The Physical Properties of LBGs at z>5: Outflows and the "pre-enrichment problem"

TL;DR

This study examines the physical properties of Lyman Break galaxies at redshifts greater than 5, revealing their vigorous outflows and potential role in early universe pre-enrichment, suggesting they are progenitors of dense stellar systems.

Contribution

It provides detailed physical characterizations of a large sample of high-redshift LBGs, highlighting their outflows and implications for early universe chemical enrichment.

Findings

Evidence of vigorous outflows in z>5 LBGs

Properties suggest they evolve into dense stellar systems

Potential solution to the pre-enrichment problem

Abstract

We discuss the properties of Lyman Break galaxies (LBGs) at z>5 as determined from disparate fields covering approximately 500 sq. arcmin. While the broad characteristics of the LBG population has been discussed extensively in the literature, such as luminosity functions and clustering amplitude, we focus on the detailed physical properties of the sources in this large survey (>100 with spectroscopic redshifts). Specifically, we discuss ensemble mass estimates, stellar mass surface densities, core phase space densities, star-formation intensities, characteristics of their stellar populations, etc as obtained from multi-wavelength data (rest-frame UV through optical) for a subsample of these galaxies. In particular, we focus on evidence that these galaxies drive vigorous outflows and speculate that this population may solve the so-called ``pre-enrichment problem''. The general picture that emerges from these studies is that these galaxies, observed about 1 Gyr after the Big Bang, have properties consistent with being the progenitors of the densest stellar systems in the local Universe -- the centers of old bulges and early type galaxies.