The Rest-Frame Ultraviolet Light Profile Shapes Of Ly Alpha-Emitting Galaxies At Z=3.1

We present a morphological analysis of the rest-frame ultraviolet emission of 78 resolved, high signal-to-noise z similar to 3.1 Ly alpha emitters (LAEs) in the Extended Chandra Deep Field-South. Using Hubble Space Telescope/Advanced Camera for Surveys V-band images taken as part of the Galaxy Evolution from Morphology and SEDs, Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey, and Hubble Ultra Deep Field surveys, we investigate both single-component and multi-component LAEs, and derive concentration indices, Sersic indices, ellipticities, and half-light radii for all resolved components and systems with a signal-to-noise > 30. We show that, although the LAE population is heterogeneous in nature, most LAEs are highly concentrated, with a distribution of C values similar to that measured for field stars; this suggests that the diagnostic is a poor discriminator near the resolution limit. The LAEs also display a wide range of Sersic indices (0 < n < 12), similar to that seen for galaxies in the local neighborhood. However, the majority of LAEs have n < 2, and a visual inspection of the images suggests that the small-n objects have extended or multimodal luminosity profiles, while the LAEs with n > 2 have compact components surrounded by diffuse emission. Moreover, unlike nearby spiral galaxies, whose distribution of ellipticities is flat, the LAE ellipticity distribution peaks near 1 - b/a similar to 0.55 Thus, the population has more in common with z similar to 3 Lyman-break galaxies than local star-forming objects.