Bagley, Micaela B. and Scarlata, Claudia and Henry, Alaina and Rafelski, Marc and Malkan, Matthew and Teplitz, Harry and Dai, Y. Sophia and Baronchelli, Ivano and Colbert, James and Rutkowski, Michael and Mehta, Vihang and Dressler, Alan and McCarthy, Patrick and Bunker, Andrew and Atek, Hakim and Garel, Thibault and Martin, Crystal L. and Hathi, Nimish and Siana, Brian (2017) A High Space Density of Luminous Lyα Emitters at z ~ 6.5. Astrophysical Journal, 837 (1). Art. No. 11. ISSN 0004-637X. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/837/1/11. https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20170227-102631258
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Abstract
We present the results of a systematic search for Lyα emitters (LAEs) at 6 ≾ z ≾ 7.6 using the HST WFC3 Infrared Spectroscopic Parallel (WISP) Survey. Our total volume over this redshift range is ~ 8 x 10^5 Mpc^3, comparable to many of the narrowband surveys despite their larger area coverage. We find two LAEs at z = 6.38 and 6.44 with line luminosities of L_(Lyα) ~ 4.7 x 10^(43) erg s^(−1), putting them among the brightest LAEs discovered at these redshifts. Taking advantage of the broad spectral coverage of WISP, we are able to rule out almost all lower-redshift contaminants. The WISP LAEs have a high number density of 7.7 x 10(-6) Mpc^(−3). We argue that the LAEs reside in megaparsec-scale ionized bubbles that allow the Lyα photons to redshift out of resonance before encountering the neutral intergalactic medium. We discuss possible ionizing sources and conclude that the observed LAEs alone are not sufficient to ionize the bubbles.
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Alternate Title: | A High Space Density of Luminous Lyman Alpha Emitters at z ~ 6.5 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Additional Information: | © 2017 The American Astronomical Society. Received 2016 October 13; revised 2016 December 14; accepted 2017 January 10; published 2017 February 27. We thank the anonymous referee for a careful review and suggestions that improved the manuscript. This research was partially supported by a Jet Propulsion Lab/NASA grant to the University of Minnesota (RSA 1541900/NNN12AA01C). Support for HST Programs GO-11696, 12283, 12568, 12902, 13517, 13352, and 14178 was provided by NASA through grants from the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS5-26555. T.G. is grateful to the LABEX Lyon Institute of Origins (ANR-10-LABX-0066) of the Université de Lyon for its financial support within the program "Investissements d'Avenir" (ANR-11-IDEX-0007) of the French government operated by the National Research Agency (ANR). This research has made use of NASA's Astrophysics Data System Bibliographic Services. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Group: | Infrared Processing and Analysis Center (IPAC) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Subject Keywords: | cosmology: observations – galaxies: high-redshift | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Issue or Number: | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
DOI: | 10.3847/1538-4357/837/1/11 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Record Number: | CaltechAUTHORS:20170227-102631258 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Persistent URL: | https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20170227-102631258 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Official Citation: | Micaela B. Bagley et al 2017 ApJ 837 11 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Usage Policy: | No commercial reproduction, distribution, display or performance rights in this work are provided. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
ID Code: | 74548 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Collection: | CaltechAUTHORS | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Deposited By: | Tony Diaz | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Deposited On: | 27 Feb 2017 18:42 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Last Modified: | 11 Nov 2021 05:28 |
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