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Description
We explore the relationship between the spectral shape of the Ly{alpha} emission and the UV morphology of the host galaxy using a sample of 304 Ly{alpha}-emitting BVi-dropouts at 3<z<7 in the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey and Cosmic Evolution Survey fields. Using our extensive reservoir of high-quality Keck DEIMOS spectra combined with Hubble Space Telescope WFC3 data, we measure the Ly{alpha} line asymmetries for individual galaxies and compare them to axial ratios measured from observed J- and H-band (restframe UV) images. We find that the Ly{alpha} skewness exhibits a large scatter at small elongation (a/b<2), and this scatter decreases as the axial ratio increases. Comparison of this trend to radiative transfer models and various results from the literature suggests that these high-redshift Ly{alpha} emitters are not likely to be intrinsically round and symmetric disks, but they probably host galactic outflows traced by Ly{alpha} emitting clouds. The ionizing sources are centrally located, and the optical depth is a good indicator of the absorption and scattering events on the escape path of Ly{alpha} photons from the source. Our results find no evidence of evolution in Ly{alpha} asymmetry or axial ratio with look-back time.
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