TY - JOUR
T1 - On Ly α emission in z ∼ 3-6 UV-selected galaxies
AU - Schaerer, D.
AU - De Barros, S.
AU - Stark, D. P.
N1 - Funding Information:
We have appreciated stimulating discussions with Matthew Hayes, Naveen Reddy, and other colleagues during the spring-summer of 2011. The work of D.S. and S.d.B. is supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation. D.P.S. is supported by an STFC postdoctoral research fellowship.
PY - 2011
Y1 - 2011
N2 - Context. Determining Lyα properties of distant galaxies is of great interest for various astrophysical studies. Aims. We examine how the strength of Lyα emission can be constrained from broad-band SED fits instead of relying on spectroscopy. Methods. We use our SED-fitting tool, which includes the effects of nebular emission and considers in particular Lyα emission as a free parameter, and we demonstrate our method with simulations of mock galaxies. With this tool we analyse a large sample of U, B, V, and i dropout galaxies with multi-band photometry. Results. We find significant trends in the fraction of galaxies with Lyα emission increasing both with redshift z and towards fainter magnitude (at fixed z), and similar trends for the Lyα equivalent width. Our inferred Lyα properties are in good agreement with the available spectroscopic observations and other data. Conclusions. These results demonstrate that the strength of Lyα emission in distant star-forming galaxies can be inferred quantitatively from broad-band SED fits, at least statistically for sufficiently large samples with good photometric coverage.
AB - Context. Determining Lyα properties of distant galaxies is of great interest for various astrophysical studies. Aims. We examine how the strength of Lyα emission can be constrained from broad-band SED fits instead of relying on spectroscopy. Methods. We use our SED-fitting tool, which includes the effects of nebular emission and considers in particular Lyα emission as a free parameter, and we demonstrate our method with simulations of mock galaxies. With this tool we analyse a large sample of U, B, V, and i dropout galaxies with multi-band photometry. Results. We find significant trends in the fraction of galaxies with Lyα emission increasing both with redshift z and towards fainter magnitude (at fixed z), and similar trends for the Lyα equivalent width. Our inferred Lyα properties are in good agreement with the available spectroscopic observations and other data. Conclusions. These results demonstrate that the strength of Lyα emission in distant star-forming galaxies can be inferred quantitatively from broad-band SED fits, at least statistically for sufficiently large samples with good photometric coverage.
KW - galaxies: high-redshift
KW - galaxies: starburst
KW - ultraviolet: galaxies
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U2 - 10.1051/0004-6361/201117685
DO - 10.1051/0004-6361/201117685
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:83255188854
SN - 0004-6361
VL - 536
JO - Astronomy and astrophysics
JF - Astronomy and astrophysics
M1 - A72
ER -