Ly$\alpha$ Emitters with Very Large Ly$\alpha$ Equivalent Widths, EW$_{\rm 0}$(Ly$\alpha$) $\simeq 200-400$ \AA, at $z\sim 2$

TL;DR

This study identifies and characterizes a rare class of high-redshift Ly$ ext{a}$ emitters with extremely large equivalent widths, revealing their low mass, high star formation rates, and young, metal-poor stellar populations.

Contribution

First detailed analysis of very large EW$_{ m 0}$ Ly$ ext{a}$ emitters at $z ext{~}2$, showing their unique physical properties and implications for early galaxy evolution.

Findings

Large EW$_{ m 0}$ Ly$ ext{a}$ LAEs have low stellar mass and high specific SFR.

These LAEs exhibit high Ly$ ext{a}$ escape fractions (~0.68).

They are characterized by young ages (<20 Myr) and very low metallicities (<0.02 Z$_igodot$).

Abstract

We present physical properties of spectroscopically confirmed Ly$\alpha$ emitters (LAEs) with very large rest-frame Ly$\alpha$ equivalent widths EW$_{\rm 0}$(Ly$\alpha$). Although the definition of large EW$_{\rm 0}$(Ly$\alpha$) LAEs is usually difficult due to limited statistical and systematic uncertainties, we identify six LAEs selected from $\sim 3000$ LAEs at $z\sim 2$ with reliable measurements of EW$_{\rm 0}$ (Ly$\alpha$) $\simeq 200-400$ \AA\ given by careful continuum determinations with our deep photometric and spectroscopic data. These large EW$_{\rm 0}$(Ly$\alpha$) LAEs do not have signatures of AGN, but notably small stellar masses of $M_{\rm *} = 10^{7-8}$ $M_{\rm \odot}$ and high specific star-formation rates (star formation rate per unit galaxy stellar mass) of $\sim 100$ Gyr$^{-1}$. These LAEs are characterized by the median values of $L({\rm Ly\alpha})=3.7\times 10^{42}$ erg s$^{-1}$ and $M_{\rm UV}=-18.0$ as well as the blue UV continuum slope of $\beta = -2.5\pm0.2$ and the low dust extinction $E(B-V)_{\rm *} = 0.02^{+0.04}_{-0.02}$, which indicate a high median Ly$\alpha$ escape fraction of $f_{\rm esc}^{\rm Ly\alpha}=0.68\pm0.30$. This large $f_{\rm esc}^{\rm Ly\alpha}$ value is explained by the low {\sc Hi} column density in the ISM that is consistent with FWHM of the Ly$\alpha$ line, ${\rm FWHM (Ly\alpha)}=212\pm32$ km s$^{-1}$, significantly narrower than those of small EW$_{\rm 0}$(Ly$\alpha$) LAEs. Based on the stellar evolution models, our observational constraints of the large EW$_{\rm 0}$ (Ly$\alpha$), the small $\beta$, and the rest-frame He{\sc ii} equivalent width imply that at least a half of our large EW$_{\rm 0}$(Ly$\alpha$) LAEs would have young stellar ages of $\lesssim 20$ Myr and very low metallicities of $Z<0.02 Z_\odot$ regardless of the star-formation history.