---
_id: '11497'
abstract:
- lang: eng
text: "Context. The hydrogen Lyman α line is often the only measurable feature in
optical spectra of high-redshift galaxies. Its shape and strength are influenced
by radiative transfer processes and the properties of the underlying stellar population.
High equivalent widths of several hundred Å are especially hard to explain by
models and could point towards unusual stellar populations, for example with low
metallicities, young stellar ages, and a top-heavy initial mass function. Other
aspects influencing equivalent widths are the morphology of the galaxy and its
gas properties.\r\nAims. The aim of this study is to better understand the connection
between the Lyman α rest-frame equivalent width (EW0) and spectral properties
as well as ultraviolet (UV) continuum morphology by obtaining reliable EW0 histograms
for a statistical sample of galaxies and by assessing the fraction of objects
with large equivalent widths.\r\nMethods. We used integral field spectroscopy
from the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) combined with broad-band data
from the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) to measure EW0. We analysed the emission
lines of 1920 Lyman α emitters (LAEs) detected in the full MUSE-Wide (one hour
exposure time) and MUSE-Deep (ten hour exposure time) surveys and found UV continuum
counterparts in archival HST data. We fitted the UV continuum photometric images
using the Galfit software to gain morphological information on the rest-UV emission
and fitted the spectra obtained from MUSE to determine the double peak fraction,
asymmetry, full-width at half maximum, and flux of the Lyman α line.\r\nResults.
The two surveys show different histograms of Lyman α EW0. In MUSE-Wide, 20% of
objects have EW0 > 240 Å, while this fraction is only 11% in MUSE-Deep and ≈16%
for the full sample. This includes objects without HST continuum counterparts
(one-third of our sample), for which we give lower limits for EW0. The object
with the highest securely measured EW0 has EW0 = 589 ± 193 Å (the highest lower
limit being EW0 = 4464 Å). We investigate the connection between EW0 and Lyman
α spectral or UV continuum morphological properties.\r\nConclusions. The survey
depth has to be taken into account when studying EW0 distributions. We find that
in general, high EW0 objects can have a wide range of spectral and UV morphological
properties, which might reflect that the underlying causes for high EW0 values
are equally varied."
acknowledgement: We thank the referee for thoughtful and constructive comments that
have improved the quality of this manuscript. Based on observations collected at
the European Southern Observatory under ESO programme 1101.A-0127. This work made
use of v2.2.1 of the Binary Population and Spectral Synthesis (BPASS) models as
described in Eldridge et al. (2017) and Stanway & Eldridge (2018). A.F. acknowledges
the support from grant PRIN MIUR2017-20173ML3WW_001. T.N. acknowledges support from
Australian Research Council Laureate Fellowship FL180100060.
article_number: '183'
article_processing_charge: No
article_type: original
author:
- first_name: J.
full_name: Kerutt, J.
last_name: Kerutt
- first_name: L.
full_name: Wisotzki, L.
last_name: Wisotzki
- first_name: A.
full_name: Verhamme, A.
last_name: Verhamme
- first_name: K. B.
full_name: Schmidt, K. B.
last_name: Schmidt
- first_name: F.
full_name: Leclercq, F.
last_name: Leclercq
- first_name: E. C.
full_name: Herenz, E. C.
last_name: Herenz
- first_name: T.
full_name: Urrutia, T.
last_name: Urrutia
- first_name: T.
full_name: Garel, T.
last_name: Garel
- first_name: T.
full_name: Hashimoto, T.
last_name: Hashimoto
- first_name: M.
full_name: Maseda, M.
last_name: Maseda
- first_name: Jorryt J
full_name: Matthee, Jorryt J
id: 7439a258-f3c0-11ec-9501-9df22fe06720
last_name: Matthee
orcid: 0000-0003-2871-127X
- first_name: H.
full_name: Kusakabe, H.
last_name: Kusakabe
- first_name: J.
full_name: Schaye, J.
last_name: Schaye
- first_name: J.
full_name: Richard, J.
last_name: Richard
- first_name: B.
full_name: Guiderdoni, B.
last_name: Guiderdoni
- first_name: V.
full_name: Mauerhofer, V.
last_name: Mauerhofer
- first_name: T.
full_name: Nanayakkara, T.
last_name: Nanayakkara
- first_name: E.
full_name: Vitte, E.
last_name: Vitte
citation:
ama: Kerutt J, Wisotzki L, Verhamme A, et al. Equivalent widths of Lyman α emitters
in MUSE-Wide and MUSE-Deep. Astronomy & Astrophysics. 2022;659. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202141900
apa: Kerutt, J., Wisotzki, L., Verhamme, A., Schmidt, K. B., Leclercq, F., Herenz,
E. C., … Vitte, E. (2022). Equivalent widths of Lyman α emitters in MUSE-Wide
and MUSE-Deep. Astronomy & Astrophysics. EDP Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202141900
chicago: Kerutt, J., L. Wisotzki, A. Verhamme, K. B. Schmidt, F. Leclercq, E. C.
Herenz, T. Urrutia, et al. “Equivalent Widths of Lyman α Emitters in MUSE-Wide
and MUSE-Deep.” Astronomy & Astrophysics. EDP Sciences, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202141900.
ieee: J. Kerutt et al., “Equivalent widths of Lyman α emitters in MUSE-Wide
and MUSE-Deep,” Astronomy & Astrophysics, vol. 659. EDP Sciences, 2022.
ista: Kerutt J, Wisotzki L, Verhamme A, Schmidt KB, Leclercq F, Herenz EC, Urrutia
T, Garel T, Hashimoto T, Maseda M, Matthee JJ, Kusakabe H, Schaye J, Richard J,
Guiderdoni B, Mauerhofer V, Nanayakkara T, Vitte E. 2022. Equivalent widths of
Lyman α emitters in MUSE-Wide and MUSE-Deep. Astronomy & Astrophysics. 659,
183.
mla: Kerutt, J., et al. “Equivalent Widths of Lyman α Emitters in MUSE-Wide and
MUSE-Deep.” Astronomy & Astrophysics, vol. 659, 183, EDP Sciences,
2022, doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202141900.
short: J. Kerutt, L. Wisotzki, A. Verhamme, K.B. Schmidt, F. Leclercq, E.C. Herenz,
T. Urrutia, T. Garel, T. Hashimoto, M. Maseda, J.J. Matthee, H. Kusakabe, J. Schaye,
J. Richard, B. Guiderdoni, V. Mauerhofer, T. Nanayakkara, E. Vitte, Astronomy
& Astrophysics 659 (2022).
date_created: 2022-07-06T08:17:27Z
date_published: 2022-03-25T00:00:00Z
date_updated: 2022-07-19T09:47:16Z
day: '25'
doi: 10.1051/0004-6361/202141900
extern: '1'
external_id:
arxiv:
- '2202.06642'
intvolume: ' 659'
keyword:
- Space and Planetary Science
- Astronomy and Astrophysics
- 'galaxies: high-redshift / galaxies: formation / galaxies: evolution / cosmology:
observations'
language:
- iso: eng
main_file_link:
- open_access: '1'
url: https://arxiv.org/abs/2202.06642
month: '03'
oa: 1
oa_version: Published Version
publication: Astronomy & Astrophysics
publication_identifier:
eissn:
- 1432-0746
issn:
- 0004-6361
publication_status: published
publisher: EDP Sciences
quality_controlled: '1'
scopus_import: '1'
status: public
title: Equivalent widths of Lyman α emitters in MUSE-Wide and MUSE-Deep
type: journal_article
user_id: 2DF688A6-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
volume: 659
year: '2022'
...