The HETDEX Pilot Survey. II. The Evolution of the Ly-alpha Escape   Fraction from the UV Slope and Luminosity Function of 1.9<z<3.8 LAEs

Guillermo A. Blanc (1); Joshua Adams (1); Karl Gebhardt (1,2); Gary J.; Hill (2,3); Niv Drory (4); Lei Hao (1,5); Ralf Bender (4,6); Robin Ciardullo; (7); Steven L. Finkelstein (8); Eric Gawiser (9); Caryl Gronwall (7); Ulrich; Hopp (4,6); Donghui Jeong (1,2,10); Ralf Kelzenberg (4); Eiichiro Komatsu; (1,2); Phillip MacQueen (3); Jeremy D. Murphy (1); Martin M. Roth (11),; Donald P. Schneider (7); Joseph Tufts (3,12) ((1) Department of Astronomy,; University of Texas at Austin; Austin; TX; (2) Texas Cosmology Center,; University of Texas at Austin; Austin; TX (3) McDonald Observatory; Austin,; TX; (4) Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics; Garching; Germany,; (5) Shanghai Astronomical Observatory; Shanghai; China; (6) University; Observatory Munich; Munich; Germany; (7) Department of Astronomy and; Astrophysics; Pennsylvania State University; University Park; PA; (8) George; P.; Cynthia Woods Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and; Astronomy; Department of Physics; Astronomy; Texas A&M University; College; Station; TX; (9) Department of Physics; Astronomy; Rutgers University,; Piscataway; NJ; (10) Current Address: California Institute of Technology,; Pasadena; CA; (11) Astrophysikalisches Institut Potsdam; Postdam; Germany,; (12) Current Address: Las Cumbres Observatory; Santa Barbara; CA)

arXiv:1011.0430·astro-ph.CO·May 20, 2015

The HETDEX Pilot Survey. II. The Evolution of the Ly-alpha Escape Fraction from the UV Slope and Luminosity Function of 1.9<z<3.8 LAEs

Guillermo A. Blanc (1), Joshua Adams (1), Karl Gebhardt (1,2), Gary J., Hill (2,3), Niv Drory (4), Lei Hao (1,5), Ralf Bender (4,6), Robin Ciardullo, (7), Steven L. Finkelstein (8), Eric Gawiser (9), Caryl Gronwall (7), Ulrich, Hopp (4,6), Donghui Jeong (1,2,10)

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TL;DR

This study investigates how the Ly-alpha escape fraction evolves from redshift 1.9 to 3.8 by analyzing galaxy properties and luminosity functions, providing insights into galaxy evolution and star formation.

Contribution

It presents new measurements of the Ly-alpha escape fraction and luminosity function evolution using a sample of 99 LAEs, combining data across a wide redshift range.

Findings

01

Ly-alpha escape fraction decreases with redshift.

02

Luminosity function shows evolution consistent with star formation history.

03

Dust correction methods improve understanding of galaxy properties.

Abstract

We study the escape of Ly-alpha photons from Ly-alpha emitting galaxies (LAEs) and the overall galaxy population using a sample of 99 LAEs at 1.9<z<3.8 detected through integral-field spectroscopy of blank fields by the HETDEX Pilot Survey. For 89 LAEs showing counterparts in deep broad-band images we measure the rest-frame UV luminosity and the UV slope, which we use to estimate E(B-V) under the assumption of a constant intrinsic UV slope for LAEs. These two quantities are used to measure the dust-corrected star formation rate (SFR). A comparison between the observed Ly-alpha luminosity and that predicted by the dust-corrected SFR yields the Ly-alpha escape fraction. We also measure the Ly-alpha luminosity function. Integration of the luminosity function provides a measurement of the Ly-alpha luminosity density across our redshift range. We combine our data with that from other surveys…

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