In this contribution we briefly describe our recent results on the properties of Lyman break galaxies at z~5 obtained from deep and wide blank field surveys using Subaru telescope, and through the comparison with samples at lower redshift ranges we discuss the evolution of star-forming galaxies in the early universe.
(abridged) We report the UV luminosity function (LF) of Lyman break galaxies at z~5 derived from a deep and wide survey using the Subaru/Suprime-Cam. Target fields consist of two blank regions of the sky (the HDF-N and J0053+1234), and the total effective surveyed area is 1290 sqarcmin. Applications of carefully determined colour selection criteria in V-I and I-z yield a detection of 853 candidates with zAB<26.5 mag. The derived UVLF at z~5 shows no significant change in the number density of bright (L>=L*_z=3) LBGs from that at z~3, while there is a significant decline in the LFs faint end with increasing lookback time. This result means that the evolution of the number densities is differential with UV luminosity: the number density of UV luminous objects remains almost constant from z~5 to 3 while the number density of fainter objects gradually increases with cosmic time. This trend becomes apparent thanks to the small uncertainties in number densities both in the bright and faint parts of LFs at different epochs that are made possible by the deep and wide surveys. We discuss the origins of this differential evolution and suggest that our observational findings are consistent with the biased galaxy evolution scenario: a galaxy population hosted by massive dark haloes starts active star formation preferentially at early cosmic time, while less massive galaxies increase their number density later. We also calculated the UV luminosity density by integrating the UVLF and at z~5 found it to be 38.8% of that at z~3 for the luminosity range L>0.1 L^*_z=3. By combining our results with those from the literature, we find that the cosmic UV luminosity density marks its peak at z=2-3 and then slowly declines toward higher redshift.
(abridged) We present results of a search for Lyman break galaxies (LBGs) at z ~ 5 in a 618 square-arcmin field including the HDF-N taken by Subaru Prime Focus Camera. Utilizing the published redshift data of the HDF-N and its flanking fields, the color selection criteria are chosen so that LBGs are picked out most efficiently and least contaminated by foreground objects. The numbers of LBG candidates detected are 310 in 23.0 < I_c < 25.5. The rest-frame UV luminosity function(LF) of LBGs at z ~ 5 is derived statistically. The fraction of contamination is estimated to be ~50% in the faintest magnitude range. The completeness of the survey is ~80% at the bright part of the sample, and ~20% in the faintest magnitude range (25.0 < I_c <= 25.5). The LF of LBG candidates at z ~ 5 does not show a significant difference from those at z ~ 3 and 4, though there might be a slight decrease in the fainter part. The UV luminosity density within the observational limit is 0.56 - 0.69 times smaller than that obtained for LBGs at z ~ 3, depending on the adopted cosmology and the integration range of the LF. The similarity of the LFs at redshifts 5 to 3 implies that most of LBGs at z ~ 5 should have faded out at z ~ 3 and LBGs at z ~ 5 are different galaxies from those seen at z ~ 3, if we take face values for ages of the LBGs at z ~ 3 obtained by the SED fitting in which a continuous star formation in an individual galaxy is assumed. However, if the star formation in LBGs is sporadic, the similarity of the LF at z ~ 3 and 5 would be explained. Such sporadic star formation has been suggested by hydrodynamical simulations and semi-analytic models with collisional starbursts, and the trend of the cosmic star formation history predicted by these studies resembles to that estimated from the UV luminosity density within the observational limit.
The integrated colors of distant galaxies provide a means for interpreting the properties of their stellar content. Here, we use rest-frame UV-to-optical colors to constrain the spectral-energy distributions and stellar populations of color-selected, B-dropout galaxies at z ~ 4 in the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey. We combine the ACS data with ground-based near-infrared images, which extend the coverage of galaxies at z ~ 4 to the rest-frame B-band. We observe a color-magnitude trend in the rest-frame m(UV) - B versus B diagram for the z ~ 4 galaxies that has a fairly well-defined blue-envelope, and is strikingly similar to that of color-selected, U-dropout galaxies at z ~ 3. We also find that although the co-moving luminosity density at rest-frame UV wavelengths (1600 Angstroms) is roughly comparable at z ~ 3 and z ~ 4, the luminosity density at rest-frame optical wavelengths increases by about one-third from z ~ 4 to z ~ 3. Although the star-formation histories of individual galaxies may involve complex and stochastic events, the evolution in the global luminosity density of the UV-bright galaxy population corresponds to an average star-formation history with a star-formation rate that is constant or increasing over these redshifts. This suggests that the evolution in the luminosity density corresponds to an increase in the stellar-mass density of more than 33%.
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.