Page 1 PROPOSAL FOR HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE OBSERVATIONS ST ScI Use Only ID 2695c Report Date: 09-May-96:17:17 Version: ********** Check-in Date: ********** 1.Proposal Title: MORPHOLOGY OF PKS 1614+051, A QUASAR-GALAXY PAIR AT Z=3.21 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2. Scientific Category 3. Proposal For 4. Proposal Type 5. Continuation ID QUASARS & AGN GO Sub Category ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 6. Principal Investigator Institution Country Telephone P.i. S. Djorgovski CALTECH USA (818)-356-4415 ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 7. Abstract The galaxy companion to the quasar PKS 1614+051 at z = 3.21 is one of the most distant non-QSO objects known. Ground-based observations suggest that the quasar and its galaxy companion are interacting, and that the galaxy may harbor an active nucleus. This putative interaction occurs at an epoch when quasars first appear in large numbers, and we may be witnessing an event responsible for the turn-on of the quasar activity in this system. The redshift of this system implies that it is less than 20% the current age of the universe, giving us a unique opportunity to study the star formation history and stellar population of a young and possibly forming galaxy, or a compact group of galaxies. High-resolution imaging with the HST will reveal the nature of the interaction between the companion and the quasar, and allow us to address basic questions of the nature and evolution of galaxies at extremely high redshifts, and the origins of galactic activity in the early universe. We propose imaging in the band containing the Ly alpha emission line, as well as in a broad-band line-free band to sample the stellar continuum. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 8. Scientific Key Words: QUASARS-HIGH-REDSHIFT-GALAXIES-GALAXY INTERACTIONS- GALAXY FORMATION. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 9. Est obs time (hours) pri: 7.90 par: 0 10. Num targs pri: 1 par: 0 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 11. Instruments requested: WF/PC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Page 2 I. GENERAL FORM Proposal 2695c PI: P.i. S. Djorgovski Proposal Title: MORPHOLOGY OF PKS 1614+051, A QUASAR-GALAXY PAIR AT Z=3.21 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. Proposers: Proposers Institution Country ESA ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ M. Dickinson CALIFORNIA, UNIVERSITY OF, USA BERKELEY M. Strauss CALTECH USA N. Weir CALTECH USA D. Thompson CALTECH USA J. Smith CALTECH USA H. Spinrad CALIFORNIA, UNIVERSITY OF, USA BERKELEY P.I. S. Djorgovski CALTECH USA P. Mccarthy OCIW USA ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3. Description of proposed observations. This revised proposal reflects our reassessment and suggested modifications of the original proposal, and resulting recommendations by the TAC. The changes in the scope of the proposal are as follows: Instead of exposures in a narrow band centered on the redshifted Ly alpha emission line, which are now rendered impractical, we propose to use a broad-band V filter (F555W), which contains the Ly alpha line, and some continuum as well. We also decided to eliminate any FOC/96 exposures, and replace them and the red-continuum PC exposures with an alternative set of PC exposures with F850LP, which should sample the line-free continuum, and provide a good color baseline relative to the V band. Since the PC exposures provide more signal per unit time than the FOC/96 exposures, and there is no instrument setup change (all of our exposures are with PC6, which has the best-behaved PSF), there is some time saving. With PC6 + F555W, we wish to obtain one exposure each of 5 and 10 minutes, two of 20, and six exposures of 30 minutes. With PC6 + F850LP, we wish to obtain one exposure each of 10 and 20 minutes, two of 30 minutes, and two of 2000 sec. The shorter exposures are intended to assure that we will have some unsaturated images of the quasar itself; the longer ones are intended to add up the S/N for the fainter components of the system. This also automatically takes care of the CR redundancy. The total net exposure time is thus 6.861 hours. According to the RPSS resource estimator, the total spacecraft time is 7.894 hours, and the net efficiency is thus 86.9 %. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 4. Justification of need for HST observations. We have already pursued the ground-based optical imaging and spectroscopy as far as is practical with 3 to 5-m class telescopes. We also have high-quality VLA maps, and are obtaining more high-resolution spectra and near-IR images. The understanding of this unique system is now limited only by the seeing. At this redshift, 1 PC pixel corresponds to about 200 h-1 pc, which should enable us to explore the morphology of the continuum, ionized gas, and star formation on subgalactic scales. Page 3 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 5. Description of special scheduling requirements. Assuming the integration times and instrument setups described in question 3, our estimates of the S/N, using the Handbook, the Preliminary Report on HST Performance for Cycle 1 GO's, and the materials provided at the recent STScI workshop, with the increase factor t = 5, give the range S/N ~ 10 - 30 for putative individual bright emission regions in the system. For the galaxy companion of PKS 1614+051 we obtain S/N ~ 50 - 80 integrated over the whole object. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 7. Data reduction and analysis plans. We have working image processing and data analysis packages at our home institutions, including a superb Maximum Entropy image restoration package, which was exported to the STScI, and assorted other software (Lucy, Wiener, and other methods). We have done extensive image restoration experiments, using both real and simulated HST data. We are confident that we can restore the effective angular resolution of the HST images comparable to those proposed here down to the angular resolution of about 0.1 arcsec, with the photometric distortions well understood. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 10. Resources to be supplied by investigator's institution(s). Our institutions have extensive computing and other research facilities (libraries, etc.), and there is no shortage of additional graduate students which can participate in this project. Along with the support requested with the present proposal, we should have quite adequate resources to analyse the data and publish the results very rapidly. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 11. Address Information Name: S. G. DJORGOVSKI Category: PI Institution: CALIF. INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Address: MS 105-24 City: PASADENA State: CA Zip Code: 91125 Country: USA Telephone: Telex (or e-mail): ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Name: S. DJORGOVSKI Category: PI Institution: CALTECH Address: ASTRONOMY, MS 105-24 CALTECH City: PASADENA State: CA Zip Code: 91125 Country: USA Telephone: 818-356-4415 Telex (or e-mail): ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ TARGET LIST a) Fixed Targets ID = 2695c [ 4] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Tar| Target | Target | Target |Coord | Radial |Acqui|FLX| Flux data No | Name | Description | Position |Eqnx | Vel. |Prblm|REF| | | | | | | | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1 PKS1614+051 GALAXY; QUASAR RA = 16H 14M 09.2S +/- 1", 1950 Z = 1 R = 24.0 +/- 0.5 COMPANION DEC = +05D 06' 57" +/- 1" 3.215 Comments: FAINT GALAXY 6.5 ARCSEC FROM AN 18 MAG QUASAR. BOTH OBJECTS SHOULD BE INCLUDED IN THE SAME CCD FRAMES. THE COORDINATES GIVEN ARE FOR THE MID-POINT BETWEEN THE TWO OBJECTS. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ EXPOSURE LOGSHEET ID = 2695c [ 5] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |10 | 11 | 12 |13 |14| 15 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Line | Seq | Target |Instr | Oper. | Aper |Spectral|Central| Optional |Num| Time | S/N |Flx|Pr| Special Number | Name | Name |Config| Mode |or FOV |Element |Waveln.| Parameters |Exp| |Rel. Time|Ref| | Requirements ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1 PKS1614+051 PC IMAGE P6 F555W CR-SPLIT=NO 1 300S 1 1 CYCLE 1 Comments: FAINT GALAXY 6.5 ARCSEC FROM AN 18 MAG QUASAR. BOTH OBJECTS SHOULD BE INCLUDED IN THE SAME CCD FRAMES. THE COORDINATES GIVEN ARE FOR THE MID-POINT BETWEEN THE TWO OBJECTS. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2 PKS1614+051 PC IMAGE P6 F555W CR-SPLIT=NO 1 600S 1 1 CYCLE 1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3 PKS1614+051 PC IMAGE P6 F555W CR-SPLIT=NO 2 1200S 1 1 CYCLE 1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 4 PKS1614+051 PC IMAGE P6 F555W CR-SPLIT=NO 6 1800S 1 1 CYCLE 1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 5 PKS1614+051 PC IMAGE P6 F850LP CR-SPLIT=NO 1 600S 1 1 CYCLE 1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 6 PKS1614+051 PC IMAGE P6 F850LP CR-SPLIT=NO 2 1200S 1 1 CYCLE 1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 7 PKS1614+051 PC IMAGE P6 F850LP CR-SPLIT=NO 4 1900S 1 1 CYCLE 1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Summary Form for Proposal 2695c [ 6] Item Used in this proposal ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Configurations PC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Opmodes IMAGE ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Optional Parameters CR-SPLIT ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Proposal for GO ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ S/C Hours 7.90 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Scientific Category QUASARS & AGN ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Scientific Sub-category ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Special Requirements CYCLE 1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Spectral Elements F555W F850LP ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Target Names PKS1614+051 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------