English

A Close Look at Ly$\alpha$ Emitters with JWST/NIRCam at $z\approx3.1$

Astrophysics of Galaxies 2024-04-03 v2

Abstract

We study 10 spectroscopically confirmed Lyα\alpha emitters (LAEs) at z3.1z\approx3.1 in the UDS field, covered by JWST/NIRCam in the PRIMER program. All LAEs are detected in all NIRCam bands from F090W to F444W, corresponding to restframe 2200\AA--1.2μm\mathrm{\mu m}. Based on morphological analysis of the F200W images, three out of the 10 targets are resolved into pair-like systems with separations of <0.9<0.9'', and another three show asymmetric structures. We then construct the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of these LAEs. All sources, including the pairs, show similar SED shapes, with a prominent flux excess in the F200W band, corresponding to extremely strong [O III]+Hβ\beta emission lines (EWrest=740{\rm EW_{rest}}=740--65006500\,\AA). The median effective radii, stellar mass, and UV slope of our sample are 0.36\,kpc, 3.8×107M3.8\times10^7\,M_\odot, and --2.48, respectively. The average burst age, estimated by stellar mass over star formation rate, is <40<40\,Myr. These measurements reveal an intriguing starbursting dwarf galaxy population lying off the extrapolations of the z3z \sim 3 scaling relations to the low-mass end: 0.7\sim 0.7 dex above the star-forming main sequence, 0.35\sim 0.35 dex below the mass--size relation, and bluer in the UV slope than typical high-z galaxies at similar UV luminosities. We speculate that these numbers may require a larger main sequence scatter or tail in the dwarf galaxy regime towards the starburst outliers.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2309.11559,
  title  = {A Close Look at Ly$\alpha$ Emitters with JWST/NIRCam at $z\approx3.1$},
  author = {Yixiao Liu and Y. Sophia Dai and Stijn Wuyts and Jia-Sheng Huang and Linhua Jiang},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2309.11559},
  year   = {2024}
}

Comments

17 pages, 6 figures, ApJ accepted