- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/MNRAS/471/267
- Title:
- Ly{alpha} fluxes of HDFS 2.91<z<6.64 sources
- Short Name:
- J/MNRAS/471/267
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- We present the first estimate of the Ly{alpha} luminosity function using blind spectroscopy from the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer, MUSE, in the Hubble Deep Field-South. Using automatic source-detection software, we assemble a homogeneously detected sample of 59 Ly{alpha} emitters covering a flux range of -18.0<log_10_(F)<-16.3(erg/s/cm2), corresponding to luminosities of 41.4<log_10_(L)<42.8(erg/s). As recent studies have shown, Ly{alpha} fluxes can be underestimated by a factor of 2 or more via traditional methods, and so we undertake a careful assessment of each object's Ly{alpha} flux using a curve-of-growth analysis to account for extended emission. We describe our self-consistent method for determining the completeness of the sample, and present an estimate of the global Ly {alpha} luminosity function between redshifts 2.91<z<6.64 using the 1/V_max_ estimator. We find that the luminosity function is higher than many number densities reported in the literature by a factor of 2-3, although our result is consistent at the 1{sigma} level with most of these studies. Our observed luminosity function is also in good agreement with predictions from semi-analytic models, and shows no evidence for strong evolution between the high- and low-redshift halves of the data. We demonstrate that one's approach to Ly{alpha} flux estimation does alter the observed luminosity function, and caution that accurate flux assessments will be crucial in measurements of the faint-end slope. This is a pilot study for the Ly{alpha} luminosity function in the MUSE deep-fields, to be built on with data from the Hubble Ultra Deep Field that will increase the size of our sample by almost a factor of 10.
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Search Results
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/671/1227
- Title:
- Ly{alpha} galaxies at z~4.5
- Short Name:
- J/ApJ/671/1227
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- We present a catalog of 59 z~4.5 Ly{alpha}-emitting galaxies spectroscopically confirmed in a campaign of Keck DEIMOS follow-up observations to candidates selected in the Large Area Ly{alpha} (LALA) narrowband imaging survey. We targeted 97 candidates for spectroscopic follow-up; by accounting for the variety of conditions under which we performed spectroscopy, we estimate a selection reliability of ~76%. Together with our previous sample of Keck LRIS confirmations, the 59 sources confirmed herein bring the total catalog to 73 spectroscopically confirmed z~4.5 Ly{alpha}-emitting galaxies in the ~0.7deg^2^ covered by the LALA imaging.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/844/171
- Title:
- Ly{alpha} profile in 43 Green Pea galaxies
- Short Name:
- J/ApJ/844/171
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- We studied Lyman-{alpha} (Ly{alpha}) escape in a statistical sample of 43 Green Peas with HST/COS Ly{alpha} spectra. Green Peas are nearby star-forming galaxies with strong [OIII]{lambda}5007 emission lines. Our sample is four times larger than the previous sample and covers a much more complete range of Green Pea properties. We found that about two-thirds of Green Peas are strong Ly{alpha} line emitters with rest-frame Ly{alpha} equivalent width >20{AA}. The Ly{alpha} profiles of Green Peas are diverse. The Ly{alpha} escape fraction, defined as the ratio of observed Ly{alpha} flux to intrinsic Ly{alpha} flux, shows anti-correlations with a few Ly{alpha} kinematic features-both the blue peak and red peak velocities, the peak separations, and the FWHM of the red portion of the Ly{alpha} profile. Using properties measured from Sloan Digital Sky Survey optical spectra, we found many correlations-the Ly{alpha} escape fraction generally increases at lower dust reddening, lower metallicity, lower stellar mass, and higher [OIII]/[OII] ratio. We fit their Ly{alpha} profiles with the HI shell radiative transfer model and found that the Ly{alpha} escape fraction is anti-correlated with the best-fit N_HI_. Finally, we fit an empirical linear relation to predict f_esc_^Ly{alpha}^ from the dust extinction and Ly{alpha} red peak velocity. The standard deviation of this relation is about 0.3dex. This relation can be used to isolate the effect of intergalactic medium (IGM) scatterings from Ly{alpha} escape and to probe the IGM optical depth along the line of sight of each z>7 Ly{alpha} emission-line galaxy in the James Webb Space Telescope era.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/751/29
- Title:
- Ly{alpha} profiles of LAEs at z=3.1
- Short Name:
- J/ApJ/751/29
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- We present the results of the observations of the Ly{alpha} line profiles of 91 emission-line galaxies at z=3.1 with a spectral resolution of {lambda}/{delta}{lambda}(FWHM){approx}1700 or 180km/s. A significant fraction of ~50% of the observed objects show the characteristic double peaks in their Ly{alpha} profile. The red peak is much stronger than the blue one for most of the cases. The red peaks themselves also show weak but significant asymmetry and their widths are correlated with the velocity separation of the red and the blue peaks. This implies that the peaks are not isolated multiple components with different velocities but parts of a single line that are modified by the absorption and/or scattering by the associated neutral hydrogen gas. The characteristic profile can be naturally explained by scattering in the expanding shell of the neutral hydrogen surrounding the Ly{alpha} emitting region while the attenuation by the intergalactic medium should also be considered. Our results suggest that the star formation in these Ly{alpha} emitters are dominated by young burst-like events that produce the intrinsic Ly{alpha} emission as well as the gas outflow.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/MNRAS/504/3662
- Title:
- Lya-UV Offsets in Galaxies at z~6
- Short Name:
- J/MNRAS/504/3662
- Date:
- 22 Feb 2022
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- We study the projected spatial offset between the ultraviolet continuum and Lya emission for 65 lensed and unlensed galaxies in the Epoch of Reionization 5<=z<=7, the first such study at these redshifts, in order to understand the potential for these offsets to confuse estimates of the Lya properties of galaxies observed in slit spectroscopy. While we find that ~40% of galaxies in our sample show significant projected spatial offsets, |Delta_Lya-UV_|, we find a relatively modest average (median) projected offset of |Delta_Lya-UV_|=0.61+/-0.08 proper kpc for the entire sample. A small fraction of our sample, ~10%, exhibit offsets in excess of 2 proper kpc, with offsets seen up to ~4 proper kpc, sizes that are considerably larger than the effective radii of typical galaxies at these redshifts. An internal comparison and a comparison to studies at lower redshift yielded no significant evidence of evolution of Delta_Lya-UV with redshift. In our sample, UV-bright galaxies (with a median L_UV_/L*_UV_=0.67) showed offsets a factor of three greater than their fainter counterparts (median L_UV_/L*_UV_=0.10), 0.89 +/-0.18 vs. 0.27+/-0.05 proper kpc, respectively. The presence of companion galaxies and early-stage merging activity appeared to be unlikely causes of these offsets. Rather, these offsets appear consistent with a scenario in which internal anisotropic processes resulting from stellar feedback, which is stronger in UV-brighter galaxies, facilitate Lya fluorescence and/or backscattering from nearby or outflowing gas. The reduction in the Lya flux due to offsets was quantified. It was found that the differential loss of Lya photons for galaxies with average offsets is not, if corrected for, a limiting factor for all but the narrowest slit widths (<0.4"). However, for the largest offsets, if they are mostly perpendicular to the slit major axis, slit losses were found to be extremely severe in cases where slit widths of <=1" were employed, such as those planned for James Webb Space Telescope/NIRSpec observations.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/A+A/642/A55
- Title:
- Lyman {alpha} blob LAB 1 MUSE data
- Short Name:
- J/A+A/642/A55
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- Lyman {alpha} blobs (LABs) are large-scale radio-quiet Lyman {alpha} (Ly{alpha}) nebula at high-z that occur predominantly in overdense proto-cluster regions. In particular, there is the prototypical SSA22a-LAB1 at z=3.1 which has become an observational reference. We want to understand the powering mechanisms that drive the LAB so that we may gain empirical insights into the galaxy-formation processes within a rare dense environment at high-z. Thus, we need to infer the distribution, the dynamics, and the ionisation state of LAB 1's Ly{alpha} emitting gas. LAB 1 was observed for 17.2h with the VLT/MUSE integral-field spectrograph. We produced optimally extracted narrow band images, in Ly{alpha} {lambda}1216, HeII {lambda}1640, and we tried to detect CIV {lambda}1549 emission. By utilising a moment-based analysis, we mapped the kinematics and the line profile characteristics of the blob. We also linked the inferences from the line profile analysis to previous results from imaging polarimetry. We map Ly{alpha} emission from the blob down to surface-brightness limits of ~6x10^-19^erg/s/cm^2^/arcsec^2^. At this depth, we reveal a bridge between LAB 1 and its northern neighbour LAB 8, as well as a shell-like filament towards the south of LAB 1. The complexity and morphology of the Ly{alpha} profile vary strongly throughout the blob. Despite the complexity, we find a coherent large-scale east-west velocity gradient of ~1000km/s that is aligned perpendicular to the major axis of the blob. Moreover, we observe a negative correlation of Ly{alpha} polarisation fraction with Ly{alpha} line width and a positive correlation with absolute line-of-sight velocity. Finally, we reveal HeII emission in three distinct regions within the blob, however, we can only provide upper limits for CIV. Various gas excitation mechanisms are at play in LAB 1: ionising radiation and feedback effects dominate near the embedded galaxies, while Ly{alpha} scattering contributes at larger distances. However, HeII/Ly{alpha} ratios combined with upper limits on CIV/Ly{alpha} are not able to discriminate between active galactic nucleus (AGN) ionisation and feedback-driven shocks. The alignment of the angular momentum vector parallel to the morphological principal axis appears to be at odds with the predicted norm for high-mass halos, but this most likely reflects that LAB 1 resides at a node of multiple intersecting filaments of the cosmic web. LAB 1 can thus be thought of as a progenitor of a present-day massive elliptical within a galaxy cluster.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/A+A/608/A139
- Title:
- 237 Lyman-alpha spectra of MUSE-Wide survey
- Short Name:
- J/A+A/608/A139
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- We compare 237 Lyman-{alpha} (Ly{alpha}) spectra of the "MUSE-Wide survey" (Herenz et al., 2017, Cat. J/A+A/606/A12) to a suite of radiative transfer simulations consisting of a central luminous source within a concentric, moving shell of neutral gas, and dust. This six parameter shell-model has been used numerously in previous studies, however, on significantly smaller data-sets. We find that the shell-model can reproduce the observed spectral shape very well - better than the also common 'Gaussian-minus-Gaussian' model which we also fitted to the dataset. Specifically, we find that ~94% of the fits possess a goodness-of-fit value of p(chi^2^)>0.1. The large number of spectra allows us to robustly characterize the shell-model parameter range, and consequently, the spectral shapes typical for realistic spectra. We find that the vast majority of the Ly{alpha} spectral shapes require an outflow and only ~5% are well-fitted through an inflowing shell. In addition, we find ~46% of the spectra to be consistent with a neutral hydrogen column density <10^17^cm^-2^ -- suggestive of a non-negligible fraction of continuum leakers in the MUSE-Wide sample. Furthermore, we correlate the spectral against the Ly{alpha} halo properties against each other but do not find any strong correlation.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/765/47
- Title:
- Lyman-break galaxies and LAEs at z~3
- Short Name:
- J/ApJ/765/47
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- We investigate the contribution of star-forming galaxies to the ionizing background at z~3, building on previous work based on narrowband (NB3640) imaging in the SSA22a field. We use new Keck/LRIS spectra of Lyman break galaxies (LBGs) and narrowband-selected Ly{alpha} emitters (LAEs) to measure redshifts for 16 LBGs and 87 LAEs at z>3.055, such that our NB3640 imaging probes the Lyman-continuum (LyC) region. When we include the existing set of spectroscopically confirmed LBGs, our total sample with z>3.055 consists of 41 LBGs and 91 LAEs, of which 9 LBGs and 20 LAEs are detected in our NB3640 image. With our combined imaging and spectroscopic data sets, we critically investigate the origin of NB3640 emission for detected LBGs and LAEs. We remove from our samples three LBGs and three LAEs with spectroscopic evidence of contamination of their NB3640 flux by foreground galaxies and statistically model the effects of additional, unidentified foreground contaminants. The resulting contamination and LyC-detection rates, respectively, are 62%+/-13% and 8%+/-3% for our LBG sample, and 47%+/-10% and 12%+/-2% for our LAE sample. The corresponding ratios of non-ionizing UV to LyC flux density, corrected for intergalactic medium (IGM) attenuation, are 18.0^+34.8^_-7.4_ for LBGs and 3.7^+2.5^_-1.1_ for LAEs. We use these ratios to estimate the total contribution of star-forming galaxies to the ionizing background and the hydrogen photoionization rate in the IGM, finding values larger than, but consistent with, those measured in the Ly{alpha} forest. Finally, the measured UV to LyC flux-density ratios imply model-dependent LyC escape fractions of f^LyC^_esc_~5%-7% for our LBG sample and f^LyC^_esc_~10%-30% for our fainter LAE sample.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/810/107
- Title:
- Lyman break galaxies and LAEs HST photometry
- Short Name:
- J/ApJ/810/107
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- We present U_336_V_606_J_125_H_160_ follow-up Hubble Space Telescope (HST) observations of 16 z~3 candidate Lyman continuum (LyC) emitters in the HS1549+1919 field. With these data, we obtain high spatial-resolution photometric redshifts of all sub-arcsecond components of the LyC candidates in order to eliminate foreground contamination and identify robust candidates for leaking LyC emission. Of the 16 candidates, we find one object with a robust LyC detection that is not due to foreground contamination. This object (MD5) resolves into two components; we refer to the LyC-emitting component as MD5b. MD5b has an observed 1500 {AA} to 900 {AA} flux-density ratio of (F_UV_/F_LyC_)_obs_=4.0+/-2.0, compatible with predictions from stellar population synthesis models. Assuming minimal IGM absorption, this ratio corresponds to a relative (absolute) escape fraction of f_esc,rel_^MD5b^=75%-100% (f_esc,abs_^MD5b^=14%-19%). The stellar population fit to MD5b indicates an age of <~50 Myr, which is in the youngest 10% of the HST sample and the youngest third of typical z~3 Lyman break galaxies, and may be a contributing factor to its LyC detection. We obtain a revised, contamination-free estimate for the comoving specific ionizing emissivity at z=2.85, indicating (with large uncertainties) that star-forming galaxies provide roughly the same contribution as QSOs to the ionizing background at this redshift. Our results show that foreground contamination prevents ground-based LyC studies from obtaining a full understanding of LyC emission from z~3 star-forming galaxies. Future progress in direct LyC searches is contingent upon the elimination of foreground contaminants through high spatial-resolution observations, and upon acquisition of sufficiently deep LyC imaging to probe ionizing radiation in high-redshift galaxies.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/592/728
- Title:
- Lyman break galaxies at redshift z~3
- Short Name:
- J/ApJ/592/728
- Date:
- 04 Dec 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- We present the basic data for a large ground-based spectroscopic survey for z~3 Lyman break galaxies (LBGs), photometrically selected using rest-UV colors from very deep images in 17 high Galactic latitude fields. The total survey covers an area of 0.38deg^2^ and includes 2347 photometrically selected candidate LBGs to an apparent {R}_AB_ magnitude limit of 25.5. Approximately half of these objects have been observed spectroscopically using the Keck telescopes, yielding 940 redshifts with <z>=2.96+/-0.29. We discuss the images, photometry, target selection, and spectroscopic program in some detail and present catalogs of the photometric and spectroscopic data, made available in electronic form. We discuss the general utility of conducting nearly volume-limited redshift surveys in prescribed redshift intervals using judicious application of photometric preselection.
