A Star-forming Shock Front in Radio Galaxy 4C+41.17 Resolved with Laser-assisted Adaptive Optics Spectroscopy

Abstract

Near-infrared integral-field spectroscopy of redshifted [O III], Hβ, and optical continuum emission from the z = 3.8 radio galaxy 4C+41.17 is presented, obtained with the laser-guide-star adaptive optics facility on the Gemini North telescope. Employing a specialized dithering technique, a spatial resolution of 0.''10, or 0.7 kpc, is achieved in each spectral element, with a velocity resolution of ~70 km s^-1. Spectra similar to local starbursts are found for bright knots coincident in archival Hubble Space Telescope ( HST) rest-frame ultraviolet images, which also allows a key line diagnostic to be mapped together with new kinematic information. There emerges a clearer picture of the nebular emission associated with the jet in 8.3 GHz and 15 GHz Very Large Array maps, closely tied to a Lyα-bright shell-shaped structure seen with HST. This supports a previous interpretation of that arc tracing a bow shock, inducing ~10^{10 - 11} M _⊙ star formation regions that comprise the clumpy broadband optical/ultraviolet morphology near the core.