Discovery of a Giant Lya Emitter Near the Reionization Epoch
We report the discovery of a giant Ly{alpha} emitter (LAE) with a Spitzer/IRAC counterpart near the reionization epoch at z = 6.595. The giant LAE is found from the extensive 1 deg{sup 2} Subaru narrow-band survey for z = 6.6 LAEs in the Subaru/XMM-Newton Deep Survey (SXDS) field, and subsequently identified by deep spectroscopy of Keck/DEIMOS and Magellan/IMACS. Among our 207 LAE candidates, this LAE is not only the brightest narrow-band object with L(Ly{alpha}) = 3.9 {+-} 0.2 x 10{sup 43} erg s{sup -1} in our survey volume of 10{sup 6} Mpc{sup 3}, but also a spatially extended Ly{alpha} nebula with the largest isophotal area whose major axis is at least {approx_equal} 3-inches. This object is more likely to be a large Ly{alpha} nebula with a size of {approx}> 17-kpc than to be a strongly-lensed galaxy by a foreground object. Our Keck spectrum with medium-high spectral and spatial resolutions suggests that the velocity width is v{sub FWHM} = 251 {+-} 21 km s{sup -1}, and that the line-center velocity changes by {approx_equal} 60 km s{sup -1} in a 10-kpc range. The stellar mass and star-formation rate are estimated to be 0.9-5.0 x 10{sup 10}M{sub {circle_dot}} and > 34 M{sub {circle_dot}}yr{sup -1}, respectively, from the combination of deep optical to infrared images of Subaru, UKIDSS-Ultra Deep Survey, and Spitzer/IRAC. Although the nature of this object is not yet clearly understood, this could be an important object for studying cooling clouds accreting onto a massive halo, or forming-massive galaxies with significant outflows contributing to cosmic reionization and metal enrichment of inter-galactic medium.
- Research Organization:
- SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC02-76SF00515
- OSTI ID:
- 935684
- Report Number(s):
- SLAC-PUB-13332; ASJOAB; arXiv:0807.4174; TRN: US200816%%832
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal; ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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