The UV, Lyman-alpha, and dark matter halo properties of high redshift galaxies

Abstract

We explore the properties of high-redshift Lyman-alpha emitters (LAE), and their link with the Lyman-Break galaxy population (LBG), using a semi-analytic model of galaxy formation that takes into account resonant scattering of Lya photons in gas outflows. We can reasonably reproduce the abundances of LAEs and LBGs from redshift 3 to 7, as well as most UV LFs of LAEs. The stronger dust attenuation for (resonant) Lya photons compared to UV continuum photons in bright LBGs provides a natural interpretation to the increase of the LAE fraction in LBG samples, X_LAE, towards fainter magnitudes. The redshift evolution of X_LAE seems however very sensitive to UV magnitudes limits and EW cuts. In spite of the apparent good match between the statistical properties predicted by the model and the observations, we find that the tail of the Lya equivalent width distribution (EW > 100 A) cannot be explained by our model, and we need to invoke additional mechanisms. We find that LAEs and LBGs span a very similar dynamical range, but bright LAEs are about 4 times rarer than LBGs in massive halos. Moreover, massive halos mainly contain weak LAEs in our model, which might introduce a bias towards low-mass halos in surveys which select sources with high EW cuts. Overall, our results are consistent with the idea that LAEs and LBGs make a very similar galaxy population. Their apparent differences seem mainly due to EW selections, UV detection limits, and a decreasing Lya-to-UV escape fraction ratio in high SFR galaxies.

accepted in MNRAS

References in corpus (31)

• Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) Three Year Results: Implications for Cosmology
• Five-Year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) Observations: Cosmological Interpretation
• Cold streams in early massive hot haloes as the main mode of galaxy formation
• UV Luminosity Functions at z~4, 5, and 6 from the HUDF and other Deep HST ACS Fields: Evolution and Star Formation History
• The Subaru/XMM-Newton Deep Survey (SXDS). IV. Evolution of Lya Emitters from z=3.1 to 5.7 in the 1 deg^2 Field: Luminosity Functions and AGN
• 3D Lyman-alpha radiation transfer. I. Understanding Lyman-alpha line profile morphologies
• Multi-Wavelength Constraints on the Cosmic Star Formation History from Spectroscopy: the Rest-Frame UV, H-alpha, and Infrared Luminosity Functions at Redshifts 1.9<z<3.4
• The End of the Reionization Epoch Probed by Ly-alpha Emitters at z=6.5 in the Subaru Deep Field
• Ly-alpha Emission-Line Galaxies at z = 3.1 in the Extended Chandra Deep Field South
• A galaxy at a redshift z = 6.96
• Lyman Alpha Emitting Galaxies as a Probe of Reionization
• z~7-10 Galaxies in the HUDF and GOODS fields, and their UV Luminosity Functions
• Building Merger Trees from Cosmological N-body Simulations
• A Population of Faint Extended Line Emitters and the Host Galaxies of Optically Thick QSO Absorption Systems
• Can the intergalactic medium cause a rapid drop in Lyman alpha emission at z>6?
• 3D Lyman-alpha radiation transfer. III. Constraints on gas and stellar properties of z~3 Lyman break galaxies (LBG) and implications for high-z LBGs and Lyman-alpha emitters(LAEs)
• The luminosity function, halo masses and stellar masses of luminous Lyman-break galaxies at redshifts 5<z<6
• Definitive Identification of the Transition between Small- to Large-Scale Clustering for Lyman Break Galaxies
• The VIMOS Ultra-Deep Survey (VUDS): fast increase of the fraction of strong Lyman alpha emitters from z=2 to z=6
• A Luminosity Function of Lyman Alpha Emitting Galaxies at Redshift 4.5
• Lyman alpha Resonant Scattering in Young Galaxies - Predictions from Cosmological Simulations
• Lyman Alpha Emitters at Redshift 5.7 in the COSMOS Field
• Deficiency of large equivalent width Lyman-alpha emission in luminous Lyman break galaxies at z~5-6?
• Clustering of Lyman alpha emitters at z ~ 4.5
• Lyman Alpha Emitters in the Hierarchically Clustering Galaxy Formation
• Differential Evolution of the UV Luminosity Function of Lyman Break Galaxies from z~5 to 3
• The GLARE Survey II. Faint z=6 Ly-alpha Line Emitters in the HUDF
• Directional Lya equivalent boosting I. Spherically symmetric distributions of clumps
• Keck Deep Fields. III. Luminosity-dependent Evolution of the Ultraviolet Luminosity and Star Formation Rate Densities at z~4, 3, and 2
• Ly-alpha emitting galaxies at redshift z~4.5 in the LALA Cetus field
• Lyman Alpha and MgII as Probes of Galaxies and their Environments

Cited by in corpus (27)

• The CALYMHA survey: Lya luminosity function and global escape fraction of Lya photons at z=2.23
• The MUSE Hubble Ultra Deep Field Survey X. Ly$\alpha$ Equivalent Widths at $2.9<z<6.6$
• The MUSE Extremely Deep Field: the Cosmic Web in Emission at High Redshift
• The MUSE Hubble Ultra Deep Field Survey VIII : Extended Lyman-alpha haloes around high-redshift star-forming galaxies
• No overdensity of Lyman Alpha Emitting Galaxies around a quasar at z~5.7
• Confirmation of a Steep Luminosity Function for Lyman-alpha Emitters at z = 5.7: A Major Component of Reionization
• Lyman-$\alpha$ as a tracer of cosmic reionisation in the SPHINX radiation-hydrodynamics cosmological simulation
• Linking gas and galaxies at high redshift: MUSE surveys the environments of six damped Lyman alpha galaxies at z~3
• The MUSE-Wide survey: A measurement of the Ly$\alpha$ emitting fraction among $z>3$ galaxies
• A High Space Density of Luminous Lyman Alpha Emitters at z~6.5
• Lyman Alpha Reference Sample: X. Predicting Lyman alpha output from starforming galaxies using multivariate regression
• The MUSE eXtremely Deep Field: Individual detections of Lyα haloes around rest-frame UV-selected galaxies at z~2.9-4.4
• Dark-ages Reionization and Galaxy Formation Simulation XX. The Ly$\alpha$ IGM transmission properties and environment of bright galaxies during the Epoch of Reionization
• Active Galactic Nucleus Environments and Feedback to Neighboring Galaxies at $z\sim 5$ Probed by Lyman-Alpha Emitters
• No Ly$\alpha$ emitters detected around a QSO at z=6.4: Suppressed by the QSO?
• The VANDELS survey: Discovery of massive overdensities of galaxies at z>2
• The MUSE-Wide survey: Detection of a clustering signal from Lyman-α-emitters at 3<z<6
• Clustering dependence on Lyman-$\alpha$ luminosity from MUSE surveys at $3<z<6$
• Median Surface Brightness Profiles of Lyman-$\alpha$ Haloes in the MUSE Extremely Deep Field
• Astraeus III: The environment and physical properties of reionization sources
• The Ly$\alpha$ emission from high-$z$ galaxies hosting strong Damped Ly$\alpha$ systems
• Cosmology before noon with multiple galaxy populations
• The MUSE-Wide survey: Three-dimensional clustering analysis of Lyman-$\alpha$ emitters at $3.3<z<6$
• Spatially-resolved Spectroscopic Analysis of Ly$\alpha$ Haloes: Radial Evolution of the Ly$\alpha$ Line Profile out to 60 kpc
• The contribution of faint Lyman-$\alpha$ emitters to extended Lyman-$\alpha$ halos constrained by MUSE clustering measurements
• The MUSE Hubble Ultra Deep Field Survey XIV. The evolution of the Lya emitter fraction from z=3 to z=6
• Clustering analysis of medium-band selected high-redshift galaxies