TY - JOUR
T1 - A physical model of lyα emitters
AU - Tilvi, Vithal
AU - Malhotra, Sangeeta
AU - Rhoads, James E.
AU - Scannapieco, Evan
AU - Thacker, Robert J.
AU - Iliev, Ilian T.
AU - Mellema, Garrelt
N1 - Copyright:
Copyright 2015 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2009
Y1 - 2009
N2 - We present a simple physical model for populating dark matter halos with Lyα emitters (LAEs) and predict the properties of LAEs at z 3-7. The central tenet of this model is that the Lyα luminosity is proportional to the star formation rate (SFR) which is directly related to the halo mass accretion rate. The only free parameter in our model is then the star formation efficiency (SFE). An efficiency of 2.5% provides the best fit to the Lyα luminosity function (LF) at redshift z = 3.1, and we use this SFE to construct Lyα LFs at other redshifts. Our model reproduces the Lyα LFs, stellar ages, SFR 1-10 M yr-1, stellar masses 107to10 8 M , and the clustering properties of LAEs at z 3-7. We find the spatial correlation lengths ro 3-6 h -1 Mpc, in agreement with the observations. Finally, we estimate the field-to-field variation 30% for current volume and flux limited surveys, again consistent with observations. Our results suggest that the star formation, and hence Lyα emission in LAEs can be powered by accretion of new material. Relating the accreted mass, rather than the total mass, to the Lyα luminosity of LAEs naturally gives rise to their duty cycle.
AB - We present a simple physical model for populating dark matter halos with Lyα emitters (LAEs) and predict the properties of LAEs at z 3-7. The central tenet of this model is that the Lyα luminosity is proportional to the star formation rate (SFR) which is directly related to the halo mass accretion rate. The only free parameter in our model is then the star formation efficiency (SFE). An efficiency of 2.5% provides the best fit to the Lyα luminosity function (LF) at redshift z = 3.1, and we use this SFE to construct Lyα LFs at other redshifts. Our model reproduces the Lyα LFs, stellar ages, SFR 1-10 M yr-1, stellar masses 107to10 8 M , and the clustering properties of LAEs at z 3-7. We find the spatial correlation lengths ro 3-6 h -1 Mpc, in agreement with the observations. Finally, we estimate the field-to-field variation 30% for current volume and flux limited surveys, again consistent with observations. Our results suggest that the star formation, and hence Lyα emission in LAEs can be powered by accretion of new material. Relating the accreted mass, rather than the total mass, to the Lyα luminosity of LAEs naturally gives rise to their duty cycle.
KW - Accretion, accretion disks
KW - Dark matter
KW - Galaxies: evolution
KW - Galaxies: halos
KW - Galaxies: high-redshift
KW - Galaxies: luminosity function, mass function
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U2 - 10.1088/0004-637X/704/1/724
DO - 10.1088/0004-637X/704/1/724
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:70549097224
VL - 704
SP - 724
EP - 732
JO - Astrophysical Journal
JF - Astrophysical Journal
SN - 0004-637X
IS - 1
ER -