A peculiar galaxy appears at redshift 11: properties of a moderate
  redshift interloper
  Laporte et al. (2011) reported a very high redshift galaxy candidate: a
lensed J-band dropout (A2667-J1). J1 has a photometric redshift of z=9.6-12,
the probability density function for which permits no low or intermediate z
solution. We here report new spectroscopic observations of this galaxy with
VLT/XShooter, which show clear [OIII]5007AA, Ly-alpha, H-alpha, and H-beta
emission and place the galaxy firmly at z=2.082. The oxygen lines contribute
only ~25% to the H-band flux, and do not significantly affect the dropout
selection of J1. After correcting the broadband fluxes for line emission, we
identify two roughly equally plausible natures for A2667-J1: either it is young
heavily reddened starburst, or a maximally old system with a very pronounced
4000AA break, upon which a minor secondary burst of star formation is
superimposed. Fits show that to make a 3 sigma detection of this object in the
B-band (V-band), imaging of depth AB=30.2 (29.5) would be required - despite
the relatively bright NIR magnitude, we would need optical data of equivalent
depth to the Hubble Ultra Deep Field to rule out the mid-z solution on purely
photometric grounds. Assuming that this stellar population can be scaled to the
NIR magnitudes of recent HST/WFC3 IR-selected galaxies, we conclude that
infeasibly deep optical data AB~32 would be required for the same level of
security. There is a population of galaxies at z~2 with continuum colours alone
that mimic those of our z=7-12 candidates.
