A Luminous Lyman-alpha Emitting Galaxy at Redshift z=6.535: Discovery and Spectroscopic Confirmation

Abstract

We present a redshift z=6.535 galaxy discovered by its Lyman alpha emission in a 9180A narrowband image from the Large Area Lyman Alpha (LALA) survey. The Ly-a line luminosity (1.1e43 erg/s) is among the largest known for star forming galaxies at z=6.5. The line shows the distinct asymmetry that is characteristic of high-redshift Ly-a. The 2 sigma lower bound on the observer-frame equivalent width is > 530A. This is hard to reconcile with a neutral intergalactic medium unless the Ly-a line is intrinsically strong and is emitted from its host galaxy with an intrinsic Doppler shift of several hundred km/s. If the IGM is ionized, it corresponds to a rest frame equivalent width > 40A after correcting for Ly-a forest absorption. We also present complete spectroscopic followup of the remaining candidates with line flux > 2e-17 erg/cm2/s in our 1200 square arcminute narrowband image. These include another galaxy with a strong emission line at 9136A and no detected continuum flux, which however is most likely an [OIII] source at z=0.824 based on a weak detection of the [OIII] 4959A line.

arXiv commentRevised version, accepted to The Astrophysical Journal, 22 April 2004 (original version submitted 27 February 2004)

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