The [OIII]$\lambda 5007$ equivalent width distribution at z $\sim 2$: The redshift evolution of the extreme emission line galaxies

Abstract

We determine the [OIII]$\lambda 5007$ equivalent width (EW) distribution of $1.700<\mathrm{z}<2.274$ rest-frame UV-selected (M${}_{\mathrm{UV}}<-19$) star-forming galaxies in the GOODS North and South fields. We make use of deep HDUV broadband photometry catalogues for selection and 3D-HST WFC3/IR grism spectra for measurement of line properties. The [OIII]$\lambda 5007$ EW distribution allows us to measure the abundance of extreme emission line galaxies (EELGs) within this population. We model a log-normal distribution to the [OIII]$\lambda 5007$ rest-frame equivalent widths of galaxies in our sample, with location parameter $\mu =4.24\pm 0.07$ and variance parameter $\sigma =1.33\pm 0.06$. This EW distribution has a mean [OIII]$\lambda 5007$ EW of 168$\pm 1\mathring{A}$. The fractions of $\mathrm{z}\sim 2$ rest-UV-selected galaxies with [OIII]$\lambda 5007$ EWs greater than $500,750$ and $1000\mathring{A}$ are measured to be $6.8_{-0.9}^{+1.0}\%$, $3.6_{-0.6}^{+0.7}\%$, and $2.2_{-0.4}^{+0.5}\%$ respectively. The EELG fractions do not vary strongly with UV luminosity in the range ($-21.6<M_{\mathrm{UV}}<-19.0$) considered in this paper, consistent with findings at higher redshifts. We compare our results to $\mathrm{z}\sim 5$ and $\mathrm{z}\sim 7$ studies where candidate EELGs have been discovered through Spitzer/IRAC colours, and we identify rapid evolution with redshift in the fraction of star-forming galaxies observed in an extreme emission line phase (a rise by a factor $\sim 10$ between $\mathrm{z}\sim 2$ and $\mathrm{z}\sim 7$). This evolution is consistent with an increased incidence of strong bursts in the galaxy population of the reionisation era. While this population makes a sub-dominant contribution of the ionising emissivity at $\mathrm{z}\simeq 2$, EELGs are likely to dominate the ionising output in the reionisation era.

arXiv commentSubmitted to MNRAS. 13 pages, 6 figures

References in corpus (98)

• emcee: The MCMC Hammer
• Detailed Structural Decomposition of Galaxy Images
• EAZY: A Fast, Public Photometric Redshift Code
• A Highly Consistent Framework for the Evolution of the Star-Forming "Main Sequence" from z~0-6
• UV Luminosity Functions at redshifts z~4 to z~10: 10000 Galaxies from HST Legacy Fields
• 3D-HST WFC3-selected Photometric Catalogs in the Five CANDELS/3D-HST Fields: Photometry, Photometric Redshifts and Stellar Masses
• Cosmic Reionization and Early Star-Forming Galaxies: A Joint Analysis of New Constraints from Planck and Hubble Space Telescope
• The Chandra Deep Field-North Survey. XIII. 2 Ms Point-Source Catalogs
• The 3D-HST Survey: Hubble Space Telescope WFC3/G141 grism spectra, redshifts, and emission line measurements for $\sim 100,000$ galaxies
• The Evolution of the Galaxy Rest-Frame Ultraviolet Luminosity Function Over the First Two Billion Years
• 3D-HST: A wide-field grism spectroscopic survey with the Hubble Space Telescope
• The Chandra Deep Field-South Survey: 4 Ms Source Catalogs
• Galaxy Zoo Green Peas: Discovery of A Class of Compact Extremely Star-Forming Galaxies
• A Steep Faint-End Slope of the UV Luminosity Function at z~2-3: Implications for the Global Stellar Mass Density and Star Formation in Low Mass Halos
• Spectroscopic Confirmation of a Population of Normal Star-Forming Galaxies at Redshifts z>3
• The Chandra Deep Field-South Survey: 7 Ms Source Catalogs
• Keck Spectroscopy of 3<z<7 Faint Lyman Break Galaxies: The Importance of Nebular Emission in Understanding the Specific Star Formation Rate and Stellar Mass Density
• Spectroscopy of Lyman Break Galaxies in the Hubble Deep Field
• Reionization after Planck: The Derived Growth of the Cosmic Ionizing Emissivity now matches the Growth of the Galaxy UV Luminosity Density
• Stellar Population Effects on the Inferred Photon Density at Reionization
• Cosmic Reionization after Planck: Could Quasars Do It All?
• Lyman-alpha and CIII] Emission in z=7-9 Galaxies: Accelerated Reionization Around Luminous Star Forming Systems?
• The VIMOS Ultra-Deep Survey: ~10,000 galaxies with spectroscopic redshifts to study galaxy assembly at early epochs 2<z<~6
• Detection of high Lyman continuum leakage from four low-redshift compact star-forming galaxies
• Conditions for Reionizing the Universe with A Low Galaxy Ionizing Photon Escape Fraction
• The Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey. VLT/FORS2 Spectroscopy in the GOODS-South Field: Part III
• Low-redshift Lyman continuum leaking galaxies with high [OIII]/[OII] ratios
• The Keck Lyman Continuum Spectroscopic Survey (KLCS): The Emergent Ionizing Spectrum of Galaxies at $z\sim 3$
• Rapid Reionization by the Oligarchs: The Case for Massive, UV-Bright, Star-Forming Galaxies with High Escape Fractions
• Evidence for Ubiquitous, High-EW Nebular Emission in z~7 Galaxies: Towards a Clean Measurement of the Specific Star Formation Rate using a Sample of Bright, Magnified Galaxies
• The Spectral Energy Distributions Of z~8 Galaxies From The IRAC Ultra Deep Fields: Emission Lines, Stellar Masses, And Specific Star Formation Rates At 650 Myr
• The Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey - VLT/VIMOS Spectroscopy in the GOODS-South Field: Part II
• The MOSDEF Survey: The Evolution of the Mass-Metallicity Relation from $z=0$ to $z\sim 3.3$
• The Star Formation Rate of the Universe at z~6 from the Hubble Ultra Deep Field
• Line Emitting Galaxies Beyond a Redshift of 7: An Improved Method for Estimating the Evolving Neutrality of the Intergalactic Medium
• Spectroscopic detection of CIV in a galaxy at z=7.045: Implications for the ionizing spectra of reionization-era galaxies
• Green Pea Galaxies and cohorts: Luminous Compact Emission-Line Galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
• Z > 7 galaxies with red Spitzer/IRAC [3.6]-[4.5] colors in the full CANDELS data set: the brightest-known galaxies at Z ~ 7-9 and a probable spectroscopic confirmation at Z=7.48
• Very Strong Emission-Line Galaxies in the WISP Survey and Implications for High-Redshift Galaxies
• The Contribution of High Redshift Galaxies to Cosmic Reionization: New Results from Deep WFC3 Imaging of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field
• Spectroscopic detections of CIII]1909 at z~6-7: A new probe of early star forming galaxies and cosmic reionisation
• On the oxygen and nitrogen chemical abundances and the evolution of the "green pea" galaxies
• Hubble imaging of the ionizing radiation from a star-forming galaxy at z=3.2 with fesc>50%
• A robust sample of galaxies at redshifts 6.0<z<8.7: stellar populations, star-formation rates and stellar masses
• The Lyman Continuum Escape Survey: Ionizing Radiation from [O III]-Strong Sources at a Redshift of 3.1
• The CANDELS/SHARDS multi-wavelength catalog in GOODS-N: Photometry, Photometric Redshifts, Stellar Masses, Emission line fluxes and Star Formation Rates
• Observational constraints on the merger history of galaxies since $z\approx 6$: Probabilistic galaxy pair counts in the CANDELS fields
• The MOSDEF Survey: Direct-Method Metallicities and ISM Conditions at $z\sim 1.5-3.5$
• The MUSE Hubble Ultra Deep Field Survey: II. Spectroscopic redshifts and comparisons to color selections of high-redshift galaxies
• High-precision Photometric Redshifts from Spitzer/IRAC: Extreme [3.6]-[4.5] Colors Identify Galaxies in the Redshift Range z~6.6-6.9
• MMT/MMIRS spectroscopy of $z=1.3-2.4$ extreme [OIII] emitters: Implications for galaxies in the reionization-era
• The 2 Ms Chandra Deep Field-North Survey and the 250 ks Extended Chandra Deep Field-South Survey: Improved Point-Source Catalogs
• Extreme Emission Line Galaxies in CANDELS: Broad-Band Selected, Star-Bursting Dwarf Galaxies at z>1
• The [OIII]$+$H$\beta$ Equivalent Width Distribution at z$\simeq$7: Implications for the Contribution of Galaxies to Reionization
• The MOSDEF Survey: Direct Observational Constraints on the Ionizing Photon Production Efficiency, ${\xi }_{\mathrm{ion}}$, at z~2
• The WFC3 Infrared Spectroscopic Parallel (WISP) Survey
• The MOSDEF Survey: Significant Evolution in the Rest-Frame Optical Emission Line Equivalent Widths of Star-Forming Galaxies at z=1.4-3.8
• The GREATS H$\beta$+[OIII] Luminosity Function and Galaxy Properties at $\mathbf{z}\sim 8$: Walking the Way of JWST
• Spitzer Imaging of i'-drop Galaxies: Old Stars at z~6
• The Stellar Mass Density at z~6 from Spitzer Imaging of i-drop Galaxies
• Evidence for a Hard Ionizing Spectrum from a z=6.11 Stellar Population
• The Nature of Extreme Emission Line Galaxies at z=1-2: Kinematics and Metallicities from Near-Infrared Spectroscopy
• A spectroscopic search for AGN activity in the reionization era
• New Insights on Ly-alpha and Lyman Continuum Radiative Transfer in the Greenest Peas
• The H-alpha Luminosity Function and Star Formation Rate Volume Density at z=0.8 from the NEWFIRM H-alpha Survey
• Halpha Equivalent Widths from the 3D-HST survey: evolution with redshift and dependence on stellar mass
• Ionising the Intergalactic Medium by Star Clusters: The first empirical evidence
• GMASS ultradeep spectroscopy of galaxies at z~2 - VII. Sample selection and spectroscopy
• An uncontaminated measurement of the escaping Lyman continuum at $z\sim 3$
• The Sunburst Arc: Direct Lyman α escape observed in the brightest known lensed galaxy
• The Star Formation Demographics of Galaxies in the Local Volume
• Physical properties and H-ionizing-photon production rates of extreme nearby star-forming regions
• The Lyman Continuum escape fraction of faint galaxies at z~3.3 in the CANDELS/GOODS-North, EGS, and COSMOS fields with LBC
• High star cluster formation efficiency in the strongly lensed Sunburst Lyman-continuum galaxy at z=2.37
• The Lyman Continuum Escape Survey -- II: Ionizing Radiation as a Function of the [OIII]/[OII] Line Ratio
• The VANDELS ESO public spectroscopic survey: final Data Release of 2087 spectra and spectroscopic measurements
• Evidence for GN-z11 as a luminous galaxy at redshift 10.957
• Spectroscopic Constraints on UV Metal Line Emission at z~6-9: The Nature of Lyman-alpha Emitting Galaxies in the Reionization-Era
• A Low Lyman Continuum Escape Fraction of $<10\%$ for Extreme [OIII] Emitters in an Overdensity at z$\sim 3.5$
• Near-Infrared Spectroscopy of Galaxies During Reionization: Measuring CIII] in a Galaxy at $\mathbf{z}=7.5$
• Interpreting the Spitzer/IRAC Colours of 7<z<9 Galaxies: Distinguishing Between Line Emission and Starlight Using ALMA
• HDUV: The Hubble Deep UV Legacy Survey
• The Little Engines That Could? Globular Clusters Contribute Significantly to Reionization-era Star Formation
• The Grism Lens-Amplified Survey from Space (GLASS). XI. Detection of CIV in Multiple Images of $z=6.11$ Ly$\alpha$ Emitter Behind RXCJ2248.7-4431
• On the Lack of Correlation Between [OIII]/[OII] and Lyman-Continuum Escape Fraction
• Mean Halpha+[NII]+[SII] EW Inferred for Star-Forming Galaxies at z=5.1-5.4 Using High-Quality Spitzer/IRAC Photometry
• A Dual Narrowband Survey for Hα Emitters at z=2.2: Demonstration of the Technique and Constraints on the Hα Luminosity Function
• Lyman-alpha spectroscopy of extreme [OIII] emitting galaxies at $z\simeq 2-3$: Implications for Ly$\alpha$ visibility and LyC leakage at $z>6$
• Rest-frame UV spectroscopy of extreme [OIII] emitters at $1.3<z<3.7$: Toward a high-redshift UV reference sample for JWST
• Searching for z > 6.5 Analogs Near the Peak of Cosmic Star Formation
• The ASTRODEEP-GS43 catalogue: new photometry and redshifts for the CANDELS GOODS-South field
• Reconciling escape fractions and observed line emission in Lyman-continuum-leaking galaxies
• The Ionizing Photon Production Efficiency (${\xi }_{ion}$) Of Lensed Dwarf Galaxies At $z\sim 2$
• Optical Line Emission from z$\sim$6.8 Sources with Deep Constraints on Ly$\alpha$ Visibility
• The Number Density Evolution of Extreme Emission Line Galaxies in 3D-HST: Results from a Novel Automated Line Search Technique for Slitless Spectroscopy
• Broad-band selection, spectroscopic identification, and physical properties of a population of extreme emission line galaxies at 3<z<3.7
• Properties of the KISS Green Pea Galaxies
• The Detection of Ionized Carbon Emission at z~8

Cited by in corpus (17)

• The brightest galaxies at Cosmic Dawn
• A JWST/NIRCam Study of Key Contributors to Reionization: The Star-forming and Ionizing Properties of UV-faint $z\sim 7-8$ Galaxies
• EIGER II. first spectroscopic characterisation of the young stars and ionised gas associated with strong H$\beta$ and [OIII] line-emission in galaxies at z=5-7 with JWST
• JWST/NIRCam Probes Young Star Clusters in the Reionization Era Sunrise Arc
• Star formation histories of UV-luminous galaxies at $z\simeq 6.8$: implications for stellar mass assembly at early cosmic times
• On the ages of bright galaxies $\sim 500$ Myr after the Big Bang: insights into star formation activity at $z\gtrsim 15$ with JWST
• An extremely metal poor star complex in the reionization era: Approaching Population III stars with JWST
• The production of ionizing photons in UV-faint z~3-7 galaxies
• Beyond UVJ: Color Selection of Galaxies in the JWST Era
• Early results from GLASS-JWST. VI: Extreme rest-optical equivalent widths detected in NIRISS Wide Field Slitless Spectroscopy
• Anatomy of a z=6 Lyman-α emitter down to parsec scales: extreme UV slopes, metal-poor regions and possibly leaking star clusters
• A double-peaked Lyman-$\alpha$ emitter with a strong blue peak multiply imaged by the galaxy cluster RXC J0018.5+1626
• Spectroscopy of CASSOWARY gravitationally-lensed galaxies in SDSS: characterisation of an extremely bright reionization-era analog at $z=1.42$
• Importance of modelling the nebular continuum in galaxy spectra
• A MUSE view of the multiple interacting system HCG 31
• Nature of High Equivalent Width Emitters in the Epoch of Reionization Revealed by JWST Medium-band Imaging
• A Single Line-Emitter Identified in an Unbiased Search with JWST/NIRSpec: Multi-Object Coronagraphy for Slitless Spectroscopy