Ly alpha emitting galaxies as early stages in galaxy formation
Lennox L. Cowie, Amy J. Barger, Esther M. Hu

TL;DR
This study investigates Ly alpha emitting galaxies at different redshifts, revealing their properties, evolution, and early formation stages through optical spectroscopy and spectral analysis.
Contribution
It provides new insights into the evolution of Ly alpha luminosities and characterizes the physical properties of early-stage galaxies at z<1.
Findings
Significant evolution in maximum Ly alpha luminosity from z=0 to 1.
LAEs have lower metallicities, bluer colors, smaller sizes, and less extinction.
Majority of LAEs have high H alpha equivalent widths, indicating early formation stages.
Abstract
We present optical spectroscopy of two samples of GALEX grism selected Ly alpha emitters (LAEs): one at z=0.195-0.44 and the other at z=0.65-1.25. We have also observed a comparison sample of galaxies in the same redshift intervals with the same UV magnitude distributions but with no detected Ly alpha. We use the optical spectroscopy to eliminate active galactic nuclei (AGNs) and to obtain the optical emission-line properties of the samples. We compare the luminosities of the LAEs in the two redshift intervals and show that there is dramatic evolution in the maximum Ly alpha luminosity over z=0-1. Focusing on the z=0.195-0.44 samples alone, we show that there are tightly defined relations between all of the galaxy parameters and the rest-frame equivalent width (EW) of H alpha. The higher EW(H alpha) sources all have lower metallicities, bluer colors, smaller sizes, and less extinction,…
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