The Astrophysical Journal (Jan 2024)
The Web Epoch of Reionization Lyα Survey (WERLS). I. MOSFIRE Spectroscopy of z ∼ 7–8 Lyα Emitters
- Olivia R. Cooper,
- Caitlin M. Casey,
- Hollis B. Akins,
- Jake Magee,
- Alfonso Melendez,
- Mia Fong,
- Stephanie M. Urbano Stawinski,
- Jeyhan S. Kartaltepe,
- Steven L. Finkelstein,
- Rebecca L. Larson,
- Intae Jung,
- Ash Bista,
- Jaclyn B. Champagne,
- Óscar A. Chávez Ortiz,
- Sadie Coffin,
- M. C. Cooper,
- Nicole Drakos,
- Andreas L. Faisst,
- Maximilien Franco,
- Seiji Fujimoto,
- Steven Gillman,
- Ghassem Gozaliasl,
- Santosh Harish,
- Taylor A. Hutchison,
- Anton M. Koekemoer,
- Vasily Kokorev,
- Jitrapon Lertprasertpong,
- Daizhong Liu,
- Arianna S. Long,
- Casey Papovich,
- R. Michael Rich,
- Brant E. Robertson,
- Margherita Talia,
- Brittany N. Vanderhoof,
- John R. Weaver,
- Katherine E. Whitaker,
- Jorge A. Zavala
Affiliations
- Olivia R. Cooper
- ORCiD
- The University of Texas at Austin , 2515 Speedway Boulevard Stop C1400, Austin, TX 78712, USA
- Caitlin M. Casey
- ORCiD
- The University of Texas at Austin , 2515 Speedway Boulevard Stop C1400, Austin, TX 78712, USA; Cosmic Dawn Center (DAWN) , Denmark
- Hollis B. Akins
- ORCiD
- The University of Texas at Austin , 2515 Speedway Boulevard Stop C1400, Austin, TX 78712, USA
- Jake Magee
- The University of Texas at Austin , 2515 Speedway Boulevard Stop C1400, Austin, TX 78712, USA
- Alfonso Melendez
- The University of Texas at Austin , 2515 Speedway Boulevard Stop C1400, Austin, TX 78712, USA
- Mia Fong
- The University of Texas at Austin , 2515 Speedway Boulevard Stop C1400, Austin, TX 78712, USA
- Stephanie M. Urbano Stawinski
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California , Irvine, 4129 Frederick Reines Hall, Irvine, CA 92697, USA
- Jeyhan S. Kartaltepe
- ORCiD
- Laboratory for Multiwavelength Astrophysics, School of Physics and Astronomy, Rochester Institute of Technology , 84 Lomb Memorial Drive, Rochester, NY 14623, USA
- Steven L. Finkelstein
- ORCiD
- The University of Texas at Austin , 2515 Speedway Boulevard Stop C1400, Austin, TX 78712, USA
- Rebecca L. Larson
- ORCiD
- Laboratory for Multiwavelength Astrophysics, School of Physics and Astronomy, Rochester Institute of Technology , 84 Lomb Memorial Drive, Rochester, NY 14623, USA
- Intae Jung
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Ash Bista
- Laboratory for Multiwavelength Astrophysics, School of Physics and Astronomy, Rochester Institute of Technology , 84 Lomb Memorial Drive, Rochester, NY 14623, USA
- Jaclyn B. Champagne
- ORCiD
- Steward Observatory, University of Arizona , 933 N. Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
- Óscar A. Chávez Ortiz
- ORCiD
- The University of Texas at Austin , 2515 Speedway Boulevard Stop C1400, Austin, TX 78712, USA
- Sadie Coffin
- ORCiD
- Laboratory for Multiwavelength Astrophysics, School of Physics and Astronomy, Rochester Institute of Technology , 84 Lomb Memorial Drive, Rochester, NY 14623, USA
- M. C. Cooper
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of California , Irvine, 4129 Reines Hall, Irvine, CA 92697, USA
- Nicole Drakos
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California , Santa Cruz, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA
- Andreas L. Faisst
- ORCiD
- Caltech/IPAC , 1200 E. California Boulevard, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
- Maximilien Franco
- ORCiD
- The University of Texas at Austin , 2515 Speedway Boulevard Stop C1400, Austin, TX 78712, USA
- Seiji Fujimoto
- ORCiD
- The University of Texas at Austin , 2515 Speedway Boulevard Stop C1400, Austin, TX 78712, USA
- Steven Gillman
- ORCiD
- Cosmic Dawn Center (DAWN) , Denmark; DTU-Space, Technical University of Denmark , Elektrovej 327, DK-2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
- Ghassem Gozaliasl
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics, University of Helsinki , P.O. Box 64, FI-00014 Helsinki, Finland
- Santosh Harish
- ORCiD
- Laboratory for Multiwavelength Astrophysics, School of Physics and Astronomy, Rochester Institute of Technology , 84 Lomb Memorial Drive, Rochester, NY 14623, USA
- Taylor A. Hutchison
- ORCiD
- Astrophysics Science Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center , 8800 Greenbelt Road, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
- Anton M. Koekemoer
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Vasily Kokorev
- ORCiD
- Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, University of Groningen , P.O. Box 800, 9700 AV Groningen, The Netherlands
- Jitrapon Lertprasertpong
- ORCiD
- Laboratory for Multiwavelength Astrophysics, School of Physics and Astronomy, Rochester Institute of Technology , 84 Lomb Memorial Drive, Rochester, NY 14623, USA
- Daizhong Liu
- ORCiD
- Max-Planck-Institut für Extraterrestrische Physik (MPE) , Giessenbachstraße 1, D-85748 Garching, Germany
- Arianna S. Long
- ORCiD
- The University of Texas at Austin , 2515 Speedway Boulevard Stop C1400, Austin, TX 78712, USA
- Casey Papovich
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy , Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-4242, USA; George P. and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy, Texas A&M University , College Station, TX 77843-4242, USA
- R. Michael Rich
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy , UCLA, PAB 430 Portola Plaza, Box 951547, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
- Brant E. Robertson
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California , Santa Cruz, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA
- Margherita Talia
- ORCiD
- University of Bologna–Department of Physics and Astronomy “Augusto Righi” (DIFA) , Via Gobetti 93/2, I-40129 Bologna, Italy; INAF, Osservatorio di Astrofisica e Scienza dello Spazio , Via Gobetti 93/3, I-40129, Bologna, Italy
- Brittany N. Vanderhoof
- ORCiD
- Laboratory for Multiwavelength Astrophysics, School of Physics and Astronomy, Rochester Institute of Technology , 84 Lomb Memorial Drive, Rochester, NY 14623, USA; Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- John R. Weaver
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, University of Massachusetts Amherst , 710 N Pleasant Street, Amherst, MA 01003, USA
- Katherine E. Whitaker
- ORCiD
- Cosmic Dawn Center (DAWN) , Denmark; Department of Astronomy, University of Massachusetts Amherst , 710 N Pleasant Street, Amherst, MA 01003, USA
- Jorge A. Zavala
- ORCiD
- National Astronomical Observatory of Japan , 2-21-1 Osawa, Mitaka, Tokyo 181-8588, Japan
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad4c6c
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 970,
no. 1
p. 50
Abstract
We present the first results from the Web Epoch of Reionization Ly α Survey (WERLS), a spectroscopic survey of Ly α emission using Keck I/MOSFIRE and LRIS. WERLS targets bright ( J < 26) galaxy candidates with photometric redshifts of 5.5 ≲ z ≲ 8 selected from pre-JWST imaging embedded in the Epoch of Reionization (EoR) within three JWST deep fields: CEERS, PRIMER, and COSMOS-Web. Here, we report 11 z ∼ 7–8 Ly α emitters (LAEs; three secure and eight tentative candidates) detected in the first five nights of WERLS MOSFIRE data. We estimate our observed LAE yield is ∼13%, which is broadly consistent with expectations assuming some loss from redshift uncertainty, contamination from sky OH lines, and that the Universe is approximately half-ionized at this epoch, whereby observable Ly α emission is unlikely for galaxies embedded in a neutral intergalactic medium. Our targets are selected to be UV-bright, and span a range of absolute UV magnitudes with −23.1 < M _UV < −19.8. With two LAEs detected at z = 7.68, we also consider the possibility of an ionized bubble at this redshift. Future synergistic Keck+JWST efforts will provide a powerful tool for pinpointing beacons of reionization and mapping the large-scale distribution of mass relative to the ionization state of the Universe.
Keywords
