The HETDEX Pilot Survey. III. The Low Metallicities Of High-Redshift Ly Alpha Galaxies

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dc.contributor.utaustinauthorHill, Gary J.en_US
dc.contributor.utaustinauthorGebhardt, Karlen_US
dc.contributor.utaustinauthorAdams, Joshuaen_US
dc.contributor.utaustinauthorBlanc, Guillermo A.|en_US
dc.creatorFinkelstein, Steven L.en_US
dc.creatorHill, Gary J.en_US
dc.creatorGebhardt, Karlen_US
dc.creatorAdams, Joshuaen_US
dc.creatorBlanc, Guillermo A.en_US
dc.creatorPapovich, Caseyen_US
dc.creatorCiardullo, Robinen_US
dc.creatorDrory, Niven_US
dc.creatorGawiser, Ericen_US
dc.creatorGronwall, Carylen_US
dc.creatorSchneider, Donald P.en_US
dc.creatorTran, Kim-Vyen_US
dc.date.accessioned2016-04-28T19:37:43Z
dc.date.available2016-04-28T19:37:43Z
dc.date.issued2011-03en
dc.description.abstractWe present the results of Keck/NIRSPEC spectroscopic observations of three Ly alpha emitting galaxies (LAEs) at z similar to 2.3 discovered with the HETDEX pilot survey. We detect H alpha, [OIII], and H beta emission from two galaxies at z = 2.29 and 2.49, designated HPS194 and HPS256, respectively, representing the first detection of multiple rest-frame optical emission lines in galaxies at high redshift selected on the basis of their Ly alpha emission. We find that the redshifts of the Ly alpha emission from these galaxies are offset redward of the systemic redshifts (derived from the H alpha and [OIII] emission) by Delta v = 162 +/- 37 (photometric) +/- 42 (systematic) km s(-1) for HPS194 and Delta v = 36 +/- 35 +/- 18 km s-1 for HPS256. An interpretation for HPS194 is that a large-scale outflow may be occurring in its interstellar medium. This outflow is likely powered by star-formation activity, as examining emission line ratios implies that neither LAE hosts an active galactic nucleus. Using the upper limits on the [N II] emission, we place meaningful constraints on the gas-phase metallicities in these two LAEs of Z < 0.17 and < 0.28 Z(circle dot) (1 sigma). Measuring the stellar masses of these objects via spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting (similar to 10(10) and 6 x 10(8) M-circle dot, respectively), we study the nature of LAEs in a mass-metallicity plane. At least one of these two LAEs appears to be more metal poor than continuum-selected star-forming galaxies at the same redshift and stellar mass, implying that objects exhibiting Ly alpha emission may be systematically less chemically enriched than the general galaxy population. We use the SEDs of these two galaxies to show that neglecting the contribution of the measured emission line fluxes when fitting stellar population models to the observed photometry can result in overestimates of the population age by orders of magnitude and the stellar mass by a factor of similar to 2. This effect is particularly important at z greater than or similar to 7, where similarly strong emission lines may masquerade in the photometry as a 4000 angstrom break.en_US
dc.description.departmentMcDonald Observatoryen_US
dc.description.sponsorshipW. M. Keck Foundationen_US
dc.description.sponsorshipTexas A&M Department of Physics and Astronomyen_US
dc.description.sponsorshipTexas Norman Hackerman Advanced Research Program ARP 003658-0005-2006, 003658-0295-2007en_US
dc.description.sponsorshipNational Science Foundationen_US
dc.identifierdoi:10.15781/T2D528
dc.identifier.Filename2011_03_hetdexpilotsurveyiii.pdfen_US
dc.identifier.citationFinkelstein, Steven L., Gary J. Hill, Karl Gebhardt, Joshua Adams, Guillermo A. Blanc, Casey Papovich, Robin Ciardullo et al. "The HETDEX Pilot Survey. III. The Low Metallicities of High-redshift Ly? Galaxies." The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 729, No. 2 (Mar., 2011): 140.en_US
dc.identifier.doi10.1088/0004-637x/729/2/140en_US
dc.identifier.issn0004-637Xen_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/2152/34955
dc.language.isoEnglishen_US
dc.relation.ispartofen_US
dc.relation.ispartofserialAstrophysical Journalen_US
dc.rightsAdministrative deposit of works to Texas ScholarWorks: This works author(s) is or was a University faculty member, student or staff member; this article is already available through open access or the publisher allows a PDF version of the article to be freely posted online. The library makes the deposit as a matter of fair use (for scholarly, educational, and research purposes), and to preserve the work and further secure public access to the works of the University.en_US
dc.rights.restrictionOpenen_US
dc.subjectgalaxies: evolutionen_US
dc.subjectstar-forming galaxiesen_US
dc.subjectlyman-break galaxiesen_US
dc.subjectstellar mass densityen_US
dc.subjectactive galactic nucleien_US
dc.subjectdigital-sky-surveyen_US
dc.subjectultra-deep-fielden_US
dc.subjectemission-line galaxiesen_US
dc.subjecti'-drop galaxiesen_US
dc.subjectsimilar-to 7en_US
dc.subjectemittingen_US
dc.subjectgalaxiesen_US
dc.subjectastronomy & astrophysicsen_US
dc.titleThe HETDEX Pilot Survey. III. The Low Metallicities Of High-Redshift Ly Alpha Galaxiesen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US

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