Search

The epoch of reionization is a landmark in structure formation and galaxy evolution. How it happened is still not clear, especially regarding which population of objects was responsible for contributing the bulk of ionizing photons toward this process. Doubly-peaked Lyman-Alpha profiles in this epoch are of particular interest since they hold information about the escape of ionizing radiation and the environment surrounding the source. We wish to understand the escape mechanisms of ionizing radiation in Lyman-Alpha emitters during this time and the origin of a doubly-peaked Lyman-alpha profile as well as estimating the size of a potential ionized bubble. Using radiative transfer models, we fit the line profile of a bright Lyman-Alpha emitter at $z\sim 6.9$ using various gas geometries. The line modeling reveals significant radiation escape from this system. While the studied source reveals significant escape ($f_{esc}$(LyA) $\sim0.8$ as predicted by the best fitting radiative transfer model) and appears to inhabit an ionized bubble of radius $R_{b}\approx 0.8^{+0.5}_{-0.3}\,pMpc\left(\frac{t_{\rm age}}{10^{8}}\right)^{\frac{1}{3}}$.Radiative transfer modeling predicts the line to be completely redwards of the systemic redshift. We suggest the line morphology is produced by inflows, multiple components emitting Ly$\alpha$, or by an absorbing component in the red wing. We propose that CDFS-1's profile holds two red peaks produced by winds within the system. Its high $f_{esc}$(Lya) and the low-velocity offset from the systemic redshift suggest that the source is an active ionizing agent. Future observations will reveal whether a peak is present bluewards of the systemic redshift or if multiple components produce the profile., Comment: 10 pages, 7 figurss

We have used the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) to map H{\sc i} 21\,cm emission from the Green Pea galaxy GP~J1148+2546 at $z\approx0.0451$, only the second measurement of the H{\sc i} spatial distribution of a Green Pea. The VLA H{\sc i} 21\,cm image, the DECaLS optical image, and Sloan Digital Sky Survey spectroscopy show that GP~J1148+2546 has two neighbours, the nearer of which is only $\approx 17.5$~kpc away, and that the H{\sc i} 21\,cm emission extends in an inverted ``C'' shape around the Green Pea and its companions, with the highest H{\sc i} column density between the two neighbouring galaxies. The starburst in GP~J1148+2546 is likely to have been triggered by the ongoing merger with its neighbours, although the velocity field and velocity dispersion images do not show clear merger signatures at the Green Pea location. The H{\sc i} mass of the Green Pea and its immediate surroundings is $(3.58 \pm 0.37) \times 10^9 \, M_\odot$, a factor of $\approx 7.4$ lower than the total H{\sc i} mass of the system of three interacting galaxies, while the H{\sc i} depletion timescale of GP~J1148+2546 is $\approx 0.69$~Gyr, much shorter than that of typical galaxies at $z \approx 0$. We detect damped Ly$\alpha$ absorption and Ly$\alpha$ emission from the Green Pea in a Hubble Space Telescope Cosmic Origins Spectrograph spectrum, obtaining a high H{\sc i} column density, $\approx 2.0 \times 10^{21}$~cm$^{-2}$, and a low Ly$\alpha$ escape fraction, $\approx 0.8$\%, consistent with the relatively low value ($\approx 5.4$) of the ratio O32~$\equiv$~[O{\sc iii}]$\lambda 5007 + \lambda 4959$/[O{\sc ii}]$\lambda$3727,3729., Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures. Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal

High-redshift quasars are thought to live in the densest regions of space which should be made evident by an overdensity of galaxies around them. However, campaigns to identify these overdensities through the search of Lyman Break Galaxies (LBGs) and Lyman $\alpha$ emitters (LAEs) have had mixed results. These may be explained by either the small field of view of some of the experiments, the broad redshift ranges targeted by LBG searches, and by the inherent large uncertainty of quasar redshifts estimated from UV emission lines, which makes it difficult to place the Ly-$\alpha$ emission line within a narrowband filter. Here we present a three square degree search ($\sim 1000$ pMpc) for LAEs around the $z=6.9$ quasar VIKJ2348-3054 using the Dark Energy CAMera (DECam), housed on the 4m Blanco telescope, finding 38 LAEs. The systemic redshift of VIK J2348--3054 is known from ALMA [CII] observations and place the Ly-$\alpha$ emission line of companions within the NB964 narrowband of DECam. This is the largest field of view LAE search around a $z>6$ quasar conducted to date. We find that this field is $\sim$ 10 times more overdense when compared to the Chandra Deep-Field South, observed previously with the same instrumental setup as well as several combined blank fields. This is strong evidence that VIKJ2348-3054 resides in an overdensity of LAEs over several Mpc. Surprisingly, we find a lack of LAEs within 5 physical Mpc of the quasar and take this to most likely be evidence of the quasar suppressing star formation in its immediate vicinity. This result highlights the importance of performing overdensity searches over large areas to properly assess the density of those regions of the Universe., Comment: Accepted to A&A. 17 pages, 11 figures

The JWST North Ecliptic Pole (NEP) Time Domain Field (TDF) is a $>$14 arcmin diameter field optimized for multi-wavelength time-domain science with JWST. It has been observed across the electromagnetic spectrum both from the ground and from space, including with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). As part of HST observations over 3 cycles (the "TREASUREHUNT" program), deep images were obtained with ACS/WFC in F435W and F606W that cover almost the entire JWST NEP TDF. Many of the individual pointings of these programs partially overlap, allowing an initial assessment of the potential of this field for time-domain science with HST and JWST. The cumulative area of overlapping pointings is ~88 arcmin$^2$, with time intervals between individual epochs that range between 1 day and 4$+$ years. To a depth of $m_{AB}$ $\simeq$ 29.5 mag (F606W), we present the discovery of 12 transients and 190 variable candidates. For the variable candidates, we demonstrate that Gaussian statistics are applicable, and estimate that ~80 are false positives. The majority of the transients will be supernovae, although at least two are likely quasars. Most variable candidates are AGN, where we find 0.42% of the general $z$ $<$ 6 field galaxy population to vary at the $~3\sigma$ level. Based on a 5-year timeframe, this translates into a random supernova areal density of up to ~0.07 transients per arcmin$^2$ (~245 deg$^{-2}$) per epoch, and a variable AGN areal density of ~1.25 variables per arcmin$^2$ (~4500 deg$^{-2}$) to these depths., Comment: 32 pages, 11 figures, 5 tables, 1 Appendix

The Ultraviolet Transient Astronomy Satellite (ULTRASAT) is scheduled to be launched to geostationary orbit in 2026. It will carry a telescope with an unprecedentedly large field of view (204 deg$^2$) and NUV (230-290nm) sensitivity (22.5 mag, 5$\sigma$, at 900s). ULTRASAT will conduct the first wide-field survey of transient and variable NUV sources and will revolutionize our ability to study the hot transient universe: It will explore a new parameter space in energy and time-scale (months long light-curves with minutes cadence), with an extra-Galactic volume accessible for the discovery of transient sources that is $>$300 times larger than that of GALEX and comparable to that of LSST. ULTRASAT data will be transmitted to the ground in real-time, and transient alerts will be distributed to the community in $<$15 min, enabling a vigorous ground-based follow-up of ULTRASAT sources. ULTRASAT will also provide an all-sky NUV image to $>$23.5 AB mag, over 10 times deeper than the GALEX map. Two key science goals of ULTRASAT are the study of mergers of binaries involving neutron stars, and supernovae: With a large fraction ($>$50%) of the sky instantaneously accessible, fast (minutes) slewing capability and a field-of-view that covers the error ellipses expected from GW detectors beyond 2025, ULTRASAT will rapidly detect the electromagnetic emission following BNS/NS-BH mergers identified by GW detectors, and will provide continuous NUV light-curves of the events; ULTRASAT will provide early (hour) detection and continuous high (minutes) cadence NUV light curves for hundreds of core-collapse supernovae, including for rarer supernova progenitor types., Comment: 40 pages, 16 figures, 3 tables. Submitted to the AAS journals

Green Pea galaxies are low-redshift starburst dwarf galaxies, with properties similar to those of the high-redshift galaxies that reionized the Universe. We report the first mapping of the spatial distribution of atomic hydrogen (HI) in and around a Green Pea, GP J0213+0056 at z=0.0399, using the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT). Like many Green Peas, GP J0213+0056 shows strong HI 21 cm emission in single-dish spectroscopy, strong Ly-alpha emission, and a high [OIII]$\lambda$5007/[OIII]$\lambda$3727 luminosity ratio, O32 $\approx$ 8.8, consistent with a high leakage of Lyman-continuum radiation. Our GMRT HI 21 cm images show that the HI 21 cm emission in the field of GP J0213+0056 arises from an extended broken-ring structure around the Green Pea, with the strongest emission coming from a region between GP J0213+0056 and a companion galaxy lying $\approx$ 4.7 kpc away, and little HI 21cm emission coming from the Green Pea itself. We find that the merger between GP J0213+0056 and its companion is likely to have triggered the starburst, and led to a disturbed HI spatial and velocity distribution, which in turn allowed Ly-alpha (and, possibly, Lyman-continuum) emission to escape the Green Pea. Our results suggest that such mergers, and the resulting holes in the HI distribution, are a natural way to explain the tension between the requirements of cold gas to fuel the starburst and the observed leakage of Ly-alpha and Lyman-continuum emission in Green Pea galaxies and their high-redshift counterparts., Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures; accepted for publication in ApJL

We have used the Arecibo Telescope and the Green Bank Telescope to carry out a deep search for H{\sc i}~21\,cm emission from a large sample of Green Pea galaxies, yielding 19 detections, and 21 upper limits on the H{\sc i} mass. We obtain H{\sc i} masses of $\rm M_{HI} \approx (4-300) \times 10^8 \, \rm M_\odot$ for the detections, with a median H{\sc i} mass of $\approx 2.6 \times 10^9 \, \rm M_\odot$; for the non-detections, the median $3\sigma$ upper limit on the H{\sc i} mass is $\approx 5.5 \times 10^8 \, \rm M_\odot$. These are the first estimates of the atomic gas content of Green Pea galaxies. We find that the H{\sc i}-to-stellar mass ratio in Green Peas is consistent with trends identified in star-forming galaxies in the local Universe. However, the median H{\sc i} depletion timescale in Green Peas is $\approx 0.6$~Gyr, an order of magnitude lower than that obtained in local star-forming galaxies. This implies that Green Peas consume their atomic gas on very short timescales. A significant fraction of the Green Peas of our sample lie $\gtrsim 0.6$~dex ($2\sigma$) above the local $\rm M_{HI} - M_B$ relation, suggesting recent gas accretion. Further, $\approx 30$\% of the Green Peas are more than $\pm 2\sigma$ deviant from this relation, suggesting possible bimodality in the Green Pea population. We obtain a low H{\sc i}~21\,cm detection rate in the Green Peas with the highest O32~$\equiv$~[O{\sc iii}]$\lambda$5007/[O{\sc ii}]$\lambda$3727 luminosity ratios, O32~$> 10$, consistent with the high expected Lyman-continuum leakage from these galaxies., Comment: 8 pages, 3 pages, Astrophysical Journal Letters, in press

While most of the inter-galactic medium (IGM) today is permeated by ionized hydrogen, it was largely filled with neutral hydrogen for the first 700 million years after the Big Bang. The process that ionized the IGM (cosmic reionization) is expected to be spatially inhomogeneous, with fainter galaxies playing a significant role. However, we still have only a few direct constraints on the reionization process. Here we report the first spectroscopic confirmation of two galaxies and very likely a third galaxy in a group (hereafter EGS77) at redshift z = 7.7, merely 680 Myrs after the Big Bang. The physical separation among the three members is < 0.7 Mpc. We estimate the radius of ionized bubble of the brightest galaxy to be about 1.02 Mpc, and show that the individual ionized bubbles formed by all three galaxies likely overlap significantly, forming a large yet localized ionized region, which leads to the spatial inhomogeneity in the reionization process. It is striking that two of three galaxies in EGS77 are quite faint in the continuum, thanks to our selection of reionizing sources using their Lyman-alpha line emission. Indeed, one is the faintest spectroscopically confirmed galaxy yet discovered at such high redshifts. Our observations provide direct constraints in the process of cosmic reionization, and allow us to investigate the properties of sources responsible for reionizing the universe., Comment: Submitted after addressing referee's comments

Two decades after its discovery, cosmic acceleration remains the most profound mystery in cosmology and arguably in all of physics. Either the Universe is dominated by a form of dark energy with exotic physical properties not predicted by standard model physics, or General Relativity is not an adequate description of gravity over cosmic distances. WFIRST emerged as a top priority of Astro2010 in part because of its ability to address the mystery of cosmic acceleration through both high precision measurements of the cosmic expansion history and the growth of cosmic structures with multiple and redundant probes. We illustrate in this white paper how mission design changes since Astro2010 have made WFIRST an even more powerful dark energy facility and have improved the ability of WFIRST to respond to changes in the experimental landscape. WFIRST is the space-based probe of DE the community needs in the mid-2020s., Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, Astro2020 Science White Paper

Studying the formation and evolution of galaxies at the earliest cosmic times, and their role in reionization, requires the deepest imaging possible. Ultra-deep surveys like the HUDF and HFF have pushed to mag \mAB$\,\sim\,$30, revealing galaxies at the faint end of the LF to $z$$\,\sim\,$9$\,-\,$11 and constraining their role in reionization. However, a key limitation of these fields is their size, only a few arcminutes (less than a Mpc at these redshifts), too small to probe large-scale environments or clustering properties of these galaxies, crucial for advancing our understanding of reionization. Achieving HUDF-quality depth over areas $\sim$100 times larger becomes possible with a mission like the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST), a 2.4-m telescope with similar optical properties to HST, with a field of view of $\sim$1000 arcmin$^2$, $\sim$100$\times$ the area of the HST/ACS HUDF. This whitepaper motivates an Ultra-Deep Field survey with WFIRST, covering $\sim$100$\,-\,$300$\times$ the area of the HUDF, or up to $\sim$1 deg$^2$, to \mAB$\,\sim\,$30, potentially revealing thousands of galaxies and AGN at the faint end of the LF, at or beyond $z$\,$\sim$\,9$\,-\,$10 in the epoch of reionization, and tracing their LSS environments, dramatically increasing the discovery potential at these redshifts. (Note: This paper is a somewhat expanded version of one that was submitted as input to the Astro2020 Decadal Survey, with this version including an Appendix (which exceeded the Astro2020 page limits), describing how the science drivers for a WFIRST Ultra Deep Field might map into a notional observing program, including the filters used and exposure times needed to achieve these depths.)

THESEUS is a space mission concept aimed at exploiting Gamma-Ray Bursts for investigating the early Universe and at providing a substantial advancement of multi-messenger and time-domain astrophysics. These goals will be achieved through a unique combination of instruments allowing GRB and X-ray transient detection over a broad field of view (more than 1sr) with 0.5-1 arcmin localization, an energy band extending from several MeV down to 0.3 keV and high sensitivity to transient sources in the soft X-ray domain, as well as on-board prompt (few minutes) follow-up with a 0.7 m class IR telescope with both imaging and spectroscopic capabilities. THESEUS will be perfectly suited for addressing the main open issues in cosmology such as, e.g., star formation rate and metallicity evolution of the inter-stellar and intra-galactic medium up to redshift $\sim$10, signatures of Pop III stars, sources and physics of re-ionization, and the faint end of the galaxy luminosity function. In addition, it will provide unprecedented capability to monitor the X-ray variable sky, thus detecting, localizing, and identifying the electromagnetic counterparts to sources of gravitational radiation, which may be routinely detected in the late '20s / early '30s by next generation facilities like aLIGO/ aVirgo, eLISA, KAGRA, and Einstein Telescope. THESEUS will also provide powerful synergies with the next generation of multi-wavelength observatories (e.g., LSST, ELT, SKA, CTA, ATHENA)., Comment: Accepted for publication in Advances in Space Research. Partly based on the proposal submitted on October 2016 in response to the ESA Call for next M5 mission, with expanded and updated science sections

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are powerful probes of early stars and galaxies, during and potentially even before the era of reionization. Although the number of GRBs identified at z>6 remains small, they provide a unique window on typical star-forming galaxies at that time, and thus are complementary to deep field observations. We report the identification of the optical drop-out afterglow of Swift GRB 120923A in near-infrared Gemini-North imaging, and derive a redshift of z=7.84_{-0.12}^{+0.06} from VLT/X-shooter spectroscopy. At this redshift the peak 15-150 keV luminosity of the burst was 3.2x10^52 erg/s, and in fact the burst was close to the Swift/BAT detection threshold. The X-ray and near-infrared afterglow were also faint, and in this sense it was a rather typical long-duration GRB in terms of rest-frame luminosity. We present ground- and space-based follow-up observations spanning from X-ray to radio, and find that a standard external shock model with a constant-density circumburst environment with density, n~4x10^-2 cm^-3 gives a good fit to the data. The near-infrared light curve exhibits a sharp break at t~3.4 days in the observer frame, which if interpreted as being due to a jet corresponds to an opening angle of ~5 degrees. The beaming corrected gamma-ray energy is then E_gamma~2x10^50 erg, while the beaming-corrected kinetic energy is lower, E_K~10^49 erg, suggesting that GRB 120923A was a comparatively low kinetic energy event. We discuss the implications of this event for our understanding of the high-redshift population of GRBs and their identification., Comment: 20 pages

Galaxies at high redshifts provide a valuable tool to study cosmic dawn, and therefore it is crucial to reliably identify these galaxies. Here, we present an unambiguous and first simultaneous detection of both the Lyman-alpha emission and the Lyman break from a z = 7.512+/- 0.004 galaxy, observed in the Faint Infrared Grism Survey (FIGS). These spectra, taken with G102 grism on Hubble Space Telescope (HST), show a significant emission line detection (6 sigma) in multiple observational position angles (PA), with total integrated Ly{\alpha} line flux of 1.06+/- 0.12 e10-17erg s-1cm-2. The line flux is nearly a factor of four higher than the previous MOSFIRE spectroscopic observations of faint Ly{\alpha} emission at {\lambda} = 1.0347{\mu}m, yielding z = 7.5078+/- 0.0004. This is consistent with other recent observations implying that ground-based near-infrared spectroscopy underestimates total emission line fluxes, and if confirmed, can have strong implications for reionization studies that are based on ground-based Lyman-{\alpha} measurements. A 4-{\sigma} detection of the NV line in one PA also suggests a weak Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN), potentially making this source the highest-redshift AGN yet found. Thus, this observation from the Hubble Space Telescope clearly demonstrates the sensitivity of the FIGS survey, and the capability of grism spectroscopy to study the epoch of reionization., Comment: Published in ApJL; matches published version

Long-duration Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) allow us to pinpoint and study star-forming galaxies in the early universe, thanks to their orders of magnitude brighter peak luminosities compared to other astrophysical sources, and their association with deaths of massive stars. We present Hubble Space Telescope Wide Field Camera 3 detections of three Swift GRB host galaxies lying at redshifts $z = 5.913$ (GRB 130606A), $z = 6.295$ (GRB 050904), and $z = 6.327$ (GRB 140515A) in the F140W (wide-$JH$ band, $\lambda_{\rm{obs}}\sim1.4\,\mu m$) filter. The hosts have magnitudes (corrected for Galactic extinction) of $m_{\rm{\lambda_{obs},AB}}= 26.34^{+0.14}_{-0.16}, 27.56^{+0.18}_{-0.22},$ and $28.30^{+0.25}_{-0.33}$ respectively. In all three cases the probability of chance coincidence of lower redshift galaxies is $\lesssim2\,\%$, indicating that the detected galaxies are most likely the GRB hosts. These are the first detections of high redshift ($z > 5$) GRB host galaxies in emission. The galaxies have luminosities in the range $0.1-0.6\,L^{*}_{z=6}$ (with $M_{1600}^{*}=-20.95\pm0.12$), and half-light radii in the range $0.6-0.9\,\rm{kpc}$. Both their half-light radii and luminosities are consistent with existing samples of Lyman-break galaxies at $z\sim6$. Spectroscopic analysis of the GRB afterglows indicate low metallicities ($[\rm{M/H}]\lesssim-1$) and low dust extinction ($A_{\rm{V}}\lesssim0.1$) along the line of sight. Using stellar population synthesis models, we explore the implications of each galaxy's luminosity for its possible star formation history, and consider the potential for emission-line metallicity determination with the upcoming James Webb Space Telescope., Comment: Published in ApJ

We study the far-infrared properties of 498 Lyman Alpha Emitters (LAEs) at z=2.8, 3.1 and 4.5 in the Extended Chandra Deep Field-South, using 250, 350 and 500 micron data from the Herschel Multi-tiered Extragalactic Survey (HerMES) and 870 micron data from the LABOCA ECDFS Submillimeter Survey (LESS). None of the 126, 280 or 92 LAEs at z=2.8, 3.1 and 4.5, respectively, are individually detected in the far-infrared data. We use stacking to probe the average emission to deeper flux limits, reaching $1\sigma$ depths of ~0.1 to 0.4 mJy. The LAEs are also undetected at $\ge3\sigma$ in the stacks, although a $2.5\sigma$ signal is observed at 870 micron for the z=2.8 sources. We consider a wide range of far-infrared spectral energy distributions (SEDs), including a M82 and an Sd galaxy template, to determine upper limits on the far-infrared luminosities and far-infrared-derived star-formation rates of the LAEs. These star-formation rates are then combined with those inferred from the Ly$\alpha$ and UV emission to determine lower limits on the LAEs Ly$\alpha$ escape fraction ($f_{\rm esc}($Ly$\alpha$)). For the Sd SED template, the inferred LAEs $f_{\rm esc}($Ly$\alpha$) are $\gtrsim30%$ ($1\sigma$) at z=2.8, 3.1 and 4.5, which are all significantly higher than the global $f_{\rm esc}($Ly$\alpha$) at these redshifts. Thus, if the LAEs $f_{\rm esc}($Ly$\alpha$) follows the global evolution then they have warmer far-infrared SEDs than the Sd galaxy template. The average and M82 SEDs produce lower limits on the LAE $f_{\rm esc}($Ly$\alpha$) of ~10 to 20% ($1\sigma$), all of which are slightly higher than the global evolution of $f_{\rm esc}($Ly$\alpha$) but consistent with it at the 2 to 3$\sigma$ level., Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures. Accepted for publication in ApJ

We present late-time Hubble Space Telescope imaging of the fields of six Swift GRBs lying at 5.090% confidence. Although it is not yet possible to make stronger statements, in the future, with larger samples and a fuller understanding of the conditions required for GRB production, studies like this hold great potential for probing the nature of star formation, the shape of the galaxy luminosity function, and the supply of ionizing photons in the early universe., Comment: ApJ in press. 14 pages, 6 figures. (small updates from version 1)

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) serve as powerful probes of the early Universe, with their luminous afterglows revealing the locations and physical properties of star forming galaxies at the highest redshifts, and potentially locating first generation (Population III) stars. Since GRB afterglows have intrinsically very simple spectra, they allow robust redshifts from low signal to noise spectroscopy, or photometry. Here we present a photometric redshift of z~9.4 for the Swift-detected GRB 090429B based on deep observations with Gemini-North, the Very Large Telescope, and the GRB Optical and Near-infrared Detector. Assuming a Small Magellanic Cloud dust law (which has been found in a majority of GRB sight-lines), the 90% likelihood range for the redshift is 9.06 < z < 9.52, although there is a low-probability tail to somewhat lower redshifts. Adopting Milky Way or Large Magellanic Cloud dust laws leads to very similar conclusions, while a Maiolino law does allow somewhat lower redshift solutions, but in all cases the most likely redshift is found to be z>7. The non-detection of the host galaxy to deep limits (Y_AB >~ 28 mag, which would correspond roughly to 0.001 L* at z=1) in our late time optical and infrared observations with the Hubble Space Telescope strongly supports the extreme redshift origin of GRB 090429B, since we would expect to have detected any low-z galaxy, even if it were highly dusty. Finally, the energetics of GRB 090429B are comparable to those of other GRBs, and suggest that its progenitor is not greatly different to those of lower redshift bursts., Comment: Accepted for publication on The Astrophysical Journal

We present ground-based and HST optical observations of the optical transients (OTs) of long-duration Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs) 060729 and 090618, both at a redshift of z = 0.54. For GRB 060729, bumps are seen in the optical light curves (LCs), and the late-time broadband spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of the OT resemble those of local type Ic supernovae (SNe). For GRB 090618, the dense sampling of our optical observations has allowed us to detect well-defined bumps in the optical LCs, as well as a change in colour, that are indicative of light coming from a core-collapse SN. The accompanying SNe for both events are individually compared with SN1998bw, a known GRB-supernova, and SN1994I, a typical type Ic supernova without a known GRB counterpart, and in both cases the brightness and temporal evolution more closely resemble SN1998bw. We also exploit our extensive optical and radio data for GRB 090618, as well as the publicly-available SWIFT -XRT data, and discuss the properties of the afterglow at early times. In the context of a simple jet-like model, the afterglow of GRB 090618 is best explained by the presence of a jet-break at t-to > 0.5 days. We then compare the rest-frame, peak V -band absolute magnitudes of all of the GRB and X-Ray Flash (XRF)-associated SNe with a large sample of local type Ibc SNe, concluding that, when host extinction is considered, the peak magnitudes of the GRB/XRF-SNe cannot be distinguished from the peak magnitudes of non-GRB/XRF SNe., Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS on Dec 07, 2010. 18 pages, 12 figures, 9 tables

We report the first X-ray detection of 113 Lyman-alpha emitters at redshift z ~ 4.5. Only one source (J033127.2-274247) is detected in the Extended Chandra Deep Field South (ECDF-S) X-ray data, and has been spectroscopically confirmed as a z = 4.48 quasar with $L_X = 4.2\times 10^{44}$ erg/s. The single detection gives a Lyman-alpha quasar density consistent with the X-ray luminosity function of quasars. The coadded counts of 22 Lyman-alpha emitters (LAEs) in the central Chandra Deep Field South (CDF-S) region yields a S/N=2.4 (p=99.83%) detection at soft band, with an effective exposure time of ~36 Ms. Further analysis of the equivalent width (EW) distribution shows that all the signal comes from 12 LAE candidates with EW_rest < 400 \AA, and 2 of them contribute about half of the signal. Following-up spectroscopic observations show that the two are a low-redshift emission line galaxy and a Lyman break galaxy at z = 4.4. Excluding these two and combined with ECDF-S data, we derive a 3-sigma upper limit on the average luminosity of $L_{0.5-2 keV}$ $<$ 2.4 $\times 10^{42}$ ergs/s for z ~ 4.5 LAEs. If the average X-ray emission is due to star formation, it corresponds to a star-formation rate (SFR) of < 180--530 M$_\sun$ per yr. We use this SFR_X as an upper limit of the unobscured SFR to constrain the escape fraction of Lyman-alpha photons, and find a lower limit of f_esc > 3-10%. However, our upper limit on the SFR_X is ~7 times larger than the upper limit on SFR_X on z ~ 3.1 LAEs in the same field, and at least 30 times higher than the SFR estimated from Lyman-alpha emission. From the average X-ray to Lyman-alpha line ratio, we estimate that fewer than 3.2% (6.3%) of our LAEs could be high redshift type 1 (type 2) AGNs, and those hidden AGNs likely show low rest frame EWs., Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures, ApJ accepted

We present grism spectra of emission-line galaxies (ELGs) from 0.6-1.6 microns from the Wide Field Camera 3 on the Hubble Space Telescope. These new infrared grism data augment previous optical Advanced Camera for Surveys G800L 0.6-0.95 micron grism data in GOODS-South from the PEARS program, extending the wavelength covereage well past the G800L red cutoff. The ERS grism field was observed at a depth of 2 orbits per grism, yielding spectra of hundreds of faint objects, a subset of which are presented here. ELGs are studied via the Ha, [OIII], and [OII] emission lines detected in the redshift ranges 0.22., Comment: Accepted for publication in AJ. Updated to include referee comments. Updated sample using improved reduction contains 23 new galaxies (Table 1; Figures 2 & 3)

GRB 051103 is considered to be a candidate soft gamma repeater (SGR) extragalactic giant magnetar flare by virtue of its proximity on the sky to M81/M82, as well as its time history, localization, and energy spectrum. We have derived a refined interplanetary network localization for this burst which reduces the size of the error box by over a factor of two. We examine its time history for evidence of a periodic component, which would be one signature of an SGR giant flare, and conclude that this component is neither detected nor detectable under reasonable assumptions. We analyze the time-resolved energy spectra of this event with improved time- and energy resolution, and conclude that although the spectrum is very hard, its temporal evolution at late times cannot be determined, which further complicates the giant flare association. We also present new optical observations reaching limiting magnitudes of R > 24.5, about 4 magnitudes deeper than previously reported. In tandem with serendipitous observations of M81 taken immediately before and one month after the burst, these place strong constraints on any rapidly variable sources in the region of the refined error ellipse proximate to M81. We do not find any convincing afterglow candidates from either background galaxies or sources in M81, although within the refined error region we do locate two UV bright star forming regions which may host SGRs. A supernova remnant (SNR) within the error ellipse could provide further support for an SGR giant flare association, but we were unable to identify any SNR within the error ellipse. These data still do not allow strong constraints on the nature of the GRB 051103 progenitor, and suggest that candidate extragalactic SGR giant flares will be difficult, although not impossible, to confirm., Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures. Resubmitted to MNRAS. This version has been expanded to include the search for an optical counterpart

We present results of a search for emission-line galaxies in the Southern Fields of the Hubble Space Telescope PEARS (Probing Evolution And Reionization Spectroscopically) grism survey. The PEARS South Fields consist of five ACS pointings (including the Hubble Ultra Deep Field) with the G800L grism for a total of 120 orbits, revealing thousands of faint object spectra in the GOODS-South region of the sky. Emission-line galaxies (ELGs) are one subset of objects that are prevalent among the grism spectra. Using a 2-dimensional detection and extraction procedure, we find 320 emission lines orginating from 226 galaxy "knots'' within 192 individual galaxies. Line identification results in 118 new grism-spectroscopic redshifts for galaxies in the GOODS-South Field. We measure emission line fluxes using standard Gaussian fitting techniques. At the resolution of the grism data, the H-beta and [OIII] doublet are blended. However, by fitting two Gaussian components to the H-beta and [OIII] features, we find that many of the PEARS ELGs have high [OIII]/H-beta ratios compared to other galaxy samples of comparable luminosities. The star-formation rates (SFRs) of the ELGs are presented, as well as a sample of distinct giant star-forming regions at z~0.1-0.5 across individual galaxies. We find that the radial distances of these HII regions in general reside near the galaxies' optical continuum half-light radii, similar to those of giant HII regions in local galaxies., Comment: 15 pages, 13 figures; Accepted for publication in AJ

Deep ACS slitless grism observations and identification of stellar sources are presented within the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey (GOODS) North and South fields which were obtained in the Probing Evolution And Reionization Spectroscopically (PEARS) program. It is demonstrated that even low resolution spectra can be a very powerful means to identify stars in the field, especially low mass stars with stellar types M0 and later. The PEARS fields lay within the larger GOODS fields, and we used new, deeper images to further refine the selection of stars in the PEARS field, down to a magnitude of mz = 25 using a newly developed stellarity parameter. The total number of stars with reliable spectroscopic and morphological identification was 95 and 108 in the north and south fields respectively. The sample of spectroscopically identified stars allows constraints to be set on the thickness of the Galactic thin disk as well as contributions from a thick disk and a halo component. We derive a thin disk scale height, as traced by the population of M4 to M9 dwarfs along two independent lines of sight, of h_thin = 370 +60/-65 pc. When including the more massive M0 to M4 dwarf population, we derive h_thin = 300 +/- 70pc. In both cases, we observe that we must include a combination of thick and halo components in our models in order to account for the observed numbers of faint dwarfs. The required thick disk scale height is typically h_thick=1000 pc and the acceptable relative stellar densities of the thin disk to thick disk and the thin disk to halo components are in the range of 0.00025

We combine the exceptional depth of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field (HUDF) images and the deep GRism ACS Program for Extragalactic Science (GRAPES) grism spectroscopy to explore the stellar populations of 34 bulges belonging to late-type galaxies at z=0.8-1.3. The sample is selected based on the presence of a noticeable 4000A break in their GRAPES spectra, and by visual inspection of the HUDF images. The HUDF images are used to measure bulge color and Sersic index. The narrow extraction of the GRAPES data around the galaxy center enables us to study the spectrum of the bulges in these late-type galaxies, minimizing the contamination from the disk of the galaxy. We use the low resolution (R~50) spectral energy distribution (SED) around the 4000A break to estimate redshifts and stellar ages. The SEDs are compared with models of galactic chemical evolution to determine the stellar mass, and to characterize the age distribution. We find that, (1) the average age of late-type bulges in our sample is ~1.3 Gyr with stellar masses in the range log(M)=6.5-10 solar. (2) Late-type bulges are younger than early-type galaxies at similar redshifts and lack a trend of age with respect to redshift, suggesting a more extended period of star formation. (3) Bulges and inner disks in these late-type galaxies show similar stellar populations, and (4) late-type bulges are better fitted by exponential surface brightness profiles. The overall picture emerging from the GRAPES data is that, in late-type galaxies at z=1, bulges form through secular evolution and disks via an inside-out process., Comment: 16 pages, emulateapj; Accepted for publication in ApJ

Using the 8.4m Large Binocular Telescope, we observed six GRB afterglows from 2.8 hours to 30.8 days after the burst triggers to systematically probe the late time behaviors of afterglows including jet breaks, flares, and supernova bumps. We detected five afterglows with Sloan r' magnitudes ranging from 23.0-26.3 mag. The depth of our observations allows us to extend the temporal baseline for measuring jet breaks by another decade in time scale. We detected two jet breaks and a third candidate, all of which are not detectable without deep, late time optical observations. In the other three cases, we do not detect the jet breaks either because of contamination from the host galaxy light, the presence of a supernova bump, or the intrinsic faintness of the optical afterglow. This suggests that the basic picture that GRBs are collimated is still valid and that the apparent lack of Swift jet breaks is due to poorly sampled afterglow light curves, particularly at late times., Comment: Accepted by ApJ Letters, 14 pages, 2 figures

The peak star formation intensity in starburst galaxies does not vary significantly from the local universe to redshift z~6. We arrive at this conclusion through new surface brightness measurements of 47 starburst galaxies at z~5-6, doubling the redshift range for such observations. These galaxies are spectroscopically confirmed in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field (HUDF) through the GRism ACS program for Extragalactic Science (GRAPES) project. The starburst intensity limit for galaxies at z~5-6 agree with those at z~3-4 and z~0 to within a factor of a few, after correcting for cosmological surface brightness dimming and for dust. The most natural interpretation of this constancy over cosmic time is that the same physical mechanisms limit starburst intensity at all redshifts up to z~6 (be they galactic winds, gravitational instability, or something else). We do see two trends with redshift: First, the UV spectral slope of galaxies at z~5-6 is bluer than that of z~3 galaxies, suggesting an increase in dust content over time. Second, the galaxy sizes from z~3 to z~6 scale approximately as the Hubble parameter 1/H(z). Thus, galaxies at z~6 are high redshift starbursts, much like their local analogs except for slightly bluer colors, smaller physical sizes, and correspondingly lower overall luminosities. If we now assume a constant maximum star formation intensity, the differences in observed surface brightness between z~0 and z~6 are consistent with standard expanding cosmology and strongly inconsistent with tired light model., Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ (23 pages, 5 figures). Minor changes to text

The 174 ks Chandra Advanced CCD Imaging Spectrometer exposure of the Large Area Lyman Alpha Survey (LALA) Cetus field is the second of the two deep Chandra images on LALA fields. In this paper we present the Chandra X-ray sources detected in the Cetus field, along with an analysis of X-ray source counts, stacked X-ray spectrum, and optical identifications. A total of 188 X-ray sources were detected: 174 in the 0.5-7.0 keV band, 154 in the 0.5-2.0 keV band, and 113 in the 2.0-7.0 keV band. The X-ray source counts were derived and compared with LALA Bootes field (172 ks exposure). Interestingly, we find consistent hard band X-ray source density, but 36+-12% higher soft band X-ray source density in Cetus field. The weighted stacked spectrum of the detected X-ray sources can be fitted by a powerlaw with photon index Gamma = 1.55. Based on the weighted stacked spectrum, we find that the resolved fraction of the X-ray background drops from 72+-1% at 0.5-1.0 keV to 63+-4% at 6.0-8.0 keV. The unresolved spectrum can be fitted by a powerlaw over the range 0.5-7 keV, with a photon index Gamma = 1.22. We also present optical counterparts for 154 of the X-ray sources, down to a limiting magnitude of r' = 25.9 (Vega), using a deep r' band image obtained with the MMT., Comment: 21 pages, including 6 figures, 1 table, ApJ accepted

We present a catalog of spectro-photometric redshifts for 1308 galaxies from the GRism ACS Program for Extragalactic Science (GRAPES) observations with the Hubble Space Telescope. These low-resolution spectra between 6000 A and 9500 A are supplemented with U, J, H, and Ks from various facilities, resulting in redshifts computed with ~40 spectral bins per galaxy. For 81 galaxies between 0.5

We report on the photometric, spectroscopic and polarimetric, monitoring of the optical afterglow of Gamma-Ray Burst (GRB) 030328 detected by HETE-2. Photometry, collected at 7 different telescopes, shows that a smoothly broken powerlaw decay, with indices alpha_1 = 0.76 +/- 0.03, alpha_2 = 1.50 +/- 0.07 and a break at t_b = 0.48 +/- 0.03 days after the GRB, provides the best fit of the optical afterglow decline. This shape is interpreted as due to collimated emission, for which we determine a jet opening angle theta_{jet} of about 3.2 degrees. An achromatic bump starting around 0.2 d after the GRB is possibly marginally detected in the optical light curves. Optical spectroscopy shows the presence of two rest-frame ultraviolet metal absorption systems at z = 1.5216 +/- 0.0006 and at z = 1.295 +/- 0.001, the former likely associated with the GRB host galaxy. Analysis of the absorption lines at z = 1.5216 suggests that the host of this GRB may be a Damped Lyman-alpha Absorber. The optical V-band afterglow appears polarized, with P= (2.4 +/- 0.6) % and theta = (170 +/- 7) degrees, suggesting an asymmetric blastwave expansion. An X-ray-to-optical spectral flux distribution of the GRB 030328 afterglow was obtained at 0.78 days after the GRB and fitted using a broken powerlaw, with an optical spectral slope beta_{opt} = 0.47 +/- 0.15, and an X-ray slope beta_{X} = 1.0 +/- 0.2. The discussion of these results in the context of the "fireball model" shows that the preferred scenario for this afterglow is collimated structured jet with fixed opening angle in a homogeneous medium., Comment: 14 pages, 6 figures, 3 tables, accepted for publication on A&A, main journal. Abstract changed to comply with the new format of A&A abstracts

When massive stars exhaust their fuel they collapse and often produce the extraordinarily bright explosions known as core-collapse supernovae. On occasion, this stellar collapse also powers an even more brilliant relativistic explosion known as a long-duration gamma-ray burst. One would then expect that long gamma-ray bursts and core-collapse supernovae should be found in similar galactic environments. Here we show that this expectation is wrong. We find that the long gamma-ray bursts are far more concentrated on the very brightest regions of their host galaxies than are the core-collapse supernovae. Furthermore, the host galaxies of the long gamma-ray bursts are significantly fainter and more irregular than the hosts of the core-collapse supernovae. Together these results suggest that long-duration gamma-ray bursts are associated with the most massive stars and may be restricted to galaxies of limited chemical evolution. Our results directly imply that long gamma-ray bursts are relatively rare in galaxies such as our own Milky Way., Comment: 27 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Nature on 22 August 2005, revised 9 February 2006, online publication 10 May 2006. Supplementary material referred to in the text can be found at http://www.stsci.edu/~fruchter/GRB/locations/supplement.pdf . This new version contains minor changes to match the final published version

We present optical and X-ray observations of the afterglow and host galaxy of the short-hard GRB 060121. The faint R-band afterglow is seen to decline as t^(-0.66) while the X-ray falls as t^-1.18, indicating the presence of the cooling break between the two frequencies. However, the R-band afterglow is very faint compared to the predicted extrapolation of the X-ray afterglow to the optical regime (specifically, beta_OX ~ 0.2), while the K-band is consistent with this extrapolation (beta_KX ~ 0.6), demonstrating suppression of the optical flux. Late time {\it HST} observations place stringent limits on the afterglow R-band flux implying a break in the R-band lightcurve. They also show that the burst occurred at the edge of a faint red galaxy which most likely lies at a significantly higher redshift than the previous optically identified short-duration bursts. Several neighboring galaxies also have very red colors that are similarly suggestive of higher redshift. We consider possible explanations for the faintness and color of the burst. Our preferred model is that the burst occurred at moderately high redshift and was significantly obscured; however, it is also possible that the burst lies at z > 4.5 in which case the faintness of the R-band afterglow could be attributed to the Lyman-break. We discuss the implications that either scenario would have for the nature of the progenitors of short bursts., Comment: 4 pages, 2 Figures - submitted to ApJ Letters

We present ground-based and Hubble Space Telescope optical observations of the X-ray flash (XRF) 020903, covering 300 days. The afterglow showed a very rapid rise in the first day, followed by a relatively slow decay in the next few days. There was a clear bump in the light curve after ~25 days, accompanied by a drastic change in the spectral energy distribution. The light curve and the spectral energy distribution are naturally interpreted as the emergence -- and subsequent decay -- of a supernova (SN), similar to SN 1998bw. At peak luminosity, the SN is estimated to be 0.8 +/- 0.1 mag fainter than SN1998bw. This argues in favor of the existence of a supernova associated with this X-ray flash. A spectrum obtained 35 days after the burst shows emission lines from the host galaxy. We use this spectrum to put an upper limit on the oxygen abundance of the host at [O/H] < -0.6 dex. We also discuss a possible trend between the softness of several bursts and the early behavior of the optical afterglow, in the sense that XRFs and X-ray rich GRBs seem to have a plateau phase or even a rising light curve. This can be naturally explained in models where XRFs are similar to GRBs but seen off the jet axis., Comment: ApJ, in press. Paper with full resolution figures available at http://www-int.stsci.edu/~bersier/grb020903.pdf

In this paper, we address whether the growth of supermassive black-holes has kept pace with the process of galaxy assembly. For this purpose, we first searched the Hubble Ultra Deep Field (HUDF) for "tadpole galaxies", which have a knot at one end and an extended tail. They appear dynamically unrelaxed -- presumably early-stage mergers -- and make up ~6% of the field galaxy population. Their redshift distribution follows that of field galaxies, indicating that -- if tadpole galaxies are indeed dynamically young -- the process of galaxy assembly generally kept up with the reservoir of field galaxies as a function of epoch. Next, we present a search for HUDF objects with point-source components that are optically variable (at the >~3.0 sigma level) on timescales of weeks--months. Among 4644 objects to i_AB=28.0 mag (10 sigma), 45 have variable point-like components, which are likely weak AGN. About 1% of all field objects show variability for 0.1 < z < 4.5, and their redshift distribution is similar to that of field galaxies. Hence supermassive black-hole growth in weak AGN likely also kept up with the process of galaxy assembly. However, the faint AGN sample has almost no overlap with the tadpole sample, which was predicted by recent hydrodynamical numerical simulations. This suggests that tadpole galaxies are early-stage mergers, which likely preceded the ``turn-on'' of the AGN component and the onset of visible point-source variability by >~1 Gyr., Comment: 9 pages, Latex2e requires 'elsart' and 'elsart3' (included), 10 postscript figures. To appear in the Proceedings of the Leiden Workshop on "QSO Host Galaxies: Evolution and Environment", eds. P.D. Barthel & D.B. Sanders (New Astron. Rev., 2006)

We present a photometric search for objects with point-source components that are optically variable on timescales of weeks--months in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field (HUDF) to i'(AB)=28.0 mag. The data are split into four sub-stacks of approximately equal exposure times. Objects exhibiting the signature of optical variability are selected by studying the photometric error distribution between the four different epochs, and selecting 622 candidates as 3.0 sigma outliers from the original catalog of 4644 objects. Of these, 45 are visually confirmed as free of contamination from close neighbors or various types of image defects. Four lie within the positional error boxes of Chandra X-ray sources, and two of these are spectroscopically confirmed AGN. The photometric redshift distribution of the selected variable sample is compared to that of field galaxies, and we find that a constant fraction of ~1% of all field objects show variability over the range of 0.1

The UVOT telescope on the Swift observatory has detected optical afterglow emission from GRB 050319. The flux declines with a power law slope of alpha = -0.57 between the start of observations some 230 seconds after the burst onset (90s after the burst trigger) until it faded below the sensitivity threshold of the instrument after ~5 x 10^4s. There is no evidence for the rapidly declining component in the early light curve that is seen at the same time in the X-ray band. The afterglow is not detected in UVOT shortward of the B-band, suggesting a redshift of about 3.5. The optical V-band emission lies on the extension of the X-ray spectrum, with an optical to X-ray slope of beta = -0.8. The relatively flat decay rate of the burst suggests that the central engine continues to inject energy into the fireball for as long as a few x 10^4s after the burst., Comment: 16 pages, 4 figures, accepted by ApJ

In 2000, Lamb and Reichart predicted that gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) and their afterglows occur in sufficient numbers and at sufficient brightnesses at very high redshifts (z > 5) to eventually replace quasars as the preferred probe of element formation and reionization in the early universe and to be used to characterize the star-formation history of the early universe, perhaps back to when the first stars formed. Here we report the discovery of the afterglow of GRB 050904 and the identification of GRB 050904 as the first very high redshift GRB. We measure its redshift to be 6.39(+0.11,-0.12), which is consistent with the reported spectroscopic redshift (6.29 +/- 0.01). Furthermore, just redward of Ly-alpha the flux is suppressed by a factor of three on the first night, but returns to expected levels by the fourth night. We propose that this is due to absorption by molecular hydrogen that was excited to rovibrational states by the GRB's prompt emission, but was then overtaken by the jet. Now that very high redshift GRBs have been shown to exist, and at least in this case the afterglow was very bright, observing programs that are designed to capitalize on this science will likely drive a new era of study of the early universe, using GRBs as probes., Comment: Submitted to Nature, 11 pages, 3 figures, LaTeX

We investigate the properties and evolution of a sample of galaxies selected to have prominent emission lines in low-resolution grism spectra of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field (HUDF). These objects, eGRAPES, are late type blue galaxies, characterized by small proper sizes (R_50 < 2 kpc) in the 4350A rest-frame, low masses (5x10^9 M_sun), and a wide range of luminosities and surface brightnesses. The masses, sizes and volume densities of these objects appear to change very little up to a redshift of z=1.5. On the other hand, their surface brightness decreases significantly from z=1.5 to z=0 while their mass-to-light ratio increases two-folds. This could be a sign that most of low redshift eGRAPES have an older stellar population than high redshift eGRAPES and hence that most eGRAPES formed at higher redshifts. The average volume density of eGRAPES is (1.8 \pm 0.3)x10^{-3} Mpc^{-3} between 0.3 < z < 1.5. Many eGRAPES would formally have been classified as Luminous Compact Blue Galaxies (LCBGs) if these had been selected based on small physical size, blue intrinsic color, and high surface brightness, while the remainder of the sample discussed in this paper forms an extension of LCBGs towards fainter luminosities., Comment: Accepted, to appear in Apj

Very early observations with the Swift satellite of gamma-ray burst (GRB) afterglows reveal that the optical component is not detected in a large number of cases. This is in contrast to the bright optical flashes previously discovered in some GRBs (e.g. GRB 990123 and GRB 021211). Comparisons of the X-ray afterglow flux to the optical afterglow flux and prompt gamma-ray fluence is used to quantify the seemingly deficient optical, and in some cases X-ray, light at these early epochs. This comparison reveals that some of these bursts appear to have higher than normal gamma-ray efficiencies. We discuss possible mechanisms and their feasibility for explaining the apparent lack of early optical emission. The mechanisms considered include: foreground extinction, circumburst absorption, Ly-alpha blanketing and absorption due to high redshift, low density environments, rapid temporal decay, and intrinsic weakness of the reverse shock. Of these, foreground extinction, circumburst absorption, and high redshift provide the best explanations for most of the non-detections in our sample. There is tentative evidence of suppression of the strong reverse shock emission. This could be because of a Poynting-flux-dominated flow or a pure non-relativistic hydrodynamical reverse shock., Comment: 22 pages, 5 figures. Accepted for publication in ApJ

We have obtained deep optical images with the Very Large Telescope at ESO of the first well-localized short-duration gamma-ray burst, GRB 050509B. From V and R imaging, initiated ~2 days after the GRB trigger and lasting up to three weeks, we detect no variable object inside the small Swift/XRT X-ray error circle down to 2sigma limits of V = 26.5 and R = 25.1. The X-ray error circle includes a giant elliptical galaxy at z = 0.225, which has been proposed as the likely host of this GRB. Our limits indicate that if the GRB originated at z = 0.225, any supernova-like event accompanying the GRB would have to be over 100 times fainter than normal Type Ia SNe or Type Ic hypernovae, 5 times fainter than the faintest known Ia or Ic SNe, and fainter than the faintest known Type II SNe. Moreover, we use the optical limits to constrain the energetics of the GRB outflow. Simple models indicate that, unless the intrinsic energy in the outflow from GRB 050509B was << 10^51 erg, there was very little radioactive material with efficient decay timescales for generating a large luminosity. These limits strongly constrain progenitor models for this short GRB., Comment: 13 pages, 2 figures, ApJL, in press