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey and Cosmic Evolution Survey fields. Using our extensive reservoir of high-quality Keck DEIMOS spectra combined with Hubble Space Telescope WFC3 data, we measure the Lyα line asymmetries for individual galaxies and compare them to axial ratios measured from observed J- and H-band (restframe UV) images. We find that the Lyα skewness exhibits a large scatter at small elongation (a/b < 2), and this scatter decreases as the axial ratio increases. Comparison of this trend to radiative transfer models and various results from the literature suggests that these high-redshift Lyα emitters are not likely to be intrinsically round and symmetric disks, but they probably host galactic outflows traced by Lyα emitting clouds. The ionizing sources are centrally located, and the optical depth is a good indicator of the absorption and scattering events on the escape path of Lyα photons from the source. Our results find no evidence of evolution in Lyα asymmetry or axial ratio with look-back time

[en] We present results for 19 'Lyman-break analogs' observed with Keck/OSIRIS with an adaptive-optics-assisted spatial resolution of less than 200 pc. We detect satellites/companions, diffuse emission, and velocity shear, all with high signal-to-noise ratios. These galaxies present remarkably high velocity dispersion along the line of sight (∼70 km s^-1), much higher than standard star-forming spirals in the low-redshift universe. We artificially redshift our data to z ∼ 2.2 to allow for a direct comparison with observations of high-z Lyman-break galaxies and find striking similarities between both samples. This suggests that either similar physical processes are responsible for their observed properties, or, alternatively, that it is very difficult to distinguish between different mechanisms operating in the low- versus high-redshift starburst galaxies based on the available data. The comparison between morphologies in the UV/optical continuum and our kinemetry analysis often shows that neither is by itself sufficient to confirm or completely rule out the contribution from recent merger events. We find a correlation between the kinematic properties and stellar mass, in that more massive galaxies show stronger evidence for a disk-like structure. This suggests a co-evolutionary process between the stellar mass buildup and the formation of morphological and dynamical substructure within the galaxy.

[en] We investigate spectroscopically measured Lyα equivalent widths (EWs) and escape fractions of 244 sources of which 95 are Lyman break galaxies (LBGs) and 106 Lyman alpha emitters (LAEs) at z ∼ 4.2, z ∼ 4.8, and z ∼ 5.6 selected from intermediate and narrowband observations. The sources were selected from the Cosmic Evolution Survey and observed with the DEIMOS spectrograph. We find that the distribution of EWs shows no evolution with redshift for both the LBG selected sources and the intermediate/narrowband LAEs. We also find that the Lyα escape fraction of intermediate/narrowband LAEs is on average higher and has a larger variation than the escape fraction of LBG selected sources. The escape fraction does not show a dependence with redshift. Similar to what has been found for LAEs at low redshifts, the sources with the highest extinctions show the lowest escape fractions. The range of escape fractions increases with decreasing extinction. This is evidence that the dust extinction is the most important factor affecting the escape of Lyα photons, but at low extinctions other factors, such as the H I covering fraction and gas kinematics, can be just as effective at inhibiting the escape of Lyα photons.

[en] We present new results from BRAVA, a large-scale radial velocity survey of the Galactic bulge, using M giant stars selected from the Two Micron All Sky Survey catalog as targets for the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory 4 m Hydra multi-object spectrograph. The purpose of this survey is to construct a new generation of self-consistent bar models that conform to these observations. We report the dynamics for fields at the edge of the Galactic bulge at latitudes b = -8 deg. and compare to the dynamics at b = -4 deg. We find that the rotation curve V(r) is the same at b = -8 deg. as at b = -4 deg. That is, the Galactic boxy bulge rotates cylindrically, as do boxy bulges of other galaxies. The summed line-of-sight velocity distribution at b = -8 deg. is Gaussian, and the binned longitude-velocity plot shows no evidence for either a (disk) population with cold dynamics or for a (classical bulge) population with hot dynamics. The observed kinematics are well modeled by an edge-on N-body bar, in agreement with published structural evidence. Our kinematic observations indicate that the Galactic bulge is a prototypical product of secular evolution in galaxy disks, in contrast with stellar population results that are most easily understood if major mergers were the dominant formation process.