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Register a new userKeck Spectroscopy of Faint 3<z<7 Lyman Break Galaxies:- II. A High Fraction of Line Emitters at Redshift Six
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As Lyman-alpha photons are scattered by neutral hydrogen, a change with redshift in the Lyman-alpha equivalent width distribution of distant galaxies offers a promising probe of the degree of ionization in the intergalactic medium and hence when cosmic reionization ended. This simple test is complicated by the fact that Lyman-alpha emission can also be affected by the evolving astrophysical details of the host galaxies. In the first paper in this series, we demonstrated both a luminosity and redshift dependent trend in the fraction of Lyman-alpha emitters seen within color-selected Lyman-break galaxies (LBGs) over the range 3<z<6; lower luminosity galaxies and those at higher redshift show an increased likelihood of strong emission. Here we present the results from much deeper 12.5 hour exposures with the Keck DEIMOS spectrograph focused primarily on LBGs at z~6 which enable us to confirm the redshift dependence of line emission more robustly and to higher redshift than was hitherto possible. We find 54+/-11% of faint z~6 LBGs show strong (W_0>25 A) emission, an increase of 1.6x from a similar sample observed at z~4. With a total sample of 74 z~6 LBGs, we determine the luminosity-dependent Lyman-alpha equivalent width distribution. Assuming continuity in these trends to the new population of z~7 sources located with the Hubble WFC3/IR camera, we predict that unless the neutral fraction rises in the intervening 200 Myr, the success rate for spectroscopic confirmation using Lyman-alpha emission should be high.
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Using deep Keck spectroscopy of Lyman break galaxies selected from infrared imaging data taken with WFC3/IR onboard the Hubble Space Telescope, we present new evidence for a reversal in the redshift-dependent fraction of star forming galaxies with detectable Lyman alpha emission in the redshift range 6.3 < z < 8.8. Our earlier surveys with the DEIMOS spectrograph demonstrated a significant increase with redshift in the fraction of line emitting galaxies over the interval 4 < z < 6, particularly for intrinsically faint systems which dominate the luminosity density. Using the longer wavelength sensitivities of LRIS and NIRSPEC, we have targeted 19 Lyman break galaxies selected using recent WFC3/IR data whose photometric redshifts are in the range 6.3 < z < 8.8 and which span a wide range of intrinsic luminosities. Our spectroscopic exposures typically reach a 5-sigma sensitivity of < 50 A for the rest-frame equivalent width (EW) of Lyman alpha emission. Despite the high fraction of emitters seen only a few hundred million years later, we find only 2 convincing and 1 possible line emitter in our more distant sample. Combining with published data on a further 7 sources obtained using FORS2 on the ESO VLT, and assuming continuity in the trends found at lower redshift, we discuss the significance of this apparent reversal in the redshift-dependent Lyman alpha fraction in the context of our range in continuum luminosity. Assuming all the targeted sources are at their photometric redshift and our assumptions about the Lyman alpha EW distribution are correct, we would expect to find so few emitters in less than 1% of the realizations drawn from our lower redshift samples. Our new results provide further support for the suggestion that, at the redshifts now being probed spectroscopically, we are entering the era where the intergalactic medium is partially neutral.
We present results from a new Keck spectroscopic survey of UV-faint LBGs in the redshift range 3<z<7. Combined with earlier Keck and published ESO VLT data, our sample contains more than 600 dropouts, offering new insight into the nature of sub-L* sources typical of those likely to dominate the cosmic reionisation process. Here we use this sample to characterise the fraction of strong Lya emitters within the continuum-selected dropouts. By quantifying how the Lya fraction varies with redshift, we seek to constrain changes in Lya transmission associated with reionisation. In order to distinguish the effects of reionisation from other factors which affect the Lya fraction (e.g. dust, ISM kinematics), we study the luminosity and redshift-dependence of the Lya fraction over 3<z<6, when the IGM is known to be ionised. These results reveal that low luminosity galaxies show strong Lya emission much more frequently than luminous systems, and that at fixed luminosity, the prevalence of strong Lya emission increases moderately with redshift over 3 < z < 6. Based on the correlation between blue UV slopes and strong Lya emitting galaxies in our dataset, we argue that the Lya fraction trends are governed by redshift and luminosity-dependent variations in the dust obscuration, with likely additional contributions from trends in the kinematics and covering fraction of neutral hydrogen. We find a tentative decrease in the Lya fraction at z~7 based on the limited IR spectra for candidate z~7 lensed LBGs, a result which, if confirmed with future surveys, would suggest an increase in the neutral fraction by this epoch. Given the supply of z and Y-drops now available from Hubble WFC3/IR surveys, we show it will soon be possible to significantly improve estimates of the Lya fraction using optical and near-IR spectrographs, thereby extending the study conducted in this paper to 7<z<8.
Rapid mass assembly, likely from mergers or smooth accretion, has been predicted to play a vital role in star-formation in high-redshift Lyman-alpha (Lya) emitters. Here we predict the major merger, minor merger, and smooth accreting Lya emitter fraction from z~3 to z~7 using a large dark matter simulation, and a simple physical model that is successful in reproducing many observations over this large redshift range. The central tenet of this model, different from many of the earlier models, is that the star-formation in Lya emitters is proportional to the mass accretion rate rather than the total halo mass. We find that at z~3, nearly 35% of the Lya emitters accrete their mass through major (3:1) mergers, and this fraction increases to about 50% at z~7. This imply that the star-formation in a large fraction of high-redshift Lya emitters is driven by mergers. While there is discrepancy between the model predictions and observed merger fractions, some of this difference (~15%) can be attributed to the mass-ratio used to define a merger in the simulation. We predict that future, deeper observations which use a 3:1 definition of major mergers will find >30% major merger fraction of Lya emitters at redshifts >3.
The physical properties inferred from the SEDs of z>3 galaxies have been influential in shaping our understanding of early galaxy formation and the role galaxies may play in cosmic reionization. Of particular importance is the stellar mass density at early times which represents the integral of earlier star formation. An important puzzle arising from the measurements so far reported is that the specific star formation rates (sSFR) evolve far less rapidly than expected in most theoretical models. Yet the observations underpinning these results remain very uncertain, owing in part to the possible contamination of rest-optical broadband light from strong nebular emission lines. To quantify the contribution of nebular emission to broad-band fluxes, we investigate the SEDs of 92 spectroscopically-confirmed galaxies in the redshift range 3.8<z<5.0 chosen because the H-alpha line lies within the Spitzer/IRAC 3.6 um filter. We demonstrate that the 3.6 um flux is systematically in excess of that expected from stellar continuum, which we derive by fitting the SED with population synthesis models. No such excess is seen in a control sample at 3.1<z<3.6 in which there is no nebular contamination in the IRAC filters. From the distribution of our 3.6 um flux excesses, we derive an H-alpha equivalent width (EW) distribution. The mean rest-frame H-alpha EW we infer at 3.8<z<5.0 (270 A) indicates that nebular emission contributes at least 30% of the 3.6 um flux. Via our empirically-derived EW distribution we correct the available stellar mass densities and show that the sSFR evolves more rapidly at z>4 than previously thought, supporting up to a 5x increase between z~2 and 7. Such a trend is much closer to theoretical expectations. Given our findings, we discuss the prospects for verifying quantitatively the nebular emission line strengths prior to the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope.
Star-forming galaxies at redshifts z>6 are likely responsible for the reionization of the universe, and it is important to study the nature of these galaxies. We present three candidates for z~7 Lyman-break galaxies (LBGs) from a 155 arcmin^2 area in the CANDELS/COSMOS field imaged by the deep FourStar Galaxy Evolution (zFourGE) survey. The FourStar medium-band filters provide the equivalent of R~10 spectroscopy, which cleanly distinguishes between z~7 LBGs and brown dwarf stars. The distinction between stars and galaxies based on an objects angular size can become unreliable even when using HST imaging; there exists at least one very compact z~7 candidate (FWHM~0.5-1 kpc) that is indistinguishable from a point source. The medium-band filters provide narrower redshift distributions compared with broad-band-derived redshifts. The UV luminosity function derived using the three z~7 candidates is consistent with previous studies, suggesting an evolution at the bright end (MUV -21.6 mag) from z~7 to z~5. Fitting the galaxies spectral energy distributions, we predict Lyman-alpha equivalent widths for the two brightest LBGs, and find that the presence of a Lyman-alpha line affects the medium-band flux thereby changing the constraints on stellar masses and UV spectral slopes. This illustrates the limitations of deriving LBG properties using only broad-band photometry. The derived specific star-formation rates for the bright LBGs are ~13 per Gyr, slightly higher than the lower-luminosity LBGs, implying that the star-formation rate increases with stellar mass for these galaxies.
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