We present the results of a stellar population analysis of 30 Lyman alpha emitting galaxies (LAEs) at z ~ 0.3, previously discovered with the Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX). With a few exceptions, we can accurately fit model spectral energy distributions to these objects, representing the first time this has been done for a large sample of LAEs at z < 3, a gap of ~ 8 Gyr in the history of the Universe. From the 26/30 LAEs which we can fit, we find an age and stellar mass range of 200 Myr - 10 Gyr and 10^9 - 10^11 Msol, respectively. These objects thus appear to be significantly older and more massive than LAEs at high-redshift. We also find that these LAEs show a mild trend towards higher metallicity than those at high redshift, as well as a tighter range of dust attenuation and interstellar medium geometry. These results suggest that low-redshift LAEs have evolved significantly from those at high redshift.
@article{arxiv.0812.0592,
title = {Evolution of Lyman Alpha Galaxies: Stellar Populations at z ~ 0.3},
author = {Steven L. Finkelstein and Seth H. Cohen and Sangeeta Malhotra and James E. Rhoads},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0812.0592},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal. Replaced with accepted version. Eight pages, four figures, in emulateapj format