Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Jan 2012
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2012aas...21942412g&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #219, #424.12
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
Beginning in Fall 2012, the Hobby-Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment (HETDEX) will map out 300 square degrees via a blind integral-field spectroscopic survey which will detect 800,000 Lyman-alpha emitters (LAEs) at 1.9 < z < 3.5. The goal of HETDEX is to explore the expansion history of the universe via the LAE power spectrum, but these emission-line sources are also important probes of galaxy evolution. LAEs are observed "in the act" of formation with low mass, little dust, very young ages, and a two-dimensional clustering scale-length that implies that they are the progenitors of today's Milky Way type galaxies. The unprecedented size of the HETDEX survey will allow us to explore the 3-D clustering of these objects and to measure their halo masses as a function of redshift. We will also be able to explore the physical properties of LAEs over a wide range of environments, and study how their luminosity functions, equivalent width distributions, and star formation rates change with galaxy density and redshift.
In preparation for HETDEX, we undertook a 3 year pilot survey to test the feasibility of the experiment and design an optimal observing strategy. These observations were performed with a proto-type HETDEX spectrograph (VIRUS-P) on the McDonald 2.7-m telescope, and covered Ly-alpha in the redshift range 1.9 < z < 3.8. This survey discovered 104 Ly-alpha emitting galaxies in 169 sq. arcmin of sky, and reached objects with Ly-alpha line luminosities as faint as 3 x 1042 ergs/s. We will present the Ly-alpha luminosity function, equivalent width distributions, and star formation rates measured for this sample and discuss the implications of the pilot survey results for HETDEX.
Blanc Guillaume
Ciardullo Robin
Finkelstein Steven
Gawiser Eric
Gebhardt Karl
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