The Faint Population Of Lyman-alpha Emitting Galaxies At Redshift 5.7

Details The Faint Population Of Lyman-alpha Emitting Galaxies At Redshift 5.7 The Faint Population Of Lyman-alpha Emitting Galaxies At Redshift 5.7

Jan 2012

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2012aas...21912901h&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #219, #129.01

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

Using new Keck DEIMOS spectroscopy, we examine our recent evidence (reported in Dressler et al. 2011) for a steep rise in the number counts of ultra-faint Lyman α emitters (LAEs) at redshift 5.7. With six newly confirmed LAEs, we revise our previous estimate of the numbers of ultra-faint LAEs and foreground emission-line galaxies. Combining these data with the density of bright LAEs in the Cosmic Origins Survey and the Subaru Deep Field provides the best constraints to date on the redshift 5.7 Lyman α luminosity function (LF). To place this result in the context of the UV-selected galaxy population, we investigate how various parameterizations of the equivalent width distribution, along with the measured UV-continuum LF, affect the shape and normalization of the Lyman α LF. The nominal model, which uses the z 6 equivalent width distributions reported by Stark et al. (2011), falls short of the observed space density of LAEs at the bright end, possibly indicating a need for higher equivalent widths. Futhermore, this parameterization of the equivalent width distribution implies that as many as 50% of our faintest LAEs should have M(UV) > -18.0, rendering them undetectable in even the deepest Hubble Space Telescope surveys at this redshift. Hence, ultra-deep emission-line surveys find some of the faintest galaxies ever observed at the end of the reionization epoch. Such faint galaxies likely enriched the intergalactic medium with metals and maintained its ionized state. Observations of these objects provide a glimpse of the building blocks of present-day galaxies at an early time.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

The Faint Population Of Lyman-alpha Emitting Galaxies At Redshift 5.7 does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with The Faint Population Of Lyman-alpha Emitting Galaxies At Redshift 5.7, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and The Faint Population Of Lyman-alpha Emitting Galaxies At Redshift 5.7 will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1574773