No Arabic abstract
Ly$alpha$ Emitters (LAEs) may represent an important galaxy population in the low mass regime. We present our deep narrowband imaging surveys in the COSMOS and ECDF-S fields and study the properties of LAEs at $z=2.23pm0.03$. The narrowband surveys conducted at Magellan II telescope allow us to obtain a sample of 452 LAEs reaching a $5sigma$ limiting magnitude of $sim26$ mag. Our Ly$alpha$ luminosity functions extend to $10^{41.8}$ erg s$^{-1}$ with steep faint-end slope. Using multi-wavelength ancillary data, especially the deep Spitzer/IRAC 3.6$mu$m and 4.5$mu$m photometric data, we obtained reliable stellar mass estimates for 130 IRAC-detected LAEs, spanning a range of $8 < {rm log}(M_star/M_odot)< 11.5$. For the remaining IRAC-undetected LAEs, the median-stacked spectral energy distribution yields a stellar mass of ${rm log}(M_star/M_odot)=7.97^{+0.05}_{-0.07}$ and the rest-frame ultraviolet emission indicates a median star formation rate of ${rm log} (SFR/M_odot$ yr$^{-1})=-0.14pm0.35$. There are six LAEs detected by the Spitzer/MIPS 24$mu$m or even Herschel far-infrared observations. Taking into account the six MIR/FIR detected LAEs, our LAEs cover a wide range in the star formation rate (${rm 1<SFR<2000}$ M$_odot$ yr$^{-1}$). Although LAEs as a population are diverse in their stellar properties, they are mostly low-mass star-forming galaxies and follow the star formation main sequence relations or their extrapolations to the low-mass end, implying a normal star-forming nature of LAEs. The clustering analysis indicates that our LAEs reside in dark matter halos with ${rm <log(M_{h}/M_{odot})> =10.8^{+0.56}_{-1.1}}$, suggesting that they are progenitors of local Large Magellanic Cloud-like galaxies.
In this work we model the observed evolution in comoving number density of Lyman-alpha blobs (LABs) as a function of redshift, and try to find which mechanism of emission is dominant in LAB. Our model calculates LAB emission both from cooling radiation from the intergalactic gas accreting onto galaxies and from star formation (SF). We have used dark matter (DM) cosmological simulation to which we applied empirical recipes for Ly$alpha$ emission produced by cooling radiation and SF in every halo. In difference to the previous work, the simulated volume in the DM simulation is large enough to produce an average LABs number density. At a range of redshifts $zsim 1-7$ we compare our results with the observed luminosity functions of LABs and LAEs. Our cooling radiation luminosities appeared to be too small to explain LAB luminosities at all redshifts. In contrast, for SF we obtained a good agreement with observed LFs at all redshifts studied. We also discuss uncertainties which could influence the obtained results, and how LAB LFs could be related to each other in fields with different density.
We present the results of a Lya profile analysis of 12 Lya emitters (LAEs) at z = 2.2 with high-resolution Lya spectra. We find that all 12 objects have a Lya profile with the main peak redward of the systemic redshift defined by nebular lines, and five have a weak, secondary peak blueward of the systemic redshift (blue bump). The average velocity offset of the red main peak (the blue bump, if any) with respect to the systemic redshift is Delta_v_Lya,r = 174+/- 19 km s-1 (Delta_v_Lya,b = -316+/-45 km s-1), which is smaller than (comparable to) that of Lyman-break galaxies (LBGs). The outflow velocities inferred from metal absorption lines in three individual and one stacked spectra are comparable to those of LBGs. The expanding shell model constructed by Verhamme et al. (2006) reproduces not only the Lya profiles but also other observed quantities including the outflow velocity and the FWHM of nebular lines for the non-blue bump objects. On the other hand, the model predicts too high FWHMs of nebular lines for the blue bump objects, although this discrepancy may disappear if we introduce additional Lya photons produced by gravitational cooling. We show that the small Delta_v_Lya,r values of our sample can be explained by low neutral-hydrogen column densities of log(NHI) = 18.9 cm-2 on average. This value is more than one order of magnitude lower than those of LBGs but is consistent with recent findings that LAEs have high ionization parameters and low Hi gas masses. This result suggests that low NHI values, giving reduced numbers of resonant scattering of Lya photons, are the key to the strong Lya emission of LAEs.
We use broadband photometry extending from the rest-frame UV to the near-IR to fit the individual spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of 63 bright (L(Ly-alpha) > 10^43 ergs/s) Ly-alpha emitting galaxies (LAEs) in the redshift range 1.9 < z < 3.6. We find that these LAEs are quite heterogeneous, with stellar masses that span over three orders of magnitude, from 7.5 < log M < 10.5. Moreover, although most LAEs have small amounts of extinction, some high-mass objects have stellar reddenings as large as E(B-V) ~0.4. Interestingly, in dusty objects the optical depths for Ly-alpha and the UV continuum are always similar, indicating that Ly-alpha photons are not undergoing many scatters before escaping their galaxy. In contrast, the ratio of optical depths in low-reddening systems can vary widely, illustrating the diverse nature of the systems. Finally, we show that in the star formation rate (SFR)-log mass diagram, our LAEs fall above the main-sequence defined by z ~ 3 continuum selected star-forming galaxies. In this respect, they are similar to sub-mm-selected galaxies, although most LAEs have much lower mass.
In this series of lectures, I review our observational understanding of high-$z$ Ly$alpha$ emitters (LAEs) and relevant scientific topics. Since the discovery of LAEs in the late 1990s, more than ten (one) thousand(s) of LAEs have been identified photometrically (spectroscopically) at $zsim 0$ to $zsim 10$. These large samples of LAEs are useful to address two major astrophysical issues, galaxy formation and cosmic reionization. Statistical studies have revealed the general picture of LAEs physical properties: young stellar populations, remarkable luminosity function evolutions, compact morphologies, highly ionized inter-stellar media (ISM) with low metal/dust contents, low masses of dark-matter halos. Typical LAEs represent low-mass high-$z$ galaxies, high-$z$ analogs of dwarf galaxies, some of which are thought to be candidates of population III galaxies. These observational studies have also pinpointed rare bright Ly$alpha$ sources extended over $sim 10-100$ kpc, dubbed Ly$alpha$ blobs, whose physical origins are under debate. LAEs are used as probes of cosmic reionization history through the Ly$alpha$ damping wing absorption given by the neutral hydrogen of the inter-galactic medium (IGM), which complement the cosmic microwave background radiation and 21cm observations. The low-mass and highly-ionized population of LAEs can be major sources of cosmic reionization. The budget of ionizing photons for cosmic reionization has been constrained, although there remain large observational uncertainties in the parameters. Beyond galaxy formation and cosmic reionization, several new usages of LAEs for science frontiers have been suggested such as the distribution of {sc Hi} gas in the circum-galactic medium and filaments of large-scale structures. On-going programs and future telescope projects, such as JWST, ELTs, and SKA, will push the horizons of the science frontiers.
We investigate morphological properties of 61 Lyman-alpha emitters (LAEs) at z = 4.86 identified in the COSMOS field, based on Hubble Space Telescope Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) imaging data in the F814W-band. Out of the 61 LAEs, we find the ACS counterparts for the 54 LAEs. Eight LAEs show double-component structures with a mean projected separation of 0.63 (~ 4.0 kpc at z = 4.86). Considering the faintness of these ACS sources, we carefully evaluate their morphological properties, that is, size and ellipticity. While some of them are compact and indistinguishable from the PSF half-light radius of 0.07 (~ 0.45 kpc), the others are clearly larger than the PSF size and spatially extended up to 0.3 (~ 1.9 kpc). We find that the ACS sources show a positive correlation between ellipticity and size and that the ACS sources with large size and round shape are absent. Our Monte Carlo simulation suggests that the correlation can be explained by (1) the deformation effects via PSF broadening and shot noise or (2) the source blending in which two or more sources with small separation are blended in our ACS image and detected as a single elongated source. Therefore, the 46 single-component LAEs could contain the sources which consist of double (or multiple) components with small spatial separation (i.e., < 0.3 or 1.9 kpc). Further observation with high angular resolution at longer wavelengths (e.g., rest-frame wavelengths of > 4000 A) is inevitable to decipher which interpretation is adequate for our LAE sample.