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Register a new userThe Impact of The IGM on High-Redshift Lyman Alpha Emission Lines
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Mark Dijkstra
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We calculate the impact of the intergalactic medium (IGM) on the observed Lyman alpha lines (hereafter Lya) emitted by galaxies in an ionised IGM at z>4. Our model accounts for gas clumping in the IGM and for the fact that high-redshift galaxies reside in overdense regions, which causes the velocity field of the IGM to depart from the Hubble flow. The observed shape of the Lya line varies widely, with dependence on the intrinsic width and systemic velocity of the line, a galaxies star formation rate and the local extra-galactic UV-background. For large star formation rates and levels of the UV-background, absorption in the IGM does not result in a Lya line that is asymmetric as is common among known high-redshift Lya emitters. For models in which the lines do show the observed strong asymmetry, the IGM typically transmits only 10-30% of the Lya flux. The increase in the ionising background that accompanied the completion of reionisation barely increased the IGM transmission, which suggests that LAEs of comparable luminosity should not appear to be significantly dimmer prior to overlap. In this light, we briefly discuss the potential of Lya emitters as a probe into the epoch of reionisation.
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We present semi-analytical models of high redshift Lyman-{alpha} emitters (LAEs) in order to constrain the star formation efficiency in those galaxies. Our supernova feedback induced star formation model along with Sheth-Tormman halo mass function correctly reproduces the shape, amplitude and the redshift evolution of UV and Lyman-{alpha} luminosity functions of LAEs in the redshift range z = 2 to 7.3. We show that the fraction of Lyman-{alpha} emitting galaxies increases with increasing redshifts reaching to unity just after the reionisation. However, we show that star formation efficiency in those LAEs does not show any redshift evolution within the uncertainty in available observations. This would have significant repercussion on the reionisation of the intergalactic medium.
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