The physical properties and evolution of Lyalpha emitting galaxies

TL;DR

This study investigates the physical properties and evolution of Ly alpha emitting galaxies at high redshift, comparing them with Lyman break galaxies to understand their nature and role in early galaxy formation.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of the physical characteristics of Ly alpha emitters and their relation to Lyman break galaxies across a range of redshifts using spectrophotometric data.

Findings

Ly alpha emitters tend to have distinct physical properties from non-emitting LBGs.

The properties of Ly alpha emitters evolve with redshift, indicating different stages of galaxy formation.

Ly alpha emission correlates with specific galaxy characteristics such as age and mass.

Abstract

A significant fraction of high redshift starburst galaxies presents strong Ly alpha emission. Understanding the nature of these galaxies is important to assess the role they played in the early Universe and to shed light on the relation between the narrow band selected Lyalpha emitters and the Lyman break galaxies: are the Lyalpha emitters a subset of the general LBG population? or do they represent the youngest galaxies in their early phases of formation? We studied a sample of UV continuum selected galaxies from z~2.5 to z~6 (U, B, V and i-dropouts) from the GOODS-South survey, that have been observed spectroscopically. Using the GOODS-MUSIC catalog we investigated their physical properties, such as total masses, ages, SFRs, extinction etc as determined from a spectrophotometric fit to the multi-wavelength (U band to mid-IR) SEDs, and their dependence on the emission line characteristics. In particular we determined the nature of the LBGs with Lyalpha in emission and compared them to the properties of narrow band selected Lyalpha emitters. For U and B-dropouts we also compared the properties of LBGs with and without the Lyalpha emission line.