The MUSE $Hubble$ Ultra Deep Field Survey - XV. The mean rest-UV spectra of Ly$\alpha$ emitters at z > 3 - Archive ouverte HAL Accéder directement au contenu
Article Dans Une Revue Astronomy and Astrophysics - A&A Année : 2020

The MUSE $Hubble$ Ultra Deep Field Survey - XV. The mean rest-UV spectra of Ly$\alpha$ emitters at z > 3

Anna Feltre
Michael V. Maseda
  • Fonction : Auteur
Jayadev Pradeep
  • Fonction : Auteur
Floriane Leclercq
  • Fonction : Auteur
  • PersonId : 786350
  • IdRef : 224711342
Haruka Kusakabe
  • Fonction : Auteur
Lutz Wisotzki
  • Fonction : Auteur
Kasper B. Schmidt
  • Fonction : Auteur
Jarle Brinchmann
Leindert Boogaard
Sebastiano Cantalupo
Hanae Inami
Wolfram Kollatschny
  • Fonction : Auteur
Raffaella A. Marino
  • Fonction : Auteur
Jorryt Matthee
Themiya Nanayakkara
Joop Schaye
Laurence Tresse
Tanya Urrutia
  • Fonction : Auteur
Anne Verhamme
  • Fonction : Auteur
Peter M. Weilbacher
  • Fonction : Auteur

Résumé

We investigated the ultraviolet (UV) spectral properties of faint Lyman-α emitters (LAEs) in the redshift range 2.9 ≤ z ≤ 4.6, and we provide material to prepare future observations of the faint Universe. We used data from the MUSE Hubble Ultra Deep Survey to construct mean rest-frame spectra of continuum-faint (median MUV of −18 and down to MUV of −16), low stellar mass (median value of 108.4 M⊙ and down to 107 M⊙) LAEs at redshift z ≳ 3. We computed various averaged spectra of LAEs, subsampled on the basis of their observational (e.g., Lyα strength, UV magnitude and spectral slope) and physical (e.g., stellar mass and star-formation rate) properties. We searched for UV spectral features other than Lyα, such as higher ionization nebular emission lines and absorption features. We successfully observed the O III]λ1666 and [C III]λ1907+C III]λ1909 collisionally excited emission lines and the He IIλ1640 recombination feature, as well as the resonant C IVλλ1548,1551 doublet either in emission or P-Cygni. We compared the observed spectral properties of the different mean spectra and find the emission lines to vary with the observational and physical properties of the LAEs. In particular, the mean spectra of LAEs with larger Lyα equivalent widths, fainter UV magnitudes, bluer UV spectral slopes, and lower stellar masses show the strongest nebular emission. The line ratios of these lines are similar to those measured in the spectra of local metal-poor galaxies, while their equivalent widths are weaker compared to the handful of extreme values detected in individual spectra of z >  2 galaxies. This suggests that weak UV features are likely ubiquitous in high z, low-mass, and faint LAEs. We publicly released the stacked spectra, as they can serve as empirical templates for the design of future observations, such as those with the James Webb Space Telescope and the Extremely Large Telescope.

Dates et versions

hal-02908401 , version 1 (29-07-2020)

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Citer

Anna Feltre, Michael V. Maseda, Roland Bacon, Jayadev Pradeep, Floriane Leclercq, et al.. The MUSE $Hubble$ Ultra Deep Field Survey - XV. The mean rest-UV spectra of Ly$\alpha$ emitters at z > 3. Astronomy and Astrophysics - A&A, 2020, 641, pp.A118. ⟨10.1051/0004-6361/202038133⟩. ⟨hal-02908401⟩
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