arXiv subjects

Sangeeta Malhotra

Publications and source records attributed to Sangeeta Malhotra.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

arXiv2018

Correlation between SFR surface density and thermal pressure of ionized gas in local analogs of high-redshift galaxies

We explore the relation between the star formation rate surface density ($Σ$SFR) and the interstellar gas pressure for nearby compact starburst galaxies. The sample consists of 17 green peas and 19 Lyman break analogs. Green peas are nearby analogs of Ly$α$ emitters at high redshift and Lyman break analogs are nearby analogs of Lyman break galaxies at high redshift. We measure the sizes for green peas using Hubble Space Telescope Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS) NUV images with a spatial resolution of $\sim$ 0.05$^{''}$. We estimate the gas thermal pressure in HII regions by $P = N_{total}Tk{_B} \simeq 2n_{e}Tk{_B}$. The electron density is derived using the [SII] doublet at 6716,6731 Å, and the temperature is calculated from the [OIII] lines. The correlation is characterized by $Σ$ SFR = 2.40$\times$10$^{-3\,}$M$_{\odot\,}$yr$^{-1\,}$kpc$^{-2}$$\left(\frac{P/k_{B}}{10^{4}cm^{-3}K}\right)^{1.33}$. Green peas and Lyman break analogs have high $Σ$SFR up to 1.2 M$_{\odot\,}$yr$^{-1\,}$kpc$^{-2}$ and high thermal pressure in HII region up to P/k$_B$ $\sim$10$^{7.2}{\rm\, K\, cm}^{-3}$. These values are at the highest end of the range seen in nearby starburst galaxies. The high gas pressure and the correlation, are in agreement with those found in star-forming galaxies at z $\sim$ 2.5. These extreme pressures are shown to be responsible for driving galactic winds in nearby starbursts. These outflows may be a crucial in enabling Lyman-$α$ and Lyman-continuum to escape.

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arXiv2018

Direct T$_e$ metallicity calibration of R23 in strong line emitters

The gas metallicity of galaxies is often estimated using strong emission lines such as the optical lines of [OIII] and [OII]. The most common measure is "R23", defined as ([OII]$λ$$λ$3726, 3729 + [OIII]$λ$$λ$4959,5007)/H$β$. Most calibrations for these strong-line metallicity indicators are for continuum selected galaxies. We report a new empirical calibration of R23 for extreme emission-line galaxies using a large sample of about 800 star-forming green pea galaxies with reliable T$_e$-based gas-phase metallicity measurements. This sample is assembled from Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 13 with the equivalent width of the line [OIII]$λ$5007 $>$ 300 Å or the equivalent width of the line H$β$ $>$ 100 Å in the redshift range 0.011 $<$ z $<$ 0.411. For galaxies with strong emission lines and large ionization parameter (which manifests as log [OIII]$λ$$λ$4959,5007/[OII]$λ$$λ$3726,3729 $\geq$ 0.6), R23 monotonically increases with log(O/H) and the double-value degeneracy is broken. Our calibration provides metallicity estimates that are accurate to within $\sim$ 0.14 dex in this regime. Many previous R23 calibrations are found to have bias and large scatter for extreme emission-line galaxies. We give formulae and plots to directly convert R23 and [OIII]$λ$$λ$4959,5007/[OII]$λ$$λ$3726,3729 to log(O/H). Since green peas are best nearby analogs of high-redshift Lyman-$α$ emitting galaxies, the new calibration offers a good way to estimate the metallicities of both extreme emission-line galaxies and high-redshift Lyman-$α$ emitting galaxies. We also report on 15 galaxies with metallicities less than 1/12 solar, with the lowest metallicities being 12+log(O/H) = 7.25 and 7.26.

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arXiv2018

A Two-Dimensional Spectroscopic Study of Emission Line Galaxies in the Faint Infrared Grism Survey (FIGS) I: Detection Method and Catalog

We present the results from the application of a two-dimensional emission line detection method, EMission-line two-Dimensional (EM2D), to the near-infrared G102 grism observations obtained with the Wide-Field Camera 3 (WFC3) as part of the Cycle 22 {\em Hubble Space Telescope} Treasury Program: the Faint Infrared Grism Survey (FIGS). Using the EM2D method, we have assembled a catalog of emission line galaxies (ELGs) with resolved star formation from each of the four FIGS fields. Not only can one better assess the global properties of ELGs, but the EM2D method allows for the analysis and an improved study of the individual emission-line region {\it within} each galaxy. This paper includes a description of the methodology, advantages, and the first results of the EM2D method applied to ELGs in FIGS. The advantage of 2D emission line measurements includes significant improvement of galaxy redshift measurements, approaching the level of accuracy seen in high-spectral-resolution data, but with greater efficiency; and the ability to identify and measure the properties of multiple sites of star-formation and over scales of $\sim$ 1 kpc within individual galaxies out to z $\sim$ 4. The EM2D method also significantly improves the reliability of high-redshift ($z\sim7$) Lyman-$α$ detections. Coupled with the wide field of view and high efficiency of space-based grism observations, EM2D provides a noteworthy improvement on the physical parameters that can be extracted from grism observations.

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arXiv2018

Galaxy Structure, Stellar Populations, and Star Formation Quenching at 0.6 $\lesssim$ $z$ $\lesssim$ 1.2

We use both photometric and spectroscopic data from the {\it Hubble Space Telescope} to explore the relationships among 4000 Å break (D4000) strength, colors, stellar masses, and morphology, in a sample of 352 galaxies with log$(M_{*}/M_{\odot}) > 9.44$ at 0.6 $\lesssim z \lesssim$ 1.2. We have identified authentically quiescent galaxies in the $UVJ$ diagram based on their D4000 strengths. This spectroscopic identification is in good agreement with their photometrically-derived specific star formation rates (sSFR). Morphologically, most (that is, 66 out of 68 galaxies, $\sim$ 97 \%) of these newly identified quiescent galaxies have a prominent bulge component. However, not all of the bulge-dominated galaxies are quenched. We found that bulge-dominated galaxies show positive correlations among the D4000 strength, stellar mass, and the Sérsic index, while late-type disks do not show such strong positive correlations. Also, bulge-dominated galaxies are clearly separated into two main groups in the parameter space of sSFR vs. stellar mass and stellar surface density within the effective radius, $Σ_{\rm e}$, while late-type disks and irregulars only show high sSFR. This split is directly linked to the `blue cloud' and the `red sequence' populations, and correlates with the associated central compactness indicated by $Σ_{\rm e}$. While star-forming massive late-type disks and irregulars (with D4000 $<$ 1.5 and log$(M_{*}/M_{\odot}) \gtrsim 10.5$) span a stellar mass range comparable to bulge-dominated galaxies, most have systematically lower $Σ_{\rm e}$ $\lesssim$ $10^{9}M_{\odot}\rm{kpc^{-2}}$. This suggests that the presence of a bulge is a necessary but not sufficient requirement for quenching at intermediate redshifts.

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arXiv2018

The Dawn Light of Blueberry Galaxies: Spectroscopic and Photometric Studies of two Starburst Dwarf Galaxies

A population of so-called "blueberry" starbursting dwarf galaxies with extremely blue colors, low-metallicities, and enormous ionization ratios, has recently been found by Yang et al. (2017). Yet we still do not know their detailed properties, such as morphologies, AGN occupations, massive star contents, infrared emission, dust properties, etc. As a pilot study of the blueberries, we investigate the spectroscopic and photometric properties of two blueberry candidates, RGG B and RGG 5, for which Hubble Space Telescope high-resolution images are available. We find that RGG B and RGG 5 perhaps are likely to be two merging dwarf galaxy systems. RGG B may have a close merging companion; yet the current evidence still cannot exclude the possibility that RGG B is just disturbed by in-situ star formation through, e.g., outflows, rather than undergoing a merger. RGG 5 presents stellar shells in the outskirt which can be the powerful evidence of galaxy merging. We also find that, all of the blueberries, including RGG B and RGG 5, are located close to the theoretical maximum-starburst-line in the BPT diagram, have very high ionization parameters, and relatively low hardness ionizing radiation fields, exhibit nitrogen overabundances, and show extremely red mid-IR colors, and reside in the so-called "ULIRGs/LINERs/Obscured AGN" region. The blueberry galaxies may not harbor AGN.

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arXiv2018

The WFIRST Exoplanet Microlensing Survey

The Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) was the top ranked large space mission in the 2010 New Worlds, New Horizons decadal survey, and it was formed by merging the science programs of 3 different mission concepts, including the Microlensing Planet Finder (MPF) concept (Bennett \etal\ 2010). The WFIRST science program (Spergel \etal\ 2015) consists of a general observer program, a wavefront controlled technology program, and two targeted science programs: a program to study dark energy, and a statistical census of exoplanets with a microlensing survey, which uses nearly one quarter of WFIRST's observing time in the current design reference mission. The New Worlds, New Horizons (decadal survey) midterm assessment summarizes the science case for the WFIRST exoplanet microlensing survey with this statement: "WFIRST's microlensing census of planets beyond 1 AU will perfectly complement Kepler's census of compact systems, and WFIRST will also be able to detect free-floating planets unbound from their parent stars\rlap."

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arXiv2018

Empirical Modeling of the Redshift Evolution of the [NII]/H$α$-ratio for Galaxy Redshift Surveys

We present an empirical parameterization of the [NII]/H$α$ flux ratio as a function of stellar mass and redshift valid at 0 < z < 2.7 and 8.5 < log(M) < 11.0. This description can easily be applied to (i) simulations for modeling [NII]$\lambda6584$ line emission, (ii) deblend [NII] and H$α$ in current low-resolution grism and narrow-band observations to derive intrinsic H$α$ fluxes, and (iii) to reliably forecast the number counts of H$α$ emission-line galaxies for future surveys, such as those planned for Euclid and the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST). Our model combines the evolution of the locus on the Baldwin, Phillips & Terlevich (BPT) diagram measured in spectroscopic data out to z = 2.5 with the strong dependence of [NII]/H$α$ on stellar mass and [OIII]/H$β$ observed in local galaxy samples. We find large variations in the [NII]/H$α$ flux ratio at a fixed redshift due to its dependency on stellar mass; hence, the assumption of a constant [NII] flux contamination fraction can lead to a significant under- or overestimate of H$α$ luminosities. Specifically, measurements of the intrinsic H$α$ luminosity function derived from current low-resolution grism spectroscopy assuming a constant 29% contamination of [NII] can be overestimated by factors of ~8 at log(L) > 43.0 for galaxies at redshifts z = 1.5. This has implications for the prediction of H$α$ emitters for Euclid and WFIRST. We also study the impact of blended H$α$ and [NII] on the accuracy of measured spectroscopic redshifts.

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arXiv2018

Spectrophotometric Redshifts In The Faint Infrared Grism Survey: Finding Overdensities Of Faint Galaxies

We improve the accuracy of photometric redshifts by including low-resolution spectral data from the G102 grism on the Hubble Space Telescope, which assists in redshift determination by further constraining the shape of the broadband Spectral Energy Disribution (SED) and identifying spectral features. The photometry used in the redshift fits includes near-IR photometry from FIGS+CANDELS, as well as optical data from ground-based surveys and HST ACS, and mid-IR data from Spitzer. We calculated the redshifts through the comparison of measured photometry with template galaxy models, using the EAZY photometric redshift code. For objects with F105W $< 26.5$ AB mag with a redshift range of $0 < z < 6$, we find a typical error of $Δz = 0.03 * (1+z)$ for the purely photometric redshifts; with the addition of FIGS spectra, these become $Δz = 0.02 * (1+z)$, an improvement of 50\%. Addition of grism data also reduces the outlier rate from 8\% to 7\% across all fields. With the more-accurate spectrophotometric redshifts (SPZs), we searched the FIGS fields for galaxy overdensities. We identified 24 overdensities across the 4 fields. The strongest overdensity, matching a spectroscopically identified cluster at $z=0.85$, has 28 potential member galaxies, of which 8 have previous spectroscopic confirmation, and features a corresponding X-ray signal. Another corresponding to a cluster at $z=1.84$ has 22 members, 18 of which are spectroscopically confirmed. Additionally, we find 4 overdensities that are detected at an equal or higher significance in at least one metric to the two confirmed clusters.

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arXiv2017

Discovery of a z = 7.452 High Equivalent Width Lyman-α Emitter from the Hubble Space Telescope Faint Infrared Grism Survey

We present the results of an unbiased search for Lyα emission from continuum-selected 6 < z < 8 galaxies. Our dataset consists of 160 orbits of G102 slitless grism spectroscopy obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Wide Field Camera 3 as part of the Faint Infrared Grism Survey (FIGS; PI: Malhotra), which obtains deep slitless spectra of all sources in four fields, and was designed to minimize contamination in observations of previously-identified high-redshift galaxy candidates. The FIGS data can potentially spectroscopically confirm the redshifts of galaxies, and as Lyα emission is resonantly scattered by neutral gas, FIGS can also constrain the ionization state of the intergalactic medium (IGM) during the epoch of reionization. These data have sufficient depth to detect Lyα emission in this epoch, as Tilvi et al. (2016) have published the FIGS detection of previously known (Finkelstein et al. 2013) Lyα emission at z = 7.51. The FIGS data use five separate roll-angles of HST to mitigate the contamination by nearby galaxies. We created a method that accounts for and removes the contamination from surrounding galaxies, and also removes any dispersed continuum light from each individual spectrum (Pirzkal et al. 2017). We searched for significant (> 4σ) emission lines using two different automated detection methods, free of any visual inspection biases. Applying these methods on photometrically-selected high-redshift candidates between 6 < z < 8 we find two emission lines, one previously published by Tilvi et al. (2016), and a new line at 1.028μm. We identify this lines as Lyα at z = 7.452 +/- 0.003. This newly spectroscopically confirmed galaxy has the highest Lyα rest-frame equivalent width (EW Lyα) yet published at z > 7 (140.3 +/- 19.0Å).

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arXiv2017

Blueberry galaxies: the lowest mass young starbursts

Searching for extreme emission line galaxies allows us to find low-mass metal-poor galaxies that are good analogs of high redshift Ly$α$ emitting galaxies. These low-mass extreme emission line galaxies are also potential Lyman-continuum leakers. Finding them at very low redshifts ($z\lesssim0.05$) allows us to be sensitive to even lower stellar masses and metallicities. We report on a sample of extreme emission line galaxies at $z\lesssim0.05$ (blueberry galaxies). We selected them from SDSS broadband images on the basis of their broad band colors, and studied their properties with MMT spectroscopy. From the whole SDSS DR12 photometric catalog, we found 51 photometric candidates. We spectroscopically confirm 40 as blueberry galaxies. (An additional 7 candidates are contaminants, and 4 remain without spectra.) These blueberries are dwarf starburst galaxies with very small sizes ($< 1\hbox{kpc}$), and very high ionization ([OIII]/[OII]$\sim10-60$). They also have some of the lowest stellar masses ($\log(\hbox{M}/\hbox{M}_{\odot})\sim6.5-7.5$) and lowest metallicities ($7.1<12+\log(\hbox{O/H})<7.8$) starburst galaxies. Thus they are small counterparts to green peas and high redshift Ly$α$ emitting galaxies.

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arXiv2017

First Spectroscopic Confirmations of z ~ 7.0 Lya Emitting Galaxies in the LAGER Survey

Narrowband imaging is a highly successful approach for finding large numbers of high redshift Lya emitting galaxies (LAEs) up to z~6.6. However, at z>~7 there are as yet only 3 narrowband selected LAEs with spectroscopic confirmations (two at z~6.9-7.0, one at z~7.3), which hinders extensive studies on cosmic reionization and galaxy evolution at this key epoch. We have selected 23 candidate z~6.9 LAEs in COSMOS field with the large area narrowband survey LAGER (Lyman-Alpha Galaxies at the End of Reionization). In this work we present spectroscopic followup observations of 12 candidates using IMACS on Magellan. For 9 of these, the observations are sufficiently deep to detect the expected lines. Lya emission lines are identified in six sources (yielding a success rate of 2/3), including 3 luminous LAEs with Lya luminosities of L(Lya) ~ 10^{43.5} erg/s, the highest among known spectroscopically confirmed galaxies at >~7.0. This triples the sample size of spectroscopically confirmed narrowband selected LAEs at z>~7, and confirms the bright end bump in the Lya luminosity function we previously derived based on the photometric sample, supporting a patchy reionization scenario. Two luminous LAEs appear physically linked with projected distance of 1.1 pMpc and velocity difference of ~ 170 km/s. They likely sit in a common ionized bubble produced by themselves or with close neighbors, which reduces the IGM attenuation of Lya. A tentative narrow NV$λ$1240 line is seen in one source, hinting at activity of a central massive black hole with metal rich line emitting gas.

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arXiv2017

Ly$α$ and UV Sizes of Green Pea Galaxies

Green Peas are nearby analogs of high-redshift Ly$α$-emitting galaxies. To probe their Ly$α$ escape, we study the spatial profiles of Ly$α$ and UV continuum emission of 24 Green Pea galaxies using the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS) on Hubble Space Telescope (HST). We extract the spatial profiles of Ly$α$ emission from their 2D COS spectra, and of UV continuum from both the 2D spectra and NUV images. The Ly$α$ emission shows more extended spatial profiles than the UV continuum in most Green Peas. The deconvolved Full Width Half Maximum (FWHM) of the Ly$α$ spatial profile is about 2 to 4 times that of the UV continuum in most cases. Since Green Peas are analogs of high-z LAEs, it suggests that most high-z LAEs likely have larger Ly$α$ sizes than UV sizes. We also compare the spatial profiles of Ly$α$ photons at blueshifted and redshifted velocities in eight Green Peas with sufficient data quality, and find the blue wing of the Ly$α$ line has a larger spatial extent than the red wing in four Green Peas with comparatively weak blue Ly$α$ line wings. We show that Green Peas and MUSE $z=3-6$ LAEs have similar Ly$α$ and UV continuum sizes, which probably suggests starbursts in both low-z and high-z LAEs drive similar gas outflows illuminated by Ly$α$ light. Five Lyman continuum (LyC) leakers in this sample have similar Ly$α$ to UV continuum size ratios (~1.4-4.3) to the other Green Peas, indicating their LyC emission escape through ionized holes in the interstellar medium.

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arXiv2017

Ly$α$ profile, dust, and prediction of Ly$α$ escape fraction in Green Pea Galaxies

We studied Lyman-$α$ (Ly$α$) escape in a statistical sample of 43 Green Peas with HST/COS Ly$α$ spectra. Green Peas are nearby star-forming galaxies with strong [OIII]$λ$5007 emission lines. Our sample is four times larger than the previous sample and covers a much more complete range of Green Pea properties. We found that about 2/3 of Green Peas are strong Ly$α$ line emitters with rest-frame Ly$α$ equivalent width $>20$ Å. The Ly$α$ profiles of Green Peas are diverse. The Ly$α$ escape fraction, defined as the ratio of observed Ly$α$ flux to intrinsic Ly$α$ flux, shows anti-correlations with a few Ly$α$ kinematic features -- both the blue peak and red peak velocities, the peak separations, and FWHM of the red portion of the Ly$α$ profile. Using properties measured from SDSS optical spectra, we found many correlations -- Ly$α$ escape fraction generally increases at lower dust reddening, lower metallicity, lower stellar mass, and higher [OIII]/[OII] ratio. We fit their Ly$α$ profiles with the HI shell radiative transfer model and found Ly$α$ escape fraction anti-correlates with the best-fit $N_{HI}$. Finally, we fit an empirical linear relation to predict Ly$α$ escape fraction from the dust extinction and Ly$α$ red peak velocity. The standard deviation of this relation is about 0.3 dex. This relation can be used to isolate the effect of IGM scatterings from Ly$α$ escape and to probe the IGM optical depth along the line of sight of each $z>7$ Ly$α$ emission line galaxy in the JWST era.

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arXiv2017

FIGS -- Faint Infrared Grism Survey: Description and Data Reduction

The Faint Infrared Grism Survey (FIGS) is a deep Hubble Space Telescope (HST) WFC3/IR (Wide Field Camera 3 Infrared) slitless spectroscopic survey of four deep fields. Two fields are located in the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey-North (GOODS-N) area and two fields are located in the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey-South (GOODS-S) area. One of the southern fields selected is the Hubble Ultra Deep Field. Each of these four fields were observed using the WFC3/G102 grism (0.8$μm$-1.15$μm$ continuous coverage) with a total exposure time of 40 orbits (~ 100 kilo-seconds) per field. This reaches a 3 sigma continuum depth of ~26 AB magnitudes and probes emission lines to $\approx 10^{-17}\ erg\ s^{-1} \ cm^{-2}$. This paper details the four FIGS fields and the overall observational strategy of the project. A detailed description of the Simulation Based Extraction (SBE) method used to extract and combine over 10000 spectra of over 2000 distinct sources brighter than m_F105W=26.5 mag is provided. High fidelity simulations of the observations is shown to significantly improve the background subtraction process, the spectral contamination estimates, and the final flux calibration. This allows for the combination of multiple spectra to produce a final high quality, deep, 1D-spectra for each object in the survey.

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arXiv2017

First Results from the Lyman Alpha Galaxies in the Epoch of Reionization (LAGER) Survey: Cosmological Reionization at z ~ 7

We present the first results from the ongoing LAGER project (Lyman Alpha Galaxies in the Epoch of Reionization), which is the largest narrowband survey for $z \sim$ 7 galaxies to date. Using a specially built narrowband filter NB964 for the superb large-area Dark-Energy Camera (DECam) on the NOAO/CTIO 4m Blanco telescope, LAGER has collected 34 hours NB964 narrowband imaging data in the 3 deg$^2$ COSMOS field. We have identified 23 Lyman Alpha Emitter (LAE) candidates at $z$ = 6.9 in the central 2-deg$^2$ region, where DECam and public COSMOS multi-band images exist. The resulting luminosity function can be described as a Schechter function modified by a significant excess at the bright end (4 galaxies with $L_{Lyα} \sim $ 10$^{43.4\pm0.2}$ erg s$^{-1}$). The number density at $L_{Lyα}\sim$ 10$^{43.4\pm0.2}$ erg s$^{-1}$ is little changed from z= 6.6, while at fainter $L_{Lyα}$ it is substantially reduced. Overall, we see a fourfold reduction in Ly$α$ luminosity density from $z$ = 5.7 to 6.9. Combined with a more modest evolution of the continuum UV luminosity density, this suggests a factor of $\sim 3$ suppression of Ly$α$ by radiative transfer through the $z \sim$ 7 intergalactic medium (IGM). It indicates an IGM neutral fraction $x_{HI}$ $\sim$ 0.4--0.6 (assuming Ly$α$ velocity offsets of 100-200 km s$^{-1}$). The changing shape of the Ly$α$ luminosity function between $z\lesssim 6.6$ and $z=6.9$ supports the hypothesis of ionized bubbles in a patchy reionization at $z\sim$ 7.

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arXiv2016

The Metal Abundances across Cosmic Time ($\mathcal{MACT}$) Survey. I. Optical Spectroscopy in the Subaru Deep Field

Deep rest-frame optical spectroscopy is critical for characterizing and understanding the physical conditions and properties of the ionized gas in galaxies. Here, we present a new spectroscopic survey called "Metal Abundances across Cosmic Time" or $\mathcal{MACT}$, which will obtain rest-frame optical spectra for $\sim$3000 emission-line galaxies. This paper describes the optical spectroscopy that has been conducted with MMT/Hectospec and Keck/DEIMOS for $\approx$1900 $z=0.1-1$ emission-line galaxies selected from our narrowband and intermediate-band imaging in the Subaru Deep Field. In addition, we present a sample of 164 galaxies for which we have measured the weak [OIII]$λ$4363 line (66 with at least 3$σ$ detections and 98 with significant upper limits). This nebular emission line determines the gas-phase metallicity by measuring the electron temperature of the ionized gas. This paper presents the optical spectra, emission-line measurements, interstellar properties (e.g., metallicity, gas density), and stellar properties (e.g., star formation rates, stellar mass). Paper II of the $\mathcal{MACT}$ survey (Ly et al.) presents the first results on the stellar mass--gas metallicity relation at $z\lesssim1$ using the sample with [OIII]$λ$4363 measurements.

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arXiv2016

About AGN ionization echoes, thermal echoes, and ionization deficits in low redshift Lyman-alpha blobs

We report the discovery of 14 Lyman-alpha blobs (LABs) at z~0.3, existing at least 4-7 billion years later in the Universe than all other LABs known. Their optical diameters are 20-70 kpc, and GALEX data imply Ly-alpha luminosities of (0.4-6.3)x10^43 erg/s. Contrary to high-z LABs, they live in low-density areas. They are ionized by AGN, suggesting that cold accretion streams as a power source must deplete between z=2 and z=0.3. We also show that transient AGN naturally explain the ionization deficits observed in many LABs: Their Ly-alpha and X-ray fluxes decorrelate below 10^6 years because of the delayed escape of resonantly scattering Ly-alpha photons. High Ly-alpha luminosities do not require currently powerful AGN, independent of obscuration. Chandra X-ray data reveal intrinsically weak AGN, confirming the luminous optical nebulae as impressive ionization echoes. For the first time, we also report mid-infrared thermal echoes from the dusty tori. We conclude that the AGN have faded by 3-4 orders of magnitude within the last 10^(4-5) years, leaving fossil UV, optical and thermal radiation behind. The host galaxies belong to the group of previously discovered Green Bean galaxies (GBs). Gemini optical imaging reveals smooth spheres, mergers, spectacular outflows and ionization cones. Because of their proximity and high flux densities, GBs are perfect targets to study AGN feedback, mode switching and the Ly-alpha escape. The fully calibrated, coadded optical FITS images are publicly available.

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arXiv2016

Lyman-Alpha Emitter Galaxies at z ~ 2.8 in the Extended Chandra Deep Field-South: I. Tracing the Large-Scale Structure via Lyman-Alpha Imaging

We present a narrowband survey with three adjacent filters for z=2.8--2.9 Lyman Alpha Emitter (LAE) galaxies in the Extended Chandra Deep Field South (ECDFS), along with spectroscopic followup. With a complete sample of 96 LAEs in the narrowband NB466, we confirm a large-scale structure at z~ 2.8. Compared to the blank field in NB470 and NB475, the LAE density excess in the NB466 field is ~6.0+/-0.8 times the standard deviation expected at z~2.8, assuming a linear bias of 2. The overdense large scale structure in NB466 can be decomposed into 4 protoclusters, whose overdensities are 4.6 - 6.6. These 4 protoclusters are expected to evolve into a Coma-like cluster at z~ 0. In the meanwhile, we investigate the average star-formation rates derived from Lyα, rest-frame UV and X-ray, the Lyα luminosity functions, the Lyα photon densities and their dependence on the environment. We find that the Lyα photon density in the overdense field (NB466) is ~50\% higher than that in the blank field (NB470+NB475). The 3 brightest LAEs, including a quasar at z=2.81, are all detected in X-ray and in NB466. These three LAE-AGNs contribute an extra 20--30\% Lyα photon density. Furthermore, we find that LAEs in overdense regions are younger and less dusty. We conclude that the structure we found is a significant and rare density peak, and narrowband imaging is an efficient method to detect and study such structures in the high-z universe.

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