An empirical study of the relationship between Lyα and UV-selected galaxies: do theorists and observers ‘select’ the same objects?

Abstract

Lyman α emitters (LAEs) are galaxies that have been selected on the basis of a strong Lyα emission line in their spectra. Observational campaigns over the last decade have dramatically increased the sample of known LAEs, which now extends out to z= 7. These discoveries have motivated numerous theoretical studies on the subject, which usually define LAEs in their models based on sharp Lyα luminosity and equivalent width (EW) cuts. While broadly representative, this procedure does not mimic the selection from observational programmes in detail, which instead use cuts in various colour spaces. In this paper, we investigate what implications this disjoint may have for theoretical studies that aim to model the observed population of LAEs. We construct an empirical model for the number density of star‐forming galaxies as a function of their ultraviolet (UV) and Lyα luminosity, utilizing measured constraints on the luminosity functions of drop‐out galaxies, and their luminosity‐dependent probability distribution function of Lyα EW. In particular, we investigate whether the LAE luminosity functions can be reproduced by defining LAEs using a (z‐dependent) Lyα luminosity and EW threshold. While we are able to reproduce the observed distribution of Lyα EW among LAEs out to rest‐frame EW (REW) ∼ 200Å, we find that our formalism overpredicts both the UV and Lyα luminosity functions of LAEs by a factor of 2–3, and is inconsistent with observations at the ∼95 per cent level. This tension is partially resolved if we assume the Lyα EW distribution of drop‐out galaxies to be truncated at REW ≳ 150 Å. However, the overprediction indicates that modelling LAEs with simple REW and luminosity cuts does not accurately mimic observed selection criteria, and can therefore lead to uncertainties in the predicted number density of LAEs. On the other hand, the predicted redshift evolution is not affected. We apply our formalism to drop‐out galaxies at z > 6 and predict the luminosity functions of LAEs at z= 7 ‐9.

Lyα Emitting Galaxies as a Probe of Reionisation

“…Dijkstra & Wyithe 2012). However, at z > 6 the Lyα fraction decreases (Fontana et al 2010;Stark, Ellis, & Ouchi 2011;Pentericci et al 2011;Schenker et al 2012;Ono et al 2012;Caruana et al 2012Caruana et al , 2013Finkelstein et al 2013;Pentericci et al 2014;Schenker et al 2014;Tilvi et al 2014), in line with observations of the Lyα and UV luminosity functions of LAEs (again quantitatively consistent, see Dijkstra et al 2014).…”

Constraining dust formation in high-redshift young galaxies

“…While the exact relation between LAEs and LBGs remains a matter of debate, especially at z 6 (Verhamme et al 2008;Nagamine et al 2010;Dijkstra & Wyithe 2012), if the high-z LBG population being observed is indeed as young and metal-poor as LAEs, the method developed in this paper is equally applicable to the latter.…”

Lyα emitters and Lyman-break galaxies: dichotomous twins

“…Along the same lines, Verhamme et al (2008) propose that at a given redshift, LAEs and LBGs are the same population above a given limiting magnitude; for galaxies fainter than such magnitude, LAEs are less massive compared to LBGs. Finally, Dijkstra & Wyithe (2012) point out that observationally LAEs are chosen using sophisticated colour–colour selection techniques; they caution that simple cuts in EW and UV magnitude can lead to uncertainties in the simulated LAE number densities.…”