A Spectroscopic Survey of Ly$\alpha$ Emitters at $z\approx3.1$ over $\sim$1.2 Deg$^2$

TL;DR

This study presents the largest spectroscopic survey of Ly$ extalpha$ emitters at $z oughly 3.1$, deriving the Ly$ extalpha$ luminosity function and analyzing spectral properties, cosmic variance, and potential evolution over redshift.

Contribution

It provides the largest confirmed sample of LAEs at $z oughly 3.1$, with detailed spectral analysis and a robust Ly$ extalpha$ luminosity function, including detection of high-ionization emission lines.

Findings

Sample of 166 LAEs over 1.2 deg$^2$ area.

Ly$ extalpha$ luminosity function consistent with previous studies.

Detection of NVI and CIV emission lines indicating hard radiation fields.

Abstract

We present a spectroscopic survey of Ly$\alpha$ emitters (LAEs) at $z\approx3.1$ in the Subaru MM-Newton Deep Survey Field. This field has deep imaging data in a series of broad and narrow bands, including two adjacent narrow bands NB497 and NB503 that have allowed us to efficiently select LAE candidates at $z\approx3.1$. Using spectroscopic observations on MMT Hectospec and Magellan M2FS, we obtained a sample of 166 LAEs at $z\approx3.1$ over an effective area of $\sim$1.2 deg$^2$, including 16 previously known LAEs. This is so far the largest (spectroscopically confirmed) sample of LAEs at this redshift. We make use of the secure redshifts and multi-band data to measure spectral properties such as Ly$\alpha$ luminosity and rest-frame UV slope. We derive a robust Ly$\alpha$ luminosity function (LF) that spans a luminosity range from $\sim10^{42.0}$ to $>10^{43.5}$ erg s$^{-1}$. Significant overdense and underdense regions are detected in our sample, but the area coverage is wide enough to largely suppress the effect from such cosmic variance. Our Ly$\alpha$ LF is generally consistent with those from previous studies at $z \sim 3.1$. At the brightest end of the LF, there is a tentative detection of a density excess that is not well described by the Schechter function. The comparison with the LFs at other redshifts suggests that the Ly$\alpha$ LF does not show significant evolution at $2<z<5$. Finally, we build the composite spectra of the LAEs and detect the NVI and CIV doublet emission lines at significance of $\sim 4 \sigma$, suggesting very hard radiation fields in (some of) these LAEs.