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Description
We present optical spectroscopy of two samples of Galaxy Evolution Explorer grism selected Ly{alpha} emitters (LAEs): one at z=0.195-0.44 and the other at z=0.65-1.25. We have also observed a comparison sample of galaxies in the same redshift intervals with the same UV magnitude distributions but with no detected Ly{alpha}. We use the optical spectroscopy to eliminate active galactic nuclei and to obtain the optical emission-line properties of the samples. We compare the luminosities of the LAEs in the two redshift intervals and show that there is dramatic evolution in the maximum Ly{alpha} luminosity over z=0-1. Focusing on the z=0.195-0.44 samples alone, we show that there are tightly defined relations between all of the galaxy parameters and the rest-frame equivalent width (EW) of H{alpha}. The higher EW(H{alpha}) sources all have lower metallicities, bluer colors, smaller sizes, and less extinction, consistent with their being in the early stages of the galaxy formation process.
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