The MUSE-Wide survey: A measurement of the Ly$\alpha$ emitting fraction among $z>3$ galaxies

Abstract

We present a measurement of the fraction of Lyman $\alpha$ (Ly$\alpha$) emitters ($X_{\mathrm{Ly}\alpha }$) amongst HST continuum-selected galaxies at $3<z<6$ with the Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) on the VLT. Making use of the first 24 MUSE-Wide pointings in GOODS-South, each having an integration time of 1 hour, we detect 100 Ly$\alpha$ emitters and find $X_{\mathrm{Ly}\alpha }\gtrsim 0.5$ for most of the redshift range covered, with 29 per cent of the Ly$\alpha$ sample exhibiting rest equivalent widths (rest-EWs) $\le$ 15Å. Adopting a range of rest-EW cuts (0 - 75Å), we find no evidence of a dependence of $X_{\mathrm{Ly}\alpha }$ on either redshift or UV luminosity.

arXiv comment10 pages, 5 figures (MNRAS, updated as per version in press)

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