Discovery of Extreme [OIII]+H$\beta$ Emitting Galaxies Tracing an Overdensity at z~3.5 in CDF-South

Abstract

Using deep multi-wavelength photometry of galaxies from ZFOURGE, we group galaxies at $2.5<z<4.0$ by the shape of their spectral energy distributions (SEDs). We identify a population of galaxies with excess emission in the $K_s$-band, which corresponds to [OIII]+H$\beta$ emission at $2.95<z<3.65$. This population includes 78% of the bluest galaxies with UV slopes steeper than $\beta =-2$. We de-redshift and scale this photometry to build two composite SEDs, enabling us to measure equivalent widths of these Extreme [OIII]+H$\beta$ Emission Line Galaxies (EELGs) at $z\sim 3.5$. We identify 60 galaxies that comprise a composite SED with [OIII]+H$\beta$ rest-frame equivalent width of $803\pm 228$Å and another 218 galaxies in a composite SED with equivalent width of $230\pm 90$Å. These EELGs are analogous to the `green peas' found in the SDSS, and are thought to be undergoing their first burst of star formation due to their blue colors ($\beta <-1.6$), young ages ($\log (\mathrm{age}/yr)\sim 7.2$), and low dust attenuation values. Their strong nebular emission lines and compact sizes (typically $\sim 1.4$ kpc) are consistent with the properties of the star-forming galaxies possibly responsible for reionizing the universe at $z>6$. Many of the EELGs also exhibit Lyman-$\alpha$ emission. Additionally, we find that many of these sources are clustered in an overdensity in the Chandra Deep Field South, with five spectroscopically confirmed members at $z=3.474\pm 0.004$. The spatial distribution and photometric redshifts of the ZFOURGE population further confirm the overdensity highlighted by the EELGs.

arXiv commentAccepted for publication in ApJL. 8 pages, 4 figures

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