Search

Aims. We examine the physical conditions of ionised gas in the central kiloparsec(s) of nearby Seyfert galaxies. Our aim is a detailed two-dimensional mapping of optical spectroscopic properties, searching for features in the emission structure and in gas kinematics which would be common to all the active galactic nuclei (AGN) or their class, and which would help us to understand the origin and nature of the circumnuclear gas, and its role in the AGN.

The long and relatively faint gamma-ray burst GRB 060605 detected by Swift/BAT lasted about 20 s. Its afterglow could be observed with Swift/XRT for nearly 1 day, while Swift/UVOT could detect the afterglow during the first 6 h after the event. Here, we report on integral field spectroscopy of its afterglow performed with PMAS/PPak mounted at the Calar Alto 3.5 m telescope. In addition, we report on a detailed analysis of XRT and UVOT data and on the results of deep late-time VLT observations that reveal the GRB host galaxy. We find that the burst occurred at a redshift of $z = 3.773$, possibly associated with a faint, RC= 26.4 ±0.3 host. Based on the optical and X-ray data, we deduce information on the SED of the afterglow, the position of the cooling frequency in the SED, the nature of the circumburst environment, its collimation factor, and its energetics. We find that the GRB fireball was expanding into a constant-density medium and that the explosion was collimated with a narrow half-opening angle of about 2.4 degrees. The initial Lorentz factor of the fireball was about 250; however, its beaming-corrected energy release in the gamma-ray band was comparably low. The optical, X-ray afterglow, on the other hand, was rather luminous. Finally, we find that the data are consistent within the error bars with an achromatic evolution of the afterglow during the suspected jet break time at about 0.27 days after the burst.

Aims. In this article we study the morphology, kinematics and ionization properties of the giant ionized gas nebulae surrounding two high redshift radio galaxies, 4C 40.36 (z= 2.27) and 4C 48.48 (z= 2.34).

Aims. We searched for the presence of extended emission-line regions (EELRs) around low-redshift QSOs.

Aims.We performed an integral field spectroscopic study for the HII galaxy IIZw70 to investigate the interplay between its ionized interstellar medium (ISM) and the massive star formation.

Aims.We search for galaxy counterparts to damped Lyman-αabsorbers (DLAs) at $z > 2$towards nine quasars, which have 14 DLAs and 8 sub-DLAs in their spectra.

Aims.We present a low-resolution spectroscopic survey of the Orion nebula. The data are released for public use. We show the possible applications of this dataset analyzing some of the main properties of the nebula.

Context.Quasars trace the most massive structures at high redshifts and their presence may influence the evolution of the massive host galaxies.

Powerful radio galaxies and radio-loud quasars at high redshifts are frequently associated with extended emission-line regions (EELRs). Here we investigate the [$\ion{O}{ii}$] EELR around the quasar 3C 196 at $z=0.871$using integral field spectroscopy. We also detect extended [$\ion{Ne}{ii}$] emission at a distance of about 30 kpc from the core. The emission is aligned with the radio hot spots and shows a redshifted and a blueshifted component with a velocity difference of ~800 km s-1. The alignment effect and large velocities support the hypothesis that the EELR is caused by a jet-cloud interaction, which is furthermore indicated by the presence of a pronounced bend in the radio emission at the location of the radio hot spots. We also report observations of two other systems which do not show as clear indications of interactions. We find a weaker alignment of an [$\ion{O}{ii}$] EELR from the $z=0.927$quasar 3C 336, while no EELR is found around the core-dominated quasar OI 363 at $z=0.63$.

We present optical integral field observations of the H II region containing the ultraluminous X-ray source Holmberg II X-1. We confirm the existence of an X-ray ionized nebula as the counterpart of the source owing to the detection of an extended He II $\lambda4686$region ($21\times 47$pc) at the ChandraACIS-S position. An extended blue object with a size of $11\times 14$pc is coincident with the X-ray/He II $\lambda4686$region, which could indicate that it is either a young stellar complex or a cluster. We have derived an X-ray to optical luminosity ratio of $L_{\rm X}/L_{B}\ge170$, and presumable it is $L_{\rm X}/L_{B}\sim300{-}400$using the recent HST ACS data. We find a complex velocity dispersion at the position of the ULX. In addition, there is a radial velocity variation in the X-ray ionized region found in the He II emission of $\pm50$km s-1on spatial scales of 2–3″. We believe that the putative black hole not only ionizes the surrounding HII gas, but also perturbs it dynamically (via jets or the accretion disk wind). The spatial analysis of the public ChandraACIS-S data reveals a point-like X-ray source and gives marginal indication of an extended component (≪15% of the total flux). The XMM-NewtonEPIC-PN spectrum of HoII X-1 is best fitted with an absorbed power law in addition to either a thermal thick plasma or a thermal thin plasma or a multi-colour disk black body (MCD). In all cases, the thermal component shows a relatively low temperature ($kT\sim0.14{-}0.22$keV). Finally we discuss the optical/X-ray properties of HoII X-1 with regards to the possible nature of the source. The existence of an X-ray ionized nebula coincident with the ULX and the soft X-ray component with a cool accretion disk favours the interpretation as an intermediate-mass black hole (IMBH). However, the complex velocity behaviour at the position of the ULX indicates a dynamical influence of the black hole on the local HII gas.

We report the first results of a study of a sample of 20 galaxy mergers/interacting systems, using the VIMOS and PMAS integral field spectrographs. For each object, we extracted the integrated spectrum of the central regions
and analyzed the ionization state using classical diagnostic diagrams [CITE]. There is evidence of AGN ionization in 4 of the objects, i.e. 20% of the sample, a considerably higher fraction than found in previous studies (~4%).
 An increase of the nuclear activity with the far infrared temperature may account for the difference.

The spectrum of the quasar PHL 1226is known to have a strong $\ion{Mg}{ii}$and sub-damped Lymanα(sub-DLA) absorption line system with $N(\ion{H}{i})=(5\pm2)\times10^{19}$cm-2at $z=0.1602$. Using integral field spectra from the Potsdam Multi Aperture Spectrophotometer (PMAS) we investigate a galaxy at an impact parameter of 6$\farcs$4 which is most probably responsible for the absorption lines. A fainter galaxy at a similar redshift and a slightly larger distance from the QSO is known to exist, but we assume that the absorption is caused by the more nearby galaxy. From optical Balmer lines we estimate an intrinsic reddening consistent with 0, and a moderate star formation rate of 0.5 M$_{\normalsize\odot}$$\>\rm yr^{-1}$is inferred from the Hαluminosity. Using nebular emission line ratios we find a solar oxygen abundance $12+\log\textrm{(O/H)}=8.7\pm0.1$and a solar nitrogen to oxygen abundance ratio $\log\textrm{(N/O)}=-1.0\pm0.2$. This abundance is larger than those of all known sub-DLA systems derived from analyses of metal absorption lines in quasar spectra. On the other hand, the properties are compatible with the most metal rich galaxies responsible for strong $\ion{Mg}{ii}$absorption systems. These two categories can be reconciled if we assume an abundance gradient similar to local galaxies. Under that assumption we predict abundances $12+\log\textrm{(O/H)}=7.1$and $\log\textrm{(N/O)}=-1.9$for the sub-DLA cloud, which is similar to high redshift DLA and sub-DLA systems. We find evidence for a rotational velocity of ~200 km s-1over a length of ~7 kpc. From the geometry and kinematics of the galaxy we estimate that the absorbing cloud does not belong to a rotating disk, but could originate in a rotating halo.

The quasar HE 0047-1756, at $z=1.67$, is found to be split into two images $1\farcs44$apart by an intervening galaxy acting as a gravitational lens. The flux ratio for the two components is roughly 3.5:1, depending slightly upon wavelength. The lensing galaxy is seen on images obtained in the i(800 nm) and Ksbands (2.1 μm); there is also a nearby faint object which may be responsible for some shear. The spectra of the two quasar images are nearly identical, but the emission line ratio between the two components scale differently from the continuum. Moreover, the fainter component has a bluer continuum slope than the brighter one. We argue that these small differences are probably due to microlensing. There is evidence for a partial Einstein ring emanating from the brighter image toward the fainter one.

This paper presents observations of an extended Lyman-αemission nebula surrounding the galaxy responsible for the Damped Lyman-αAbsorption (DLA) line in the spectrum of the quasar Q2233+131. With the Potsdam Multi Aperture Spectrophotometer (PMAS) we measure the properties of the extended Lyαemission in an area of $3\arcsec$$\times$$5\arcsec$having a total line flux of (2.8 ±0.3) $\times$10-16erg cm-2s-1, which at redshift $z=3.15$corresponds to a luminosity of ($2.4_{-0.2}^{+0.3})\times10^{43}$erg s-1and a size of 23 $\times$38 kpc. The location of the emission is spatially coincident with the previously detected DLA galaxy, but extends significantly beyond its limb. We argue that the Lyαemission is likely to be caused by an outflow from the DLA galaxy, presumably powered by star formation. In the case of negligible dust extinction, the Lyαluminosity indicates a star-formation rate of 19 ±$10~M_{\odot}$yr-1consistent with that derived from the UV continuum flux from the parent galaxy. The wind velocity indicated by the integral field spectra is of the order of several hundred km s-1. We find no indication of emission originating in a rotating disk.

We present K-band images of 31 radio quasars selected from the B3-VLA quasar sample. A new method has been developed to detect and restore the host galaxies of these quasars. We have detected the host galaxies of 16 of them. Using these data together with previous data from the B3-VLA quasars (Carballo et al. [CITE], hereafter Paper I) and literature data from other samples, we have analyzed a sample of 69 hosts of radio quasars, covering a redshift range between $0

We present observations of the Type Ia supernova SN 2002er during the brightening phase. The observations were performed with the Potsdam Multi Aperture Spectrophotometer (PMAS) integral field instrument. Due to the $8\arcsec\times8\arcsec$field of view of the spectrograph an accurate background subtraction was possible. Results from analyses of the evolution of absorption features in comparisons with other SNe show that SN 2002eris a fairly bright Type Ia supernova with a peak brightness of $M_B=-19.6\pm0.1$.

We present here the All-Sky Transmission Monitor (ASTMON), designed to perform a continuous monitoring of the surface brightness of the complete night sky in several bands. The data acquired are used to derive, in addition, a subsequent map of the multiband atmospheric extinction at any location in the sky and a map of the cloud coverage. The instrument has been manufactured to withstand extreme weather conditions and to remain operative. Designed to be fully robotic, it is ideal to be installed outdoors as a permanent monitoring station. The preliminary results based on two of the currently operative units (at Doñana National Park, Huelva, and at the Calar Alto Observatory, Almería, Spain) are presented here. The parameters derived using ASTMON are in good agreement with those previously reported, which illustrates the validity of the design and the accuracy of the manufacturing. The information provided by this instrument will be presented in forthcoming articles, once we have accumulated a statistically significant amount of data.

We present the main characteristics of the Pico del Buitre, at the Sierra de Javalambre, the proposed location for the Javalambre Astrophysical Observatory. The measurements have been obtained from spectrophotometric, photometric, and seeing data obtained with different monitors and instruments on the site. We have also used publicly-accessible meteorological satellite data to determine the total time useful for observations. The night-sky optical spectrum observed in a moonless night shows very little contamination by the typical pollution lines. Their contribution to the sky brightness is ?0.06 mag in B, ?0.09 mag in V, and ?0.06 mag in R. In particular, the comparison of the strengths of the sodium artificial and natural lines indicates that the site satisfies the IAU recommendations for a dark site. The zenith-corrected values of the moonless night-sky surface brightness are B= 22.8 mag arcsec-2, V= 22.1 mag arcsec-2, R= 21.5 mag arcsec-2, I= 20.4 mag arcsec-2, which indicates that the site is very dark. The extinction has been measured for the summer period, with a typical value of 0.22 mag in the V-Band, with the best measured value of 0.18 mag in a totally photometric night. The median value of the seeing in the V-band for the last 2 yr (2008-2009) is 0.71?, with a mode of 0.58?. The seeing values present a seasonal pattern, being smaller in summer (?0.69?) than in winter (?0.77?). For 68% of the analyzed nights, the seeing was better than 0.8? during the entire night. The seeing is found to be stable for rather long periods, in particular for the nights with good seeing values. The typical scale, for nights with the seeing below 0.8?, is about 5 hr for variations within 20% of the reference value. The fraction of totally clear nights is ?53%, while the fraction of nights with at least 30% of the night clear is ?74%.

We present the characterization of additional properties of the night sky at the Calar Alto observatory, following the study started by Sánchez et al. in 2007. We focus here on the night-sky brightness at the near-infrared, the telescope seeing, and the fraction of useful time at the observatory. For this study we have collected a large data set comprising 7311 near-infrared images taken regularly along the last four years for the ALHAMBRA survey (J, H, and Ksbands), together with a more reduced data set of additional near-infrared images taken for the current study. In addition, we collected the information derived by the meteorological station at the observatory during the last 10 yar, together with the results from the cloud sensor for the last ?2 yr. We analyze the dependency of the near-infrared night-sky brightness with the air mass and the seasons, studying its origins and proposing a zenithal correction. A strong correlation is found between the night-sky brightness in the Ksband and the air temperature, with a gradient of ?-0.08 mag per 1°C. The typical (darkest) night-sky brightness in the J, H, and Ks-band are 15.95 mag (16.95 mag), 13.99 mag (14.98 mag), and 12.39 mag (13.55 mag), respectively. These values have been derived for the first time for this observatory, showing that Calar Alto is as dark in the near-infrared as most of the other astronomical sites in the world with which we could compare it. Only Mauna Kea is clearly darker in the Ksband, but not only compared to Calar Alto but to any other observatory in the world. The typical telescope seeing and its distribution were derived on the basis of the FWHM of the stars detected in the considered near-infrared images. This value, ?1.0''when converted to the Vband, is only slightly larger than the atmospheric seeing measured at the same time by the seeing monitor, ?0.9''. Therefore, the effects different from the atmosphere produce a reduced degradation on the telescope seeing, of the order of ?10%. Finally we estimate the fraction of useful time based on the relative humidity, gust wind speed, and presence of clouds. This fraction, ?72%, is very similar to the one derived in 2007, based on the fraction of time when the extinction monitor is working.

We present characterization of the main properties of the night sky at the Calar Alto observatory for the time period between 2004 and 2007. We use optical spectrophotometric data, photometric-calibrated images taken in moonless observing periods, together with the observing conditions regularly monitored at the observatory, such as atmospheric extinction and seeing. We derive, for the first time, the typical moonless night-sky optical spectrum for the observatory. The spectrum shows a strong contamination by different pollution lines, in particular from mercury lines, whose contribution to the sky brightness in the different bands is of the order of ?0.09, ?0.16, and ?0.10 mag in B, V, and R, respectively. Regarding the strength of the sodium pollution line in comparison with the airglow emission, the observatory does not fulfill the IAU recommendations for a dark site. The zenith-corrected values of the moonless night-sky surface brightness are 22.39, 22.86, 22.01, 21.36, and 19.25 mag arcsec - 2in U, B, V, Rand I, which indicates that Calar Alto is a particularly dark site for optical observations up to the Iband. The fraction of astronomical useful nights at the observatory is ?70%, with ?30% of photometric nights. The typical extinction at the observatory is ?V?0.15 mag in the winter season, with little dispersion. In summer the extinction has a wider range of values, although it does not reach the extreme peaks observed at other sites. The analysis of the winter and summer extinction curves indicates that the Rayleigh scattering is almost constant throughout the year. The rise of the extinction in the summer season is due to an enhancement of the aerosol extinction, most probably associated with an increase of dust in the atmosphere. The median seeing for the last two years (2005-2006) was ?0.90 ?, being smaller in the summer (?0.87 ?) than in the winter (?0.96 ?). We conclude in general that after 26 years of operations, Calar Alto is still a good astronomical site. Its main properties are similar in many aspects to those of other major observatories where 10 m-like telescopes are under operation or construction, thus being a natural candidate for future large aperture optical telescopes.

This paper describes the general characteristics of raw data from fiber-fed spectrographs in general and fiber-fed IFUs in particular. The different steps of the data reduction are presented, and the techniques used to address the unusual characteristics of these data are described in detail. These techniques have been implemented in a specialized software package, R3D, developed to reduce fiber-based integral field spectroscopy (IFS) data. The package comprises a set of command-line routines adapted for each of these steps, suitable for creating pipelines. The routines have been tested against simulations, and against real data from various integral field spectrographs (PMAS, PPAK, GMOS, VIMOS and INTEGRAL). Particular attention is paid to the treatment of cross-talk. (© 2006 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

Large, high-resolution space-based imaging surveys produce a volume of data that is difficult to present to the public in a comprehensible way. While megapixel-sized images can still be printed out or downloaded via the World Wide Web, this is no longer feasible for images with 109pixels (e.g., the Hubble Space TelescopeAdvanced Camera for Surveys [ACS] images of the Galaxy Evolution from Morphology and SEDs [GEMS] project) or even 1010pixels (for the ACS Cosmic Evolution Survey [COSMOS]). We present a Web-based utility called the COSMOS SkyWalker that allows viewing of the huge ACS image data set, even through slow Internet connections. Using standard HTML and JavaScript, the application successively loads only those portions of the image at a time that are currently being viewed on the screen. The user can move within the image by using the mouse or interacting with an overview image. Using an astrometrically registered image for the COSMOS SkyWalker allows the display of calibrated world coordinates for use in science. The SkyWalker "technique" can be applied to other data sets. This requires some customization, notably the slicing up of a data set into small (e.g., 2562pixel) subimages. An advantage of the SkyWalker is the use of standard Web browser components; thus, it requires no installation of any software and can therefore be viewed by anyone across many operating systems.

We present a kinematic and morphological study of the giant Lyα nebula associated with the radio galaxy MRC 2104–242 (z = 2.49) based on integral field spectroscopic VIMOS data from VLT. The galaxy appears to be embedded in a giant (≃120 kpc) gas reservoir that surrounds it completely. The kinematic properties of the nebula suggest that it is a rotating structure, which would imply a lower limit to the dynamical mass of ∼3 × 1011 M⊙. An alternate scenario is that the gas is infalling. Such a process would be able to initiate and sustain significant central starburst activity, although it is likely to contribute with less than 10% of the total stellar mass of the galaxy. (© 2006 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

We have developed a new technique to decouple the spectra of the host and the nucleus of type I AGNs using integral field spectroscopy (IFS) data. The technique is a simple extension of methods widely tested in 2D imaging. We present here the results from applying the technique to data taken with INTEGRAL at the 4.2 m WHT telescope on the Seyfert 1 radio-galaxy 3C 120. We obtained, for the first time, a clean spectra of the host galaxy, without contamination from the nuclear source. (© 2006 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

The impact of astronomical research carried out by different countries has been compared by analysing the 1000 most-cited astronomy papers published 1991-8 (125 from each year). 61% of the citations are to papers with first authors at institutions in the USA, 11% in the UK, 5% in Germany, 4% in Canada, 3% in Italy and 3% in France. 17% are to papers with first authors in ESO countries. The number of citations is approximately proportional to the number of IAU members in a given country. The number of citations per IAU astronomer is highest in the USA, Switzerland and the UK. Within continental Europe, the number of citations per IAU astronomer varies little from country to country, but is slightly higher in the north than in the south. The sample of 1000 papers maps regional subject preferences. 62% of the extragalactic papers in the sample were published from the USA, 15% from the UK, 23% from other countries (mainly in continental Europe). 62% of the papers on stars were also published from the USA, but the fractions from the UK and from other countries are 2% and 36% respectively. (© 2004 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

We describe a project to study the state of the ISM in ~20 low redshift (z < 0.3) QSO host galaxies observed with the PMAS integral field spectrograph. We describe the development of the method to access the stellar and gas components of the spectrum without the strong nuclear emission, in order to access the host galaxy properties in the central region. It shows that integral field spectroscopy promises to be very efficient in studying the gas distribution and its velocity field, and also the spatially resolved stellar population in the host galaxies of luminous AGN. (© 2004 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

We have conducted a NIR study of the environments of seven radio-loud quasars at redshifts $1. In present paper we describe deep $K$ band images obtained for the fields of $\sim6\times6$ arcmin around the quasars with 3$\sigma$ limiting magnitudes of $K\sim20.5$. These fields were previously studied using deep $B$ and $R$ band images (Sánchez & González-Serrano 1999). Using optical and NIR data together, a significant excess of galaxies has been found whose optical-NIR colours, luminosity, spatial scale, and number of galaxies are compatible with clusters at the redshift of the quasar. We have selected a sample of cluster candidates analyzing the $R-K$ vs. $K$ diagram. A ~25% of the candidates present red optical-NIR colours and an ultraviolet excess. This population has been also found in clusters around quasars at the same redshifts (Tanaka et al. 2000; Haines et al. 2001). These galaxies seem to follow a mixed evolution: a main passive evolution plus late star formation processes. The quasars do not inhabit the core of the clusters, being found in the outer regions. This result agrees with the hypothesis that the origin/feeding mechanism of the nuclear activity is merging processes. The quasars inhabit the region where a collision is most likely to produce a merger.

The scientific impacts of telescopes worldwide have been compared on the basis of their contributions to (a) the 1000 most-cited astronomy papers published 1991-1998 (125 from each year) and (b) the 452 astronomy papers published in Natureduring 1989-1998. Ground-based telescopes of the 1 and 2 m class account for ?5% of the citations to the top-cited papers; 4 m telescopes, 10%; Keck I/II, 4%; submillimeter and radio telescopes, 4%; HST, 8%; and other space telescopes, 23%. The remaining citations are mainly to theoretical and review papers. The strong showing by 1 and 2 m telescopes in the 1990s augurs well for the continued scientific impact of 4 m telescopes in the era of 8 m telescopes. The impact of individual ground-based optical telescopes is proportional to collecting area (and approximately proportional to capital cost). The impacts of the various 4 m telescopes are similar, with the CFHT leading in citation counts and WHT in Naturepapers. HSThas about 15 times the citation impact of a 4 m ground-based telescope but costs more than 100 times as much. Citation counts are proportional to counts of papers published in Nature, but for radio telescopes the ratio is a factor of ?3 smaller than for optical telescopes, highlighting the danger of using either metric alone to compare the impacts of different types of telescope. Breakdowns of citation counts by subject (52% extragalactic) and journal (ApJ44%, Nature11%, MNRAS9%, A&A6%) are also presented.

The metallicities of active galactic nuclei (AGN) are usually well above solar in their narrow-line regions, often reaching up to several times solar in their broad-line regions independent of redshift. Low-metallicity AGN are rare objects that have so far always been associated with low-mass galaxies hosting low-mass black holes (MBH106M⊙). We present integral field spectroscopy data of the low-redshift (z= 0.212) quasi-stellar object (QSO) HE 2158 − 0107 for which we find strong evidence of sub-solar NLR metallicities associated with a massive black hole (MBH~ 3 × 108M⊙). The QSO is surrounded by a large extended emission-line region reaching out to 30 kpc from the QSO in a tail-like geometry. We present optical and near-infrared images and investigate the properties of the host galaxy. The host of HE 2158 − 0107 is most likely a very compact bulge-dominated galaxy with a size of re~ 1.4 kpc. The multi-colour spectral energy distribution (SED) of the host is quite blue, indicative of a significant young age stellar population formed within the last 1 Gyr. A 3σupper limit of Lbulge,H< 4.5 × 1010L⊙ ,Hfor the H-band luminosity and a corresponding stellar mass upper limit of Mbulge< 3.4 × 1010M⊙show that the host is offset from the local black hole-bulge relations. This is independently supported by the kinematics of the gas. Although the stellar mass of the host galaxy is lower than expected, it cannot explain the exceptionally low metallicity of the gas. We suggest that the extended emission-line region and the galaxy growth are caused by the infall of nearly pristine gas from the environment of the QSO host. Minor mergers of low-metallicity dwarf galaxies or the theoretically predicted smooth accretion of cold (~ 104K) gas are both potential drivers behind that process. Because the metallicity of the gas in the QSO narrow-line region is much lower than expected, we suspect that the external gas has already reached the galaxy centre and may even contribute to the current feeding of the black hole. HE 2158 − 0107 appears to represent a particular phase of substantial black hole and galaxy growth that can be observationally linked with the accretion of external material from its environment.

Aims.Integral field spectroscopy (IFS) is a powerful approach to studying nearby galaxies since it enables a detailed analysis of their resolved physical properties. Here we present our study of a sample of nearby galaxies selected to exploit the two-dimensional information provided by the IFS.

We present VIMOS integral field spectroscopy of the brightest radio-quiet QSO on the southern sky HE 1029-1401 at a redshift of z= 0.086. Standard decomposition techniques for broad-band imaging are extended to integral field data in order to deblend the QSO and host emission. We perform a tentative analysis of the stellar continuum, finding a young stellar population (<100 Myr) or a featureless continuum embedded in an old stellar population (10 Gyr) typical for a massive elliptical galaxy. The stellar velocity dispersion of σ*= 320±90 km s-1and the estimated black hole mass log(MBH/$M_{\odot}$) = 8.7±0.3 are consistent with the local MBH–σ*relation within the errors. For the first time, we map the two-dimensional ionised gas distribution and the gas velocity field around HE 1029-1401. While the stellar host morphology is purely elliptical, we find a highly structured distribution of ionised gas out to 16 kpc from the QSO. The gas is highly ionised solely by the QSO radiation and has a significantly lower metallicity than would be expected for the stellar mass of the host, indicating an external origin of the gas most likely due to minor mergers. We find a rotating gas disc around the QSO and a dispersion-dominated non-rotating gas component within the central 3 kpc. At larger distances the velocity field is heavily disturbed, which could be interpreted as another signature of past minor merger events. Alternatively, the arc-like structure seen in the ionised gas might also be indicative of a large-scale expanding bubble, centred on and possibly driven by the active nucleus.

Lyαemitters (LAEs) are seen everywhere in the redshift domain from local to z~ 7. Far-infrared (FIR) counterparts of LAEs at different epochs could provide direct clues on dust content, extinction, and spectral energy distribution (SED) for these galaxies. We search for FIR counterparts of LAEs that are optically detected in the GOODS-North field at redshift z~ 2.2 using data from the HerschelSpace Telescope with the Photodetector Array Camera and Spectrometer (PACS). The LAE candidates were isolated via color-magnitude diagram using the medium-band photometry from the ALHAMBRA Survey, ancillary data on GOODS-North, and stellar population models. According to the fitting of these spectral synthesis models and FIR/optical diagnostics, most of them seem to be obscured galaxies whose spectra are AGN-dominated. From the analysis of the optical data, we have observed a fraction of AGN or composite over source total number of ~0.75 in the LAE population at z~ 2.2, which is marginally consistent with the fraction previously observed at z= 2.25 and even at low redshift (0.2

Lyαemitters (LAEs) are seen everywhere in the redshift domain from local to z~ 7. Far-infrared (FIR) counterparts of LAEs at different epochs could provide direct clues on dust content, extinction, and spectral energy distribution (SED) for these galaxies. We search for FIR counterparts of LAEs that are optically detected in the GOODS-North field at redshift z~ 2.2 using data from the HerschelSpace Telescope with the Photodetector Array Camera and Spectrometer (PACS). The LAE candidates were isolated via color-magnitude diagram using the medium-band photometry from the ALHAMBRA Survey, ancillary data on GOODS-North, and stellar population models. According to the fitting of these spectral synthesis models and FIR/optical diagnostics, most of them seem to be obscured galaxies whose spectra are AGN-dominated. From the analysis of the optical data, we have observed a fraction of AGN or composite over source total number of ~0.75 in the LAE population at z~ 2.2, which is marginally consistent with the fraction previously observed at z= 2.25 and even at low redshift (0.2

We present VIMOS integral field spectroscopy of the brightest radio-quiet QSO on the southern sky HE 1029-1401 at a redshift of z= 0.086. Standard decomposition techniques for broad-band imaging are extended to integral field data in order to deblend the QSO and host emission. We perform a tentative analysis of the stellar continuum, finding a young stellar population (<100 Myr) or a featureless continuum embedded in an old stellar population (10 Gyr) typical for a massive elliptical galaxy. The stellar velocity dispersion of σ*= 320±90 km s-1and the estimated black hole mass log(MBH/$M_{\odot}$) = 8.7±0.3 are consistent with the local MBH–σ*relation within the errors. For the first time, we map the two-dimensional ionised gas distribution and the gas velocity field around HE 1029-1401. While the stellar host morphology is purely elliptical, we find a highly structured distribution of ionised gas out to 16 kpc from the QSO. The gas is highly ionised solely by the QSO radiation and has a significantly lower metallicity than would be expected for the stellar mass of the host, indicating an external origin of the gas most likely due to minor mergers. We find a rotating gas disc around the QSO and a dispersion-dominated non-rotating gas component within the central 3 kpc. At larger distances the velocity field is heavily disturbed, which could be interpreted as another signature of past minor merger events. Alternatively, the arc-like structure seen in the ionised gas might also be indicative of a large-scale expanding bubble, centred on and possibly driven by the active nucleus.