The luminosity function of Ly-alpha emitters at 2.3 < z < 4.6 from integral-field spectroscopy
Abstract
We have used VIsible MultiObject Spectrograph Integral-Field Unit (VIMOS-IFU) observations centred on a radio galaxy at z=2.9 to search for Ly-alpha emitters within a comoving volume of ~ 104 Mpc3. We find 14 Ly-alpha emitters with flux > 1.4 x 10-20 Wm-2, yielding a comoving space density of 0.0018 +/- 0.0006 Mpc-3. We fit a Schechter luminosity function which agrees well with previous studies both at similar redshift (z ~ 3.4) and higher redshift (z ~ 5.7). We therefore find no evidence for evolution in the properties of Ly-alpha emitters between 3 < z < 6, although our sample is small. By summing the star-formation rates of the individual Ly-alpha emitters we find a total cosmic star-formation rate density of rhoSFR = 6.7 +/- 0.5 x 10-3 Msolar yr-1 Mpc-3. Integrating over the luminosity function for the combined Ly-alpha surveys at z ~ 3.4 and accounting for the difference in obscuration between the Ly-alpha line and the UV-continuum yields an estimate of rhoSFR ~ 2.2 x 10-2 Msolar yr-1 Mpc-3, in line with previous multi-colour and narrow-band surveys of high-redshift star-forming galaxies. The detection of high-redshift emission-line galaxies in our volumetric search shows that the unique capabilities of wide-field integral-field spectroscopy are well suited in searching for high-redshift galaxies in a relatively unbiased manner.
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