Lyman-Alpha-Emitting Galaxies at z = 2.1 in ECDF-S: Building Blocks of Typical Present-day Galaxies?

TL;DR

This study identifies and characterizes 250 Ly-Alpha emitting galaxies at z=2.1, revealing their properties, clustering, and potential evolution into present-day L* galaxies, providing insights into galaxy formation and evolution.

Contribution

First comprehensive analysis of LAEs at z=2.1 including their luminosity, clustering, and evolutionary implications, using deep narrow-band imaging and multi-wavelength data.

Findings

LAEs have median Lya luminosity of 1.3 x 10^42 erg/s.

Number density of LAEs is 1.5 x 10^-3 Mpc^-3 at z=2.1.

LAEs reside in low-mass dark matter halos (~10^11.5 solar masses).

Abstract

We discovered a sample of 250 Ly-Alpha emitting (LAE) galaxies at z=2.1 in an ultra-deep 3727 A narrow-band MUSYC image of the Extended Chandra Deep Field-South. LAEs were selected to have rest-frame equivalent widths (EW) > 20 A and emission line fluxes > 2.0 x 10^(-17)erg /cm^2/s, after carefully subtracting the continuum contributions from narrow band photometry. The median flux of our sample is 4.2 x 10^(-17)erg/cm^2/s, corresponding to a median Lya luminosity = 1.3 x 10^(42) erg/s at z=2.1. At this flux our sample is > 90% complete. Approximately 4% of the original NB-selected candidates were detected in X-rays by Chandra, and 7% were detected in the rest-frame far-UV by GALEX. At luminosity>1.3 x 10^42 erg/s, the equivalent width distribution is unbiased and is represented by an exponential with scale-length of 83+/-10 A. Above this same luminosity threshold, we find a number density of 1.5+/-0.5 x 10^-3 Mpc^-3. Neither the number density of LAEs nor the scale-length of their EW distribution show significant evolution from z=3 to z=2. We used the rest frame UV luminosity to estimate a median star formation rate of 4 M_(sun) /yr. The median rest frame UV slope, parametrized by B-R, is that typical of dust-free, 0.5-1 Gyr old or moderately dusty, 300-500 Myr old populations. Approximately 40% of the sample occupies the z~2 star-forming galaxy locus in the UVR two color diagram. Clustering analysis reveals that LAEs at z=2.1 have r_0=4.8+/-0.9 Mpc and a bias factor b=1.8+/-0.3. This implies that z=2.1 LAEs reside in dark matter halos with median masses Log(M/M_(sun))=11.5^(+0.4)_(-0.5), which are among of the lowest-mass halos yet probed at this redshift. We used the Sheth-Tormen conditional mass function to study the descendants of these LAEs and found that their typical present-day descendants are local galaxies with L* properties, like the Milky Way.