Lyman-alpha at Cosmic Noon II: The relationship between kinematics and Lyman-alpha in z~2-3 Lyman Break Galaxies

Abstract

We report for the first time a relationship between galaxy kinematics and net Lyman-alpha equivalent width (net Lya EW) in star forming galaxies during the epoch of peak cosmic star formation. Building on the previously reported broadband imaging segregation of Lya-emitting and Lya-absorbing Lyman break galaxies (LBGs) at z~2 (Paper I in this series) and previously at z~3, we use the Lya spectral type classification method to study the relationship between net Lya EW and nebular emission-line kinematics determined from IFU spectroscopy. We show that z~2 and z~3 LBGs segregate in colour-magnitude space according to their kinematic properties and Lyman-alpha spectral type, and conclude that LBGs with Lya dominant in absorption are almost exclusively rotation-dominated (presumably disc-like) systems, and LBGs with Lya dominant in emission characteristically have dispersion-dominated kinematics. We quantify the relationship between the strength of rotational dynamic support and net Lya EW, and demonstrate the consistency of our result with other properties that scale with net Lya EW and kinematics. Based on these findings, we suggest a method by which large samples of rotation- and dispersion-dominated galaxies might be selected using broadband imaging in as few as three filters and/or net Lya EW alone. Application of this method will enable an understanding of galaxy kinematic behaviour over large scales in datasets from current and future large-area and all-sky photometric surveys that will select hundreds of millions of LBGs in redshift ranges from z~2-6 across many hundreds to thousands of Mpc. Finally, we speculate that the combination of our result linking net Lya EW and nebular emission-line kinematics with the known large-scale clustering behaviour of Lya-absorbing and Lya-emitting LBGs is evocative of a nascent morphology-density relation at z~2-3.

arXiv commentPublished in PASA (Version 2: Typos corrected and minor clarifying edits in S3.1 & S3.2.1)

References in corpus (91)

• Stellar population synthesis at the resolution of 2003
• The chemical composition of the Sun
• Galactic Stellar and Substellar Initial Mass Function
• The Dust Content and Opacity of Actively Star-Forming Galaxies
• The Global Schmidt Law in Star Forming Galaxies
• Cosmic Star Formation History
• Multiwavelength study of massive galaxies at z~2. I. Star formation and galaxy growth
• Physical Models of Galaxy Formation in a Cosmological Framework
• The SINS survey: SINFONI Integral Field Spectroscopy of z ~ 2 Star-forming Galaxies
• The Mass-Metallicity Relation at z~2
• The Structure and Kinematics of the Circum-Galactic Medium from Far-UV Spectra of z~2-3 Galaxies
• AMAZE. I. The evolution of the mass-metallicity relation at z>3
• PHIBSS: molecular gas content and scaling relations in z~1-3 normal star forming galaxies
• First Results from the TNG50 Simulation: The evolution of stellar and gaseous disks across cosmic time
• Lyman Break Galaxies at Redshift z~3: Survey Description and Full Data Set
• Statistics of 207 Lya Emitters at a Redshift Near 7: Constraints on Reionization and Galaxy Formation Models
• Galaxy Zoo: the dependence of morphology and colour on environment
• The KMOS^3D Survey: design, first results, and the evolution of galaxy kinematics from 0.7<z<2.7
• A Survey of Star-Forming Galaxies in the z=1.4-2.5 `Redshift Desert': Overview
• 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
• The Stellar, Gas and Dynamical Masses of Star-Forming Galaxies at z~2
• Physical properties and environments of nearby galaxies
• Reconciling the Stellar and Nebular Spectra of High Redshift Galaxies
• H-alpha Observations of a Large Sample of Galaxies at z~2: Implications for Star Formation in High Redshift Galaxies
• LSD: Lyman-break galaxies Stellar populations and Dynamics. I: Mass, metallicity and gas at z~3.1
• Diffuse Lyman Alpha Emitting Halos: A Generic Property of High Redshift Star Forming Galaxies
• The Kiloparsec-Scale Kinematics of High-Redshift Star-Forming Galaxies
• Dust Obscuration and Metallicity at High Redshift: New Inferences from UV, H-alpha, and 8 Micron Observations of z~2 Star-Forming Galaxies
• The Keck Lyman Continuum Spectroscopic Survey (KLCS): The Emergent Ionizing Spectrum of Galaxies at $z\sim 3$
• UV to Mid-IR Observations of Star-forming Galaxies at z~2: Stellar Masses and Stellar Populations
• Extended Lyman alpha haloes around individual high-redshift galaxies revealed by MUSE
• Nebular Emission Line Ratios in z~2-3 Star-Forming Galaxies with KBSS-MOSFIRE: Exploring the Impact of Ionization, Excitation, and Nitrogen-to-Oxygen Ratio
• A Spectroscopic Survey of Redshift 1.4<z<3.0 Galaxies in the Goods-North Field: Survey Description, Catalogs, and Properties
• Star-Forming Galaxies at Cosmic Noon
• Optical Selection of Galaxies at Redshifts 1<z<3
• Ultraviolet Emission Lines in Young Low Mass Galaxies at z~2: Physical Properties and Implications for Studies at z>7
• Observations of the Lyman-$\alpha$ Universe
• Gas kinematics, morphology, and angular momentum in the FIRE simulations
• What are Protoclusters? -- Defining High Redshift Galaxy Clusters and Protoclusters
• The Spectroscopic Properties of Lyα-Emitters at z $\approx$ 2.7: Escaping Gas and Photons from Faint Galaxies
• Dynamical properties of AMAZE and LSD galaxies from gas kinematics and the Tully-Fisher relation at z~3
• The Relationship Between Stellar Populations and Lyman Alpha Emission in Lyman Break Galaxies
• Resolved spectroscopy of gravitationally lensed galaxies: global dynamics and star-forming clumps on ~100pc scales
• Diffuse Lyman-alpha Halos around Galaxies at z=2.2-6.6: Implications for Galaxy Formation and Cosmic Reionization
• The KMOS^3D Survey: data release and final survey paper
• The Dawes Review 1: Kinematic studies of star-forming galaxies across cosmic time
• z~2: An Epoch of Disk Assembly
• The Lyman alpha Reference Sample: Extended Lyman alpha Halos Produced at Low Dust Content
• The Connection Between Reddening, Gas Covering Fraction, and the Escape of Ionizing Radiation at High Redshift
• The Lyman-alpha Reference Sample: I. Survey outline and first results for Markarian 259
• The VIMOS Ultra Deep Survey: Emerging from the Dark, a Massive Proto-Cluster at z~4.57
• Flat rotation curves and low velocity dispersions in KMOS star-forming galaxies at z~1
• A Systematic Survey of Protoclusters at $z\sim 3-6$ in the CFHTLS Deep Fields
• The Rest-Frame Optical Spectroscopic Properties of Ly$\alpha$-Emitters at $z\sim 2.5$: The Physical Origins of Strong Ly$\alpha$ Emission
• Ly$\alpha$ Spectra from Multiphase Outflows, and their Connection to Shell Models
• A Keck Survey of Gravitationally-Lensed Star-Forming Galaxies: High Spatial Resolution Studies of Kinematics and Metallicity Gradients
• Lyman alpha Emitting Galaxies in the Nearby Universe
• Dust properties of Lyman break galaxies at $z\sim 3$
• The SINS/zC-SINF Survey of z~2 Galaxy Kinematics: Rest-frame Morphology, Structure, and Colors from Near-infrared Hubble Space Telescope Imaging
• Distinguishing Mergers and Disks in High Redshift Observations of Galaxy Kinematics
• The redshift evolution of rest-UV spectroscopic properties in Lyman Break Galaxies at z ~ 2-4
• A High Fraction of Ly-alpha-Emitters Among Galaxies with Extreme Emission Line Ratios at z ~ 2
• Kinematic Downsizing at z~2
• Bimodality in Damped Lyman alpha Systems
• Morpho-kinematics of z~1 galaxies probe the hierarchical scenario
• Physical and morphological properties of z~3 LBGs: dependence on Lyalpha line emission
• The KMOS${}^{3D}$ Survey: rotating compact star forming galaxies and the decomposition of integrated line widths
• The VLT LBG Redshift Survey - V. Characterising the z = 3.1 Lyman Alpha Emitter Population
• The Redshift Evolution of Rest-UV Spectroscopic Properties to z~5
• The Morphology-Density relationship in 1<z<2 clusters
• z~1 Lya Emitters I. The Luminosity Function
• Predicting Ly$\alpha$ Emission from Galaxies via Empirical Markers of Production and Escape in the KBSS
• First Results from the KMOS Lens-Amplified Spectroscopic Survey (KLASS): Kinematics of Lensed Galaxies at Cosmic Noon
• Lyman Alpha Reference Sample: X. Predicting Lyman alpha output from starforming galaxies using multivariate regression
• Lyman break galaxy close and interacting pairs at z ~ 3
• KMOS LENsing Survey (KLENS) : morpho-kinematic analysis of star-forming galaxies at $z\sim 2$
• VIS3COS: II. Nature and nurture in galaxy structure and morphology
• Large-scale environment of z~5.7 CIV absorption systems I: projected distribution of galaxies
• Nurturing Lyman Break Galaxies: Observed link between environment and spectroscopic features
• The VANDELS survey: Discovery of massive overdensities of galaxies at z>2
• Clustering at high redshift: The connection between Lyman Alpha emitters and Lyman break galaxies
• Searching for Environmental Effects on Galaxy Kinematics in Groups and Clusters at z~1 from the ORELSE Survey
• Structure and stability of high-redshift galaxies in cosmological simulations
• Broadband Imaging Segregation of z ~ 3 Ly-alpha Emitting and Ly-alpha Absorbing Galaxies
• K-CLASH: spatially-resolving star-forming galaxies in field and cluster environments at $z\approx 0.2$-$0.6$
• Stellar Kinematics and Environment at z~0.8 in the LEGA-C Survey: Massive, Slow-Rotators are Built First in Overdense Environments
• Galaxy kinematics in the XMMU J2235-2557 cluster field at z~1.4
• The impact of gas bulk rotation on the lyman-alpha line
• Lyman-$\alpha$ photons through rotating outflows
• Kinematics of disk galaxies in (proto-)clusters at z=1.5
• Lyman-alpha at Cosmic Noon I: Ly-alpha Spectral Type Selection of z ~ 2-3 Lyman Break Galaxies with Broadband Imaging