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M. Castellano

Publications and source records attributed to M. Castellano.

At least 379 records · Page 21Linked to original sources

The properties of He II 1640 emitters at z ~ 2.5-5 from the VANDELS survey

Strong He II emission is produced by low-metallicity stellar populations. Here, we aim to identify and study a sample of He II $λ1640$-emitting galaxies at redshifts of $z \sim 2.5-5$ in the deep VANDELS spectroscopic survey.. We identified a total of 33 Bright He II emitters (S/N > 2.5) and 17 Faint emitters (S/N < 2.5) in the VANDELS survey and used the available deep multi-wavelength data to study their physical properties. After identifying seven potential AGNs in our sample and discarding them from further analysis, we divided the sample of \emph{Bright} emitters into 20 \emph{Narrow} (FWHM < 1000 km s$^{-1}$) and 6 \emph{Broad} (FWHM > 1000 km s$^{-1}$) He II emitters. We created stacks of Faint, Narrow, and Broad emitters and measured other rest-frame UV lines such as O III] and C III] in both individual galaxies and stacks. We then compared the UV line ratios with the output of stellar population-synthesis models to study the ionising properties of He II emitters. We do not see a significant difference between the stellar masses, star-formation rates, and rest-frame UV magnitudes of galaxies with He II and no He II emission. The stellar population models reproduce the observed UV line ratios from metals in a consistent manner, however they under-predict the total number of \heii ionising photons, confirming earlier studies and suggesting that additional mechanisms capable of producing He II are needed, such as X-ray binaries or stripped stars. The models favour subsolar metallicities ($\sim0.1Z_\odot$) and young stellar ages ($10^6 - 10^7$ years) for the He II emitters. However, the metallicity measured for He II emitters is comparable to that of non-He II emitters at similar redshifts. We argue that galaxies with He II emission may have undergone a recent star-formation event, or may be powered by additional sources of He II ionisation.

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Euclid: The selection of quiescent and star-forming galaxies using observed colours

The Euclid mission will observe well over a billion galaxies out to $z\sim6$ and beyond. This will offer an unrivalled opportunity to investigate several key questions for understanding galaxy formation and evolution. The first step for many of these studies will be the selection of a sample of quiescent and star-forming galaxies, as is often done in the literature by using well known colour techniques such as the `UVJ' diagram. However, given the limited number of filters available for the Euclid telescope, the recovery of such rest-frame colours will be challenging. We therefore investigate the use of observed Euclid colours, on their own and together with ground-based u-band observations, for selecting quiescent and star-forming galaxies. The most efficient colour combination, among the ones tested in this work, consists of the (u-VIS) and (VIS-J) colours. We find that this combination allows users to select a sample of quiescent galaxies complete to above $\sim70\%$ and with less than 15$\%$ contamination at redshifts in the range $0.75 65\%$ completeness level and contamination below 20$\%$ at $1<z<2$ for finding quiescent galaxies. In comparison, the sample of quiescent galaxies selected with the traditional UVJ technique is only $\sim20\%$ complete at $z<3$, when recovering the rest-frame colours using mock Euclid observations. This shows that our new methodology is the most suitable one when only Euclid bands, along with u-band imaging, are available.

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Candidate Population III stellar complex at z=6.629 in the MUSE Deep Lensed Field

We discovered a strongly lensed (μ>40) Lya emission at z=6.629 (S/N~18) in the MUSE Deep Lensed Field (MDLF) targeting the Hubble Frontier Field galaxy cluster MACS~J0416. Dedicated lensing simulations imply that the Lya emitting region necessarily crosses the caustic. The arc-like shape of the Lya extends 3 arcsec on the observed plane and is the result of two merged multiple images, each one with a de-lensed Lya luminosity L<~2.8 x 10^(40) erg/s arising from a confined region (< 150 pc effective radius). A spatially unresolved HST counterpart is barely detected at S/N~2 after stacking the near-infrared bands, corresponding to an observed(intrinsic) magnitude m_(1500)>~30.8(>~35.0). The inferred rest-frame Lya equivalent width is EWo > 1120 A if the IGM transmission is T(IGM)<0.5. The low luminosities and the extremely large Lya EWo match the case of a Population~III star complex made of several dozens stars (~ 10^4 Msun) which irradiate a HII region crossing the caustic. While the Lya and stellar continuum are among the faintest ever observed at this redshift, the continuum and the Lya emissions could be affected by differential magnification, possibly biasing the EWo estimate. The aforementioned tentative HST detection tend to favor a large EWo, making such a faint Pop~III candidate a key target for the James Webb Space Telescope and Extremely Large Telescopes.

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The Intergalactic medium transmission towards z>4 galaxies with VANDELS and the impact of dust attenuation

Aims. Our aim is to estimate the intergalactic medium transmission towards UV-selected star-forming galaxies at redshift 4 and above and study the effect of the dust attenuation on these measurements. Methods. The ultra-violet spectrum of high redshift galaxies is a combination of their intrinsic emission and the effect of the Inter-Galactic medium (IGM) absorption along their line of sight. Using data coming from the unprecedented deep spectroscopy from the VANDELS ESO public survey carried out with the VIMOS instrument we compute both the dust extinction and the mean transmission of the IGM as well as its scatter from a set of 281 galaxies at z>3.87. Because of a degeneracy between the dust content of the galaxy and the IGM, we first estimate the stellar dust extinction parameter E(B-V) and study the result as a function of the dust prescription. Using these measurements as constraint for the spectral fit we estimate the IGM transmission Tr(Lyalpha). Both photometric and spectroscopic SED fitting are done using the SPectroscopy And photometRy fiTting tool for Astronomical aNalysis (SPARTAN) that is able to fit the spectral continuum of the galaxies as well as photometric data. Results. Using the classical Calzetti's attenuation law we find that E(B-V) goes from 0.11 at z=3.99 to 0.08 at z=5.15. These results are in very good agreement with previous measurements from the literature. We estimate the IGM transmission and find that the transmission is decreasing with increasing redshift from Tr(Lyalpha)=0.53 at z=3.99 to 0.28 at z=5.15. We also find a large standard deviation around the average transmission that is more than 0.1 at every redshift. Our results are in very good agreement with both previous measurements from AGN studies and with theoretical models.

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Euclid preparation: V. Predicted yield of redshift 7<z<9 quasars from the wide survey

We provide predictions of the yield of $7 8$ may be selected from Euclid $OYJH$ photometry alone, but selection over the redshift interval $7 7.5$ should be found in the DR1 data release, expected in 2024. It will be possible to determine the bright-end slope of the QLF, $7<z<8$, $M_{1450}<-25$, using 8m class telescopes to confirm candidates, but follow-up with JWST or E-ELT will be required to measure the faint-end slope. Contamination of the candidate lists is predicted to be modest even at $J_{AB}\sim23$. The precision with which $k$ can be determined over $7<z<8$ depends on the value of $k$, but assuming $k=-0.72$ it can be measured to a 1 sigma uncertainty of 0.07.

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The VANDELS survey: the star-formation histories of massive quiescent galaxies at 1.0 < z < 1.3

We present a Bayesian full-spectral-fitting analysis of 75 massive ($M_* > 10^{10.3} M_\odot$) UVJ-selected galaxies at redshifts of $1.0 < z < 1.3$, combining extremely deep rest-frame ultraviolet spectroscopy from VANDELS with multi-wavelength photometry. By the use of a sophisticated physical plus systematic uncertainties model, constructed within the Bagpipes code, we place strong constraints on the star-formation histories (SFHs) of individual objects. We firstly constrain the stellar mass vs stellar age relationship, finding a steep trend towards earlier average formation with increasing stellar mass of $1.48^{+0.34}_{-0.39}$ Gyr per decade in mass, although this shows signs of flattening at $M_* > 10^{11} M_\odot$. We show that this is consistent with other spectroscopic studies from $0 < z < 2$. This relationship places strong constraints on the AGN-feedback models used in cosmological simulations. We demonstrate that, although the relationships predicted by Simba and IllustrisTNG agree well with observations at $z=0.1$, they are too shallow at $z=1$, predicting an evolution of $<0.5$ Gyr per decade in mass. Secondly, we consider the connections between green-valley, post-starburst and quiescent galaxies, using our inferred SFH shapes and the distributions of galaxy physical properties on the UVJ diagram. The majority of our lowest-mass galaxies ($M_* \sim 10^{10.5} M_\odot$) are consistent with formation in recent ($z<2$), intense starburst events, with timescales of $\lesssim500$ Myr. A second class of objects experience extended star-formation epochs before rapidly quenching, passing through both green-valley and post-starburst phases. The most massive galaxies in our sample are extreme systems: already old by $z=1$, they formed at $z\sim5$ and quenched by $z=3$. However, we find evidence for their continued evolution through both AGN and rejuvenated star-formation activity.

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Euclid preparation: VI. Verifying the Performance of Cosmic Shear Experiments

Our aim is to quantify the impact of systematic effects on the inference of cosmological parameters from cosmic shear. We present an end-to-end approach that introduces sources of bias in a modelled weak lensing survey on a galaxy-by-galaxy level. Residual biases are propagated through a pipeline from galaxy properties (one end) through to cosmic shear power spectra and cosmological parameter estimates (the other end), to quantify how imperfect knowledge of the pipeline changes the maximum likelihood values of dark energy parameters. We quantify the impact of an imperfect correction for charge transfer inefficiency (CTI) and modelling uncertainties of the point spread function (PSF) for Euclid, and find that the biases introduced can be corrected to acceptable levels.

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Red & Dead CANDELS: massive passive galaxies at the dawn of the Universe

We search the five CANDELS fields (COSMOS, EGS, GOODS-North, GOODS-South and UDS) for passively evolving a.k.a. "red and dead" massive galaxies in the first 2 Gyr after the Big Bang, integrating and updating the work on GOODS-South presented in our previous paper. We perform SED-fitting on photometric data, with top-hat star-formation histories to model an early and abrupt quenching, and using a probabilistic approach to select only robust candidates. Using libraries without (with) spectral lines emission, starting from a total of more than 20,000 $z>3$ sources we end up with 102 (40) candidates, including one at $z=6.7$. This implies a minimal number density of $1.73 \pm 0.17 \times 10^{-5}$ ($6.69 \pm 1.08 \times 10^{-6}$) Mpc$^{-3}$ for $3<z<5$; applying a correction factor to account for incompleteness yields $2.30 \pm 0.20 \times 10^{-5}$. We compare these values with those from five recent hydrodynamical cosmological simulations, finding a reasonable agreement at $z<4$; tensions arise at earlier epochs. Finally, we use the star-formation histories from the best-fit models to estimate the contribution of the high-redshift passive galaxies to the global Star Formation Rate Density during their phase of activity, finding that they account for $\sim5-10\%$ of the total star formation at $3<z<8$, despite being only $\sim0.5\%$ of the total in number. The resulting picture is that early and strong star formation activity, building massive galaxies on short timescales and followed by a quick and abrupt quenching, is a rare but crucial phenomenon in the early Universe: the evolution of the cosmos must be heavily influenced by the short but powerful activity of these pristine monsters.

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Ionising the Intergalactic Medium by Star Clusters: The first empirical evidence

We present a VLT/X-Shooter spectroscopy of the Lyman continuum (LyC) emitting galaxy 'Ion2' at z=3.2121 and compare it to that of the recently discovered strongly lensed LyC-emitter at z=2.37, known as the 'Sunburst' arc. Three main results emerge from the X-Shooter spectrum: (a) the Lya has three distinct peaks with the central one at the systemic redshift, indicating a ionised tunnel through which both Lya and LyC radiation escape; (b) the large O32 oxygen index ([OIII]4959-5007 / [OII]3727-3729) of 9.18(-1.32/+1.82) is compatible to those measured in local (z~0.4) LyC leakers; (c) there are narrow nebular high-ionisation metal lines with σ_v < 20 km/s, which confirms the presence of young hot, massive stars. The HeII1640 appears broad, consistent with a young stellar component including Wolf-Rayet stars. Similarly, the Sunburst LyC-emitter shows a triple-peaked Lya profile and from VLT/MUSE spectroscopy the presence of spectral features arising from young hot and massive stars. The strong lensing magnification, (μ> 20), suggests that this exceptional object is a gravitationally-bound star cluster observed at a cosmological distance, with a stellar mass M <~ 10^7 Msun and an effective radius smaller than 20 pc. Intriguingly, sources like Sunburst but without lensing magnification might appear as Ion2-like galaxies, in which unresolved massive star clusters dominate the ultraviolet emission. This work supports the idea that dense young star clusters can contribute to the ionisation of the IGM through holes created by stellar feedback.

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The space densities and emissivities of AGNs at $z> 4$

The study of the space density of bright AGNs at $z>4$ has been subject to extensive effort given its importance for the estimate of the cosmological ionizing emissivity and growth of supermassive black holes. In this context we have recently derived high space densities of AGNs at $z\sim 4$ and $-25 4$ showing X-ray detection in deep Chandra images available for the three CANDELS fields. We have collected a photometric sample of 32 AGN candidates in the selected redshift interval, six of which having spectroscopic redshifts. Including our COSMOS sample as well as other bright QSO samples allows a first guess on the shape of the UV luminosity function at $z\sim 4.5$. The resulting emissivity and photoionization rate appear consistent with that derived from the photoionization level of the intergalactic medium at $z\sim 4.5$. An extrapolation to $z\sim 5.6$ suggests an important AGN contribution to the IGM ionization if there are no significant changes in the shape of the UV luminosity function.

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Euclid Preparation IV. Impact of undetected galaxies on weak-lensing shear measurements

In modern weak-lensing surveys, the common approach to correct for residual systematic biases in the shear is to calibrate shape measurement algorithms using simulations. These simulations must fully capture the complexity of the observations to avoid introducing any additional bias. In this paper we study the importance of faint galaxies below the observational detection limit of a survey. We simulate simplified Euclid VIS images including and excluding this faint population, and measure the shift in the multiplicative shear bias between the two sets of simulations. We measure the shear with three different algorithms: a moment-based approach, model fitting, and machine learning. We find that for all methods, a spatially uniform random distribution of faint galaxies introduces a shear multiplicative bias of the order of a few times $10^{-3}$. This value increases to the order of $10^{-2}$ when including the clustering of the faint galaxies, as measured in the Hubble Space Telescope Ultra-Deep Field. The magnification of the faint background galaxies due to the brighter galaxies along the line of sight is found to have a negligible impact on the multiplicative bias. We conclude that the undetected galaxies must be included in the calibration simulations with proper clustering properties down to magnitude 28 in order to reach a residual uncertainty on the multiplicative shear bias calibration of a few times $10^{-4}$, in line with the $2\times10^{-3}$ total accuracy budget required by the scientific objectives of the Euclid survey. We propose two complementary methods for including faint galaxy clustering in the calibration simulations.

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The VANDELS survey: the stellar metallicities of star-forming galaxies at 2.5 < z < 5.0

We present the results of a study utilising ultra-deep, rest-frame UV, spectroscopy to quantify the relationship between stellar mass and stellar metallicity for 681 star-forming galaxies at $2.5<z<5.0$ ($\langle z \rangle = 3.5 \pm 0.6$) drawn from the VANDELS survey. Via a comparison with high-resolution stellar population models, we determine stellar metallicities for a set of composite spectra formed from subsamples selected by mass and redshift. Across the stellar mass range $8.5 < \mathrm{log}(\langle M_{\ast} \rangle/\rm{M}_{\odot}) < 10.2$ we find a strong correlation between stellar metallicity and stellar mass, with stellar metallicity monotonically increasing from $Z_{\ast}/\mathrm{Z}_{\odot} < 0.09$ at $\langle M_{\ast} \rangle = 3.2 \times 10^{8} \rm{M}_{\odot}$ to $Z_{\ast}/Z_{\odot} = 0.27$ at $\langle M_{\ast} \rangle = 1.7 \times 10^{10} \rm{M}_{\odot}$. In contrast, at a given stellar mass, we find no evidence for significant metallicity evolution across the redshift range of our sample. However, comparing our results to the $z=0$ stellar mass-metallicity relation, we find that the $\langle z \rangle = 3.5$ relation is consistent with being shifted to lower metallicities by $\simeq 0.6$ dex. Contrasting our derived stellar metallicities with estimates of gas-phase metallicities at similar redshifts, we find evidence for enhanced $\rm{O}/\rm{Fe}$ ratios of the order (O/Fe) $\gtrsim 1.8$ $\times$ (O/Fe)$_{\odot}$. Finally, by comparing our results to simulation predictions, we find that the $\langle z \rangle = 3.5$ stellar mass-metallicity relation is consistent with current predictions for how outflow strength scales with galaxy mass. This conclusion is supported by an analysis of analytic models, and suggests that the mass loading parameter ($η=\dot{M}_{\mathrm{outflow}}/M_{\ast}$) scales as $η\propto M_{\ast}^β$ with $β\simeq -0.4$.

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The VANDELS survey: the role of ISM and galaxy physical properties on the escape of Lyα emission in z $\sim$ 3.5 star-forming galaxies

We investigate the physical properties of a sample of 52 Lyα emitting galaxies in the VANDELS survey, with particular focus on the role of kinematics and neutral hydrogen column density in the escape and spatial distribution of Lyα photons. For these galaxies, we derive different physical properties and characterize the Lyα emission in terms of kinematics, EW, FWHM and spatial extension and then estimate the velocity of the neutral outflowing gas. We reproduce some of the well known correlations between Lyα EW and stellar mass, dust extinction and UV \b{eta} slope, in the sense that the emission line appears brighter in lower mass, less dusty and bluer galaxies. We do not find any correlation with the SED-derived star formation rate, while we find that galaxies with brighter Lyα tend to be more compact both in UV and in Lyα. Our data reveal a new interesting correlation between the Lyα velocity and the offset of the inter-stellar absorption lines with respect to the systemic redshift, in the sense that galaxies with larger inter-stellar medium (ISM) out-flow velocities show smaller Lyα velocity shifts. We interpret this relation in the context of the shell-model scenario, where the velocity of the ISM and the HI column density contribute together in determining the Lyα kinematics. In support to our interpretation, we observe that galaxies with high HI column densities have much more extended Lyα spatial profiles, a sign of increased scattering. However, we do not find any evidence that the HI column density is related to any other physical properties of the galaxies, although this might be due in part to the limited range of parameters that our sample spans.

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The UV and Ly$α$ Luminosity Functions of galaxies and the Star Formation Rate Density at the end of HI reionization from the VIMOS Ultra-Deep Survey (VUDS)

We establish a robust statistical description of the star-forming galaxy population at the end of cosmic HI reionization ($5.0\le{}z\le6.6$) from a large sample of 52 galaxies with spectroscopically confirmed redshifts from the VIMOS UltraDeep Survey. We identify galaxies with Ly$α$ either in absorption or in emission, at variance with most spectroscopic samples in the literature where Ly$α$ emitters dominate. We find that star-forming galaxies at these redshifts are distributed along a main sequence in the stellar mass vs. SFR plane. We report a flat evolution of the sSFR(z) in 3 2. The bright end of the Ly$α$ luminosity function has a high number density, indicating a significant star formation activity concentrated in the brightest Ly$α$ emitters (LAE) at these redshifts. LAE with EW>25Å~contribute to about 75\% of the total UV-derived SFRD. While our analysis favors a low dust content in 5.0<z<6.6, uncertainties on the dust extinction correction and associated degeneracies in spectral fitting will remain an issue to estimate the total SFRD until future survey extending spectroscopy to the NIR rest-frame spectral domain, e.g. with JWST.

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UV slope of z$\sim$3 bright ($L>L^{*}$) Lyman-break galaxies in the COSMOS field

We analyse a unique sample of 517 bright ($L>L^{*}$) LBGs at redshift z$\sim$3 in order to characterise the distribution of their UV slopes $β$ and infer their dust extinction under standard assumptions. We exploited multi-band observations over 750 arcmin$^2$ of the COSMOS field that were acquired with three different ground-based facilities: the Large Binocular Camera (LBC) on the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT), the Suprime-Cam on the SUBARU telescope, and the VIRCAM on the VISTA telescope (ULTRAVISTA DR2). Our multi-band photometric catalogue is based on a new method that is designed to maximise the signal-to-noise ratio in the estimate of accurate galaxy colours from images with different point spread functions (PSF). We adopted an improved selection criterion based on deep Y-band data to isolate a sample of galaxies at $z\sim 3 $ to minimise selection biases. We measured the UV slopes ($β$) of the objects in our sample and then recovered the intrinsic probability density function of $β$ values (PDF($β$)), taking into account the effect of observational uncertainties through detailed simulations. The galaxies in our sample are characterised by mildly red UV slopes with $<β>\simeq -1.70$ throughout the enitre luminosity range that is probed by our data ($-24\lesssim M_{1600}\lesssim -21$). The resulting dust-corrected star formation rate density (SFRD) is $log(SFRD)\simeq-1.6 M_{\odot}/yr/Mpc^{3}$, corresponding to a contribution of about 25% to the total SFRD at z$\sim$3 under standard assumptions. Ultra-bright LBGs at $z \sim 3$ match the known trends, with UV slopes being redder at decreasing redshifts, and brighter galaxies being more highly dust extinct and more frequently star-forming than fainter galaxies. [abridged]

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Passive galaxies in the early Universe: ALMA confirmation of z~3-5 candidates in the CANDELS GOODS-South field

The selection of red, passive galaxies in the early Universe is very challenging, especially beyond z~3, and it is crucial to constrain theoretical modelling of the processes responsible for their rapid assembly and abrupt shut-down of the star formation. We present here the analysis of ALMA archival observations of 26 out of the 30 galaxies in the deep CANDELS GOODS-South field that we identified as passive at z~3-5 by means of a careful and conservative SED fitting analysis. ALMA data are used to verify the potential contamination from red, dusty but star--forming sources that could enter the sample due to similar optical--nearIR colours. With the exception of a few marginal detections at <3sigma, we could only infer upper limits, both on individual sources and on the stacks. We translated the ALMA continuum measurements into corresponding SFRs, using a variety of far-IR models. These SFRs are compared with those predicted by secondary star-forming solutions of the optical fits and with the expected position of the star formation Main Sequence. This analysis confirms the passive nature of 9 candidates with high confidence and suggests that the classification is correct for at least half of the sample in a statistical sense. For the remaining sources the analysis remain inconclusive because available ALMA data is not deep enough, although the stacking results corroborate their passive nature. Despite the uncertainties, this work provides decisive support to the existence of passive galaxies beyond z~3.

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Massive Star cluster formation under the microscope at z=6

We report on a superdense star-forming region with an effective radius (R_e) smaller than 13 pc identified at z=6.143 and showing a star-formation rate density Σ_SFR~1000 Msun/yr/kpc2 (or conservatively >300 Msun/yr/kpc2). Such a dense region is detected with S/N>40 hosted by a dwarf extending over 440 pc, dubbed D1 (Vanzella et al. 2017b). D1 is magnified by a factor 17.4+/-5.0 behind the Hubble Frontier Field galaxy cluster MACS~J0416 and elongated tangentially by a factor 13.2+/-4.0 (including the systematic errors). The lens model accurately reproduces the positions of the confirmed multiple images with a r.m.s. of 0.35", and the tangential stretch is well depicted by a giant multiply-imaged Lya arc. D1 is part of an interacting star-forming complex extending over 800 pc. The SED-fitting, the very blue ultraviolet slope (β~ -2.5, F(λ) ~ λ^β) and the prominent Lya emission of the stellar complex imply that very young (< 10-100 Myr), moderately dust-attenuated (E(B-V)<0.15) stellar populations are present and organised in dense subcomponents. We argue that D1 (with a stellar mass of 2 x 10^7 Msun) might contain a young massive star cluster of M < 10^6 Msun and Muv~-15.6 (or m_uv=31.1), confined within a region of 13 pc, and not dissimilar from some local super star clusters (SSCs). The ultraviolet appearance of D1 is also consistent with a simulated local dwarf hosting a SSC placed at z=6 and lensed back to the observer. This compact system fits into some popular globular cluster formation scenarios. We show that future high spatial resolution imaging (e.g., E-ELT/MAORY-MICADO and VLT/MAVIS) will allow us to spatially resolve light profiles of 2-8 pc.

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