The Wyoming Survey for H-alpha. III. H-alpha Luminosity Functions at z ~ 0.16, 0.24, 0.32, and 0.40

Abstract

The Wyoming Survey for H-alpha, or WySH, is a large-area, ground-based imaging survey for H-alpha-emitting galaxies at redshifts of z ~ 0.16, 0.24, 0.32, and 0.40. The survey spans up to four square degrees in a set of fields of low Galactic cirrus emission, using twin narrowband filters at each epoch for improved stellar continuum subtraction. H-alpha luminosity functions are presented for each Delta(z) ~ 0.02 epoch based on a total of nearly 1200 galaxies. These data clearly show an evolution with lookback time in the volume-averaged cosmic star formation rate. Integrals of Schechter fits to the incompleteness- and extinction-corrected H-alpha luminosity functions indicate star formation rates per co-moving volume of 0.010, 0.013, 0.020, 0.022 h_70 M_sun yr^{-1} Mpc^{-3} at z ~ 0.16, 0.24, 0.32, and 0.40, respectively. Statistical and systematic measurement uncertainties combined are on the order of 25% while the effects of cosmic variance are at the 20% level. The bulk of this evolution is driven by changes in the characteristic luminosity L_* of the H-alpha luminosity functions, with L_* for the earlier two epochs being a factor of two larger than L_* at the latter two epochs; it is more difficult with this data set to decipher systematic evolutionary differences in the luminosity function amplitude and faint-end slope. Coupling these results with a comprehensive compilation of results from the literature on emission line surveys, the evolution in the cosmic star formation rate density over 0 < z < 1.5 is measured to be rho_dot_SFR(z) = rho_dot_SFR(0) (1+z)^{3.4+/-0.4}.

Accepted for publication in ApJ Letters

References in corpus (13)

• The 0.4 < z < 1.3 star formation history of the Universe as viewed in the far-infrared
• The Evolution of Stellar Mass and the Implied Star Formation History
• The Luminosity Function and Star Formation Rate between Redshifts of 0.07 and 1.47 for Narrow-band Emitters in the Subaru Deep Field
• Photometric redshifts in the SWIRE Survey
• HiZELS: a high redshift survey of H-alpha emitters. I: the cosmic star-formation rate and clustering at z=2.23
• Luminosity functions for galaxies and quasars in the Spitzer Wide-Area Infrared Extra-galactic (SWIRE) Legacy survey
• Obscured star formation at z = 0.84 with HiZELS: the relationship between star formation rate and H-alpha or ultra-violet dust extinction
• The Halpha-based Star Formation Rate Density of the Universe at z=0.84
• The H$\alpha$ Luminosity Function and Star Formation Rate at $z\approx 0.24$ in the Cosmos 2 Square-Degree Field
• The H-alpha luminosity function at redshift 2.2: A new determination using VLT/HAWK-I
• The [OII]3727 Luminosity function and Star Formation Rate at z~1.2 in the COSMOS 2 Square-degree Field and the Subaru Deep Field
• Evolution of the Halpha luminosity function
• The Wyoming Survey for H-alpha. I. Initial Results at z ~ 0.16 and 0.24

Cited by in corpus (29)

• The Evolution of Compact Binary Star Systems
• Star formation at z=1.47 from HiZELS: An Hα+[OII] double-blind study
• Galaxy And Mass Assembly: Evolution of the Halpha luminosity function and star formation rate density up to z<0.35
• A comparison between star formation rate diagnostics and rate of core collapse supernovae within 11 Mpc
• Nebular Attenuation in Hα-selected Star-forming Galaxies at z=0.8 from the NewHα Survey
• The Star Formation Rate Distribution Function of the Local Universe
• MOIRCS Deep Survey. VIII. Evolution of Star Formation Activity as a Function of Stellar Mass in Galaxies since z~3
• The role of cluster mergers and travelling shocks in shaping the H$\alpha$ luminosity function at $\mathbf{z}\sim 0.2$: `sausage' and `toothbrush' clusters
• Red Star Forming Galaxies and Their Environment at z=0.4 Revealed by Panoramic H-alpha Imaging
• The HerMES sub-millimetre local and low-redshift luminosity functions
• Recalibrating the Cosmic Star Formation History
• A large narrow band H$\alpha$ survey at $z\sim 0.2$: the bright end of the luminosity function, cosmic variance and clustering across cosmic time
• A 16 deg${}^2$ survey of emission-line galaxies at z<1.5 in HSC-SSP PDR1
• Continuum removal in Hα extragalactic measurements
• A large, deep 3 deg${}^2$ survey of H$\alpha$, [OIII], and [OII] emitters from LAGER: constraining luminosity functions
• Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): Bivariate functions of H$\alpha$ star forming galaxies
• A Two-Dimensional Spectroscopic Study of Emission Line Galaxies in the Faint Infrared Grism Survey (FIGS) I: Detection Method and Catalog
• A 16 deg${}^2$ survey of emission-line galaxies at z<1.6 from HSC-SSP PDR2 and CHORUS
• The miniJPAS survey: Identification and characterization of the emission line galaxies down to $z<0.35$ in the AEGIS field
• A Wide-Field Camera and Fully Remote Operations at the Wyoming Infrared Observatory
• A Virgo Environmental Survey Tracing Ionised Gas Emission (VESTIGE) XV. The Halpha luminosity function of the Virgo cluster
• Bulgeless galaxies in the COSMOS field: environment and star formation evolution at $z<1$
• Comparing H-alpha and HI Surveys as Means to a Complete Local Galaxy Catalog in the Advanced LIGO/Virgo Era
• Diffuse supernova neutrino background with up-to-date star formation rate measurements and long-term multidimensional supernova simulations
• A Method to improve line flux and redshift measurements with narrowband filters
• A comprehensive study of H$\alpha$ emitters at $z\sim$ 0.62 in the DAWN survey: the need for deep and wide regions
• Properties of galaxies at the faint end of the H$\alpha$ luminosity function at $z\sim 0.62$
• HST Hα grism spectroscopy of ROLES: a flatter low-mass slope for the z~1 SSFR--mass relation
• The Wyoming Survey for H-alpha. III. A Multi-wavelength Look at Attenuation by Dust in Galaxies out to z~0.4