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Register a new userTracing large-scale structure at high redshift with Lyman-alpha emitters: the effect of peculiar velocities
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We investigate the effect of peculiar velocities on the redshift space distribution of z>~2 galaxies, and we focus in particular on Ly-alpha emitters. We generate catalogues of dark matter (DM) halos and identify emitters with halos of the same co-moving space density (M(Ly-alpha emitters) ~ 3x10^11 M_sun). We decompose the peculiar velocity field of halos into streaming, gradient and random components, and compute and analyse these as a function of scale. Streaming velocities are determined by fluctuations on very large scales, strongly affected by sample variance, but have a modest impact on the interpretation of observations. Gradient velocities are the most important as they distort structures in redshift space, changing the thickness and orientation of sheets and filaments. Random velocities are typically below or of the same order as the typical observational uncertainty on the redshift. We discuss the importance of these effects for the interpretation of data on the large-scale structure as traced by Ly-alpha emitters (or similar kinds of astrophysical high-redshift objects), focusing on the induced errors in the viewing angles of filaments. We compare our predictions of velocity patterns for Ly-alpha emitters to observations and find that redshift clumping of Ly-alpha emitters, as reported for instance in the fields of high-redshift radio galaxies, does not allow to infer whether an observed field is sampling an early galaxy overdensity.
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We derive the luminosity function of high-redshift Lyman alpha emitting sources from a deep, blind, spectroscopic survey that utilized strong-lensing magnification by intermediate-redshift clusters of galaxies. We observed carefully selected regions near 9 clusters, consistent with magnification factors generally greater than 10 for the redshift range 4.5<z<6.7. Eleven emission-line candidates were located in the range 2.2<z<5.6 whose identification we justify as Lyman alpha, in most cases via further spectroscopic observations. The selection function we constructed for our survey takes into account our varying intrinsic Lyman alpha line sensitivity as a function of wavelength and sky position. By virtue of the strong magnification factor, we provide constraints on the Lyman alpha luminosity function to unprecedented limits of 10^40 erg/s, corresponding to a star-formation rate of 0.01 Msun/yr. Our cumulative z=5 Lyman alpha luminosity function is consistent with a power law form, n(>L) proportional to L^-1 over 10^41 to 10^42.5 erg/s. When combined with the results of other surveys, limited at higher luminosities, our results suggest evidence for the suppression of star formation in low-mass halos, as predicted in popular models of galaxy formation.
The Lya emission has been observed from galaxies over a redshift span z ~ 0 - 8.6. However, the evolution of high-redshift Lya emitters (LAEs), and the link between these populations and local galaxies, remain poorly understood. Here, we investigate the Lya properties of progenitors of a local L* galaxy by combining cosmological hydrodynamic simulations with three-dimensional radiative transfer calculations using the new ART^2 code. We find that the main progenitor (the most massive one) of a Milky Way-like galaxy has a number of Lya properties close to those of observed LAEs at z ~ 2 - 6, but most of the fainter ones appear to fall below the detection limits of current surveys. The Lya photon escape fraction depends sensitively on a number of physical properties of the galaxy, such as mass, star formation rate, and metallicity, as well as galaxy morphology and orientation. Moreover, we find that high-redshift LAEs show blue-shifted Lya line profiles characteristic of gas inflow, and that the Lya emission by excitation cooling increases with redshift, and becomes dominant at z > 6. Our results suggest that some observed LAEs at z ~ 2-6 with luminosity of L_Lya ~ 10^{42-43} ergs/s may be similar to the main progenitor of the Milky Way at high redshift, and that they may evolve into present-day L* galaxies.
With the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE), it is now possible to detect spatially extended Lyman alpha emission from individual faint (M_UV ~ -18) galaxies at redshifts, 3 < z < 6, tracing gas out to circum-galactic scales comparable to the dark matter halo virial radius. To explore the implications of such observations, we present a cosmological radiation hydrodynamics simulation of a single galaxy, chosen to be typical of the Lyman alpha-emitting galaxies detected by MUSE in deep fields. We use this simulation to study the origin and dynamics of the high-redshift circum-galactic medium (CGM). We find that the majority of the mass in the diffuse CGM is comprised of material infalling for the first time towards the halo center, but with the inner CGM also containing a comparable amount of mass that has moved past first-pericentric passage, and is in the process of settling into a rotationally supported configuration. Making the connection to Lyman alpha emission, we find that the observed extended surface brightness profile is due to a combination of three components: scattering of galactic Lyman alpha emission in the CGM, in-situ emission of CGM gas (mostly infalling), and Lyman alpha emission from small satellite galaxies. The weight of these contributions vary with distance from the galaxy such that (1) scattering dominates the inner regions (r < 7 kpc), at surface brightness larger than a few 10^-19 cgs, (2) all components contribute equally around r ~ 10 kpc (or SB ~10^-19), and (3) the contribution of small satellite galaxies takes over at large distances (or SB ~10^-20). Our simulation fails to reproduce the characteristic observed Lyman alpha spectral morphology that is red-shifted with respect to the systemic velocity, with the implication that the simulation is missing an important component of neutral outflowing gas.
We explore how to mitigate the clustering distortions in Lyman-$alpha$ emitters (LAEs) samples caused by the miss-identification of the Lyman-$alpha$ (Ly$alpha$) wavelength in their Ly$alpha$ line profiles. We use the Ly$alpha$ line profiles from our previous LAE theoretical model that includes radiative transfer in the interstellar and intergalactic mediums. We introduce a novel approach to measure the systemic redshift of LAEs from their Ly$alpha$ line using neural networks. In detail, we assume that, for a fraction of the whole LAE population their systemic redshift is determined precisely through other spectral features. We then use this subset to train a neural network that predicts the Ly$alpha$ wavelength given a Ly$alpha$ line profile. We test two different training sets: i) the LAEs are selected homogeneously and ii) only the brightest LAEs are selected. In comparison with previous approaches in the literature, our methodology improves significantly both accuracy and precision in determining the Ly$alpha$ wavelength. In fact, after applying our algorithm in ideal Ly$alpha$ line profiles, we recover the clustering unperturbed down to 1cMpc/h. Then, we test the performance of our methodology in realistic Ly$alpha$ line profiles by downgrading their quality. The machine learning techniques work well even if the Ly$alpha$ line profile quality is decreased considerably. We conclude that LAE surveys such as HETDEX would benefit from determining with high accuracy the systemic redshift of a subpopulation and applying our methodology to estimate the systemic redshift of the rest of the galaxy sample.
Lyman alpha (Lya) emission lines should be attenuated in a neutral intergalactic medium (IGM). Therefore the visibility of Lya emitters at high redshifts can serve as a valuable probe of reionization at about the 50% level. We present an imaging search for z=7.7 Lya emitting galaxies using an ultra-narrowband filter (filter width= 9A) on the NEWFIRM imager at the Kitt Peak National Observatory. We found four candidate Lya emitters in a survey volume of 1.4 x 10^4 Mpc^3, with a line flux brighter than 6x10^-18 erg/cm^2/s (5 sigma in 2 aperture). We also performed a detailed Monte-Carlo simulation incorporating the instrumental effects to estimate the expected number of Lya emitters in our survey, and found that we should expect to detect one Lya emitter, assuming a non-evolving Lya luminosity function (LF) between z=6.5 and z=7.7. Even if one of the present candidates is spectroscopically confirmed as a z~8 Lya emitter, it would indicate that there is no significant evolution of the Lya LF from z=3.1 to z~8. While firm conclusions would need both spectroscopic confirmations and larger surveys to boost the number counts of galaxies, we successfully demonstrate the feasibility of sensitive near-infrared (1.06 um) narrow-band searches using custom filters designed to avoid the OH emission lines that make up most of the sky background.
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