The Astrophysical Journal (Jan 2024)
CEERS: Diversity of Lyα Emitters during the Epoch of Reionization
- Intae Jung,
- Steven L. Finkelstein,
- Pablo Arrabal Haro,
- Mark Dickinson,
- Henry C. Ferguson,
- Taylor A. Hutchison,
- Jeyhan S. Kartaltepe,
- Rebecca L. Larson,
- Raymond C. Simons,
- Casey Papovich,
- Hyunbae Park,
- Laura Pentericci,
- Jonathan R. Trump,
- Ricardo O. Amorín,
- Bren E. Backhaus,
- Micaela B. Bagley,
- Caitlin M. Casey,
- Yingjie Cheng,
- Nikko J. Cleri,
- M. C. Cooper,
- Olivia R. Cooper,
- Jonathan P. Gardner,
- Eric Gawiser,
- Andrea Grazian,
- Nimish P. Hathi,
- Michaela Hirschmann,
- Anton M. Koekemoer,
- Ray A. Lucas,
- Bahram Mobasher,
- Nor Pirzkal,
- Swara Ravindranath,
- Amber N. Straughn,
- L. Y. Aaron Yung,
- Alexander de la Vega
Affiliations
- Intae Jung
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA ; [email protected]
- Steven L. Finkelstein
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, TX, USA
- Pablo Arrabal Haro
- ORCiD
- NSF’s National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory , 950 N. Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85719, USA
- Mark Dickinson
- ORCiD
- NSF’s National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory , 950 N. Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85719, USA
- Henry C. Ferguson
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA ; [email protected]
- Taylor A. Hutchison
- ORCiD
- Astrophysics Science Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center , 8800 Greenbelt Road, Greenbelt, MD 20771, 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
- Rebecca L. Larson
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, TX, USA
- Raymond C. Simons
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics, 196 Auditorium Road, Unit 3046, University of Connecticut , Storrs, CT 06269, 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
- Hyunbae Park
- ORCiD
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory , CA 94720, USA; Berkeley Center for Cosmological Physics , UC Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
- Laura Pentericci
- ORCiD
- INAF—Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma , via di Frascati 33, 00078 Monte Porzio Catone, Italy
- Jonathan R. Trump
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics, 196 Auditorium Road, Unit 3046, University of Connecticut , Storrs, CT 06269, USA
- Ricardo O. Amorín
- ORCiD
- Instituto de Investigación Multidisciplinar en Ciencia y Tecnología, Universidad de La Serena , Raul Bitrán 1305, La Serena 2204000, Chile; Departamento de Astronomía, Universidad de La Serena , Av. Juan Cisternas 1200 Norte, La Serena 1720236, Chile
- Bren E. Backhaus
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics, 196 Auditorium Road, Unit 3046, University of Connecticut , Storrs, CT 06269, USA
- Micaela B. Bagley
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, TX, USA
- Caitlin M. Casey
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, TX, USA
- Yingjie Cheng
- ORCiD
- University of Massachusetts Amherst , 710 North Pleasant Street, Amherst, MA 01003-9305, USA
- Nikko J. Cleri
- 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
- M. C. Cooper
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of California, Irvine , 4129 Reines Hall, Irvine, CA 92697, USA
- Olivia R. Cooper
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, TX, USA
- Jonathan P. Gardner
- ORCiD
- Astrophysics Science Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center , 8800 Greenbelt Road, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
- Eric Gawiser
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey , Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA
- Andrea Grazian
- ORCiD
- INAF–Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova , Vicolo dell’Osservatorio 5, I-35122, Padova, Italy
- Nimish P. Hathi
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA ; [email protected]
- Michaela Hirschmann
- ORCiD
- Institute of Physics , Laboratory of Galaxy Evolution, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Observatoire de Sauverny, 1290 Versoix, Switzerland
- Anton M. Koekemoer
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA ; [email protected]
- Ray A. Lucas
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA ; [email protected]
- Bahram Mobasher
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California , 900 University Avenue, Riverside, CA 92521, USA
- Nor Pirzkal
- ORCiD
- ESA/AURA Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Swara Ravindranath
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA ; [email protected]
- Amber N. Straughn
- ORCiD
- Astrophysics Science Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center , 8800 Greenbelt Road, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
- L. Y. Aaron Yung
- ORCiD
- Astrophysics Science Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center , 8800 Greenbelt Road, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
- Alexander de la Vega
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California , 900 University Avenue, Riverside, CA 92521, USA
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad3913
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 967,
no. 1
p. 73
Abstract
We analyze rest-frame ultraviolet to optical spectra of three z ≃ 7.47–7.75 galaxies whose Ly α emission lines were previously detected with Keck/MOSFIRE observations, using the JWST/NIRSpec observations from the Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science survey. From NIRSpec data, we confirm the systemic redshifts of these Ly α emitters, and emission-line ratio diagnostics indicate these galaxies were highly ionized and metal-poor. We investigate Ly α line properties, including the line flux, velocity offset, and spatial extent. For the one galaxy where we have both NIRSpec and MOSFIRE measurements, we find a significant offset in their flux measurements (∼1.3–5× greater in MOSFIRE) and a marginal difference in the velocity shifts. The simplest interpretation is that the Ly α emission is extended and not entirely encompassed by the NIRSpec slit. The cross-dispersion profiles in NIRSpec reveal that Ly α in one galaxy is significantly more extended than the nonresonant emission lines. We also compute the expected sizes of ionized bubbles that can be generated by the Ly α sources and discuss viable scenarios for the creation of sizable ionized bubbles (>1 physical Mpc). The source with the highest-ionization condition is possibly capable of ionizing its own bubble, while the other two do not appear to be capable of ionizing such a large region, but require additional sources of ionizing photons. Therefore, the fact that we detect Ly α from these galaxies suggests diverse scenarios for the escape of Ly α during the epoch of reionization. High-spectral-resolution spectra with JWST/NIRSpec will be extremely useful for constraining the physics of patchy reionization.
Keywords
- Reionization
- Early universe
- Intergalactic medium
- High-redshift galaxies
- Lyman-alpha galaxies
- Extragalactic astronomy
