The Stellar Population and Star Formation Rates of z~1.5-1.6 [O II] Emitting Galaxies Selected from Narrow-Band Emission-Line Surveys

TL;DR

This study analyzes the stellar populations and star formation rates of z~1.5 [O II] emitting galaxies selected from narrow-band surveys, revealing their diverse properties and the effectiveness of [O II] as a star formation indicator.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed characterization of z~1.5 [O II] emitters, demonstrating their diverse properties and validating [O II] luminosity as a reliable star formation rate indicator.

Findings

[O II] emitters span a wide range of galaxy populations at z~1.5.

Higher [O II] EW galaxies are bluer and less massive.

[O II] luminosity correlates with UV continuum, serving as a SFR indicator.

Abstract

We present the first detailed study of the stellar populations of star-forming galaxies at z~1.5, which are selected by their [O II] emission line, detected in narrow-band surveys. We identified ~1,300 [O II] emitters at z=1.47 and z=1.62 in the Subaru Deep Field with rest-frame EWs above 13\AA. Optical and near-infrared spectroscopic observations for ~10% of our samples show that our separation of [O II] from [O III] emission-line galaxies in two-color space is 99% successful. We analyze the multi-wavelength properties of a subset of ~1,200 galaxies with the best photometry. They have average rest-frame EW of 45\AA, stellar mass of 3 x 10^9 M_sun, and stellar age of 100 Myr. In addition, our SED fitting and broad-band colors indicate that [O II] emitters span the full range of galaxy populations at z~1.5. We also find that 80% of [O II] emitters are also photometrically classified as "BX/BM" (UV) galaxies and/or the star-forming "BzK" (near-IR) galaxies. Our [O II] emission line survey produces a far more complete, and somewhat deeper sample of z~1.5 galaxies than either the BX/BM or sBzK selection alone. We constructed average SEDs and find that higher [O II] EW galaxies have somewhat bluer continua. SED model-fitting shows that they have on average half the stellar mass of galaxies with lower [O II] EW. The observed [O II] luminosity is well-correlated with the far-UV continuum with a logarithmic slope slightly 0f 0.89\pm0.22. The scatter of the [O II] luminosity against the far-UV continuum suggests that [O II] can be used as a SFR indicator with a reliability of 0.23 dex.