Large Area Lyman Alpha survey: finding young galaxies at z=4.5
Abstract
Strong Lyman-alpha emission is a signpost of young stars and the absence of dust and thus indicates young galaxies. To find such a population of young galaxies at z=4.5 we started the Large Area Lyman Alpha survey (LALA). This survey achieves an unprecedented combination of volume and sensitivity by using narrow-band filters on a large format (36x36 square-arcminutes) camera on the 4 meter telescope at KPNO. The volume density and star-formation contribution of the Lyman-alpha emitters at z=4.5 is comparable to that of Lyman break galaxies. With many candidates and a few spectroscopic confirmations in hand we discuss what the properties of Ly-alpha emitters imply for galaxy and star formation in the early universe.
Cite
@article{arxiv.astro-ph/0102140,
title = {Large Area Lyman Alpha survey: finding young galaxies at z=4.5},
author = {Sangeeta Malhotra and James Rhoads and Arjun Dey and Buell Jannuzi and Daniel Stern and Hyron Spinrad},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:astro-ph/0102140},
year = {2007}
}
Comments
5 pages, 1 figure, To appear in ``Gas and Galaxy Evolution,'' eds. J.E. Hibbard, M.P. Rupen, & J.H. van Gorkom, ASP Conference Series (VLA 20th Anniversary Conference)