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arXiv 1002.4876astro-ph.CO
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大约5%的莱曼α光子从高红移恒星形成星系逃逸

Escape of about five per cent of Lyman-alpha photons from high-redshift star-forming galaxies

Matthew Hayes, Goran Ostlin, Daniel Schaerer, J. Miguel Mas-Hesse, Claus Leitherer, Hakim Atek, Daniel Kunth, Anne Verhamme, Stephane de Barros, Jens Melinder

摘要:

莱曼α(Lya)发射线是恒星形成星系在最高红移处的主要观测特征,并使大量星系样本的汇编成为可能,从而研究宇宙演化。然而,这条线的共振性质意味着Lya光子在其宿主星系的中性星际介质中散射,因此它们对星际尘埃吸收的敏感性可能会大大增强。这意味着Lya的光度可能会显著降低,甚至完全被抑制。然而,没有无偏的经验测试逃逸分数(f_esc)的Lya光子已在高红移进行。在这里,我们报告说,平均fesc从恒星形成星系在红移z = 2.2是只有5%,通过执行盲窄带调查在Lya和Ha。这意味着,许多结论的基础上Lya选择的样本将需要向上修订的数量级,我们提供了一个基准,这一修订。我们证明,近90%的恒星形成星系发射的Lya不足,无法通过标准选择标准检测到。这两个样本显示反相关的fesc与灰尘含量,我们表明,Lya-和Ha-选择恢复人口的灰尘含量和fesc有很大的不同。

英文摘要:

The Lyman-alpha (Lya) emission line is the primary observational signature of star-forming galaxies at the highest redshifts, and has enabled the compilation of large samples of galaxies with which to study cosmic evolution. The resonant nature of the line, however, means that Lya photons scatter in the neutral interstellar medium of their host galaxies, and their sensitivity to absorption by interstellar dust may therefore be enhanced greatly. This implies that the Lya luminosity may be significantly reduced, or even completely suppressed. Hitherto, no unbiased empirical test of the escaping fraction (f_esc) of Lya photons has been performed at high redshifts. Here we report that the average fesc from star-forming galaxies at redshift z = 2.2 is just 5 per cent by performing a blind narrowband survey in Lya and Ha. This implies that numerous conclusions based on Lya-selected samples will require upwards revision by an order of magnitude and we provide a benchmark for this revision. We demonstrate that almost 90 per cent of star-forming galaxies emit insufficient Lya to be detected by standard selection criteria. Both samples show an anti-correlation of fesc with dust content, and we show that Lya- and Ha-selection recovers populations that differ substantially in dust content and fesc.

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