Spectroscopic Ultraluminous Ly-alpha Luminosity Functions at z = 5.7 and z = 6.6 from HEROES: Evidence for Ionized Bubbles
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| Autores principales: | , , , , |
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| Formato: | Preprint |
| Publicado: |
2025
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| _version_ | 1866912433366368256 |
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| author | Taylor, A. J. Barger, A. J. Cowie, L. L. Hu, E. M. Songaila, A. |
| author_facet | Taylor, A. J. Barger, A. J. Cowie, L. L. Hu, E. M. Songaila, A. |
| contents | We present spectroscopic Ly$α$ luminosity functions (LFs) at z = 5.7 and z = 6.6 based on a large 209 source sample of Ly$α$ emitter (LAE) candidates identified in Subaru/Hyper Suprime-Cam narrowband imaging and confirmed with Keck II/DEIMOS spectroscopy over a multi-year observing campaign. After applying photometric and spectroscopic cuts to produce homogeneous samples, we use the resulting samples of 49 z = 5.7 and 56 z = 6.6 LAEs to compute spectroscopic LAE LFs at each redshift. We correct our LFs for incompleteness using a source-injection simulation. We find excellent agreement with current spectroscopic and photometric LAE LFs from the literature. We look for evolution over the redshift range z = 5.7-6.6. We find a strong convergence of the LFs at L(Ly$α$) > $10^{43.4}$ erg s$^{-1}$. This convergence (noted in previous literature) provides strong evidence that the most luminous LAEs at z = 6.6 form ionized bubbles around themselves, allowing for greater Ly$α$ transmission through the neutral intergalactic medium, which is measured as an increase in the bright end of the z = 6.6 LF over the expected evolution in the LF based on the faint end. We infer that ultraluminous LAEs may play a significant role in reionization. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2506_13854 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Spectroscopic Ultraluminous Ly-alpha Luminosity Functions at z = 5.7 and z = 6.6 from HEROES: Evidence for Ionized Bubbles Taylor, A. J. Barger, A. J. Cowie, L. L. Hu, E. M. Songaila, A. Astrophysics of Galaxies We present spectroscopic Ly$α$ luminosity functions (LFs) at z = 5.7 and z = 6.6 based on a large 209 source sample of Ly$α$ emitter (LAE) candidates identified in Subaru/Hyper Suprime-Cam narrowband imaging and confirmed with Keck II/DEIMOS spectroscopy over a multi-year observing campaign. After applying photometric and spectroscopic cuts to produce homogeneous samples, we use the resulting samples of 49 z = 5.7 and 56 z = 6.6 LAEs to compute spectroscopic LAE LFs at each redshift. We correct our LFs for incompleteness using a source-injection simulation. We find excellent agreement with current spectroscopic and photometric LAE LFs from the literature. We look for evolution over the redshift range z = 5.7-6.6. We find a strong convergence of the LFs at L(Ly$α$) > $10^{43.4}$ erg s$^{-1}$. This convergence (noted in previous literature) provides strong evidence that the most luminous LAEs at z = 6.6 form ionized bubbles around themselves, allowing for greater Ly$α$ transmission through the neutral intergalactic medium, which is measured as an increase in the bright end of the z = 6.6 LF over the expected evolution in the LF based on the faint end. We infer that ultraluminous LAEs may play a significant role in reionization. |
| title | Spectroscopic Ultraluminous Ly-alpha Luminosity Functions at z = 5.7 and z = 6.6 from HEROES: Evidence for Ionized Bubbles |
| topic | Astrophysics of Galaxies |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.13854 |