@article{d9711f554a5c4f1baf19ebeb15aeed52,
title = "First results from the Large-Area Lyman Alpha survey",
abstract = "We report on a new survey for z ≈ 4.5 Lyα sources, the Large-Area Lyman Alpha (LALA) survey. Our survey achieves an unprecedented combination of volume and sensitivity by using narrowband filters on the new 8192 2 pixel CCD Mosaic camera at the 4 m Mayall telescope of Kitt Peak National Observatory. Well-detected sources with flux and equivalent width matching previously known high-redshift Lyα galaxies (i.e., observed equivalent width EW > 80 {\AA}; 2.6 × 10-17 ergs cm-2 s-1 < line + continuum flux < 5.2 × 10-17 ergs cm-2 s-1, and a small uncertainty on the equivalent width, δEW < EW/4) have an observed surface density corresponding to 11,000 ± 700 deg-2 per unit redshift at z = 4.5. Variations in this surface density are apparent on comparison between counts in 6561 ± 40 and 6730 ± 40 {\AA} filters. Early spectroscopic followup results from the Keck telescope included three sources meeting our criteria for good Lyα candidates. Of these, one is confirmed as a z = 4.52 source, another remains consistent with either z = 4.55 or z = 0.81, and the third is an [O III] λ5007 emitter at z = 0.34. These pilot spectroscopic results suggest that approximately one-third of our good candidates are bona fide Lyα emitters, implying a net density of ∼4000 Lyα emitters per square degree per unit redshift.",
keywords = "Galaxies: general",
author = "Rhoads, {James E.} and Sangeeta Malhotra and Arjun Dey and Daniel Stern and Hyron Spinrad and Jannuzi, {Buell T.}",
note = "Funding Information: We thank Andy Bunker and Steve Dawson for help with the spectroscopic observations and Frank Valdes, Lindsey Davis, and the IRAF team for writing and helping with the MSCRED package. J. E. R.{\textquoteright}s research is supported by a Kitt Peak Postdoctoral Fellowship and by an STScI Institute Fellowship. S. M.{\textquoteright}s research is supported by NASA through Hubble Fellowship grant HF-01111.01-98A from the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS5-26555. The data presented herein were obtained at the Mayall Telescope of the Kitt Peak National Observatory and at the W. M. Keck Observatory, which is operated as a scientific partnership among the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The Keck Observatory was made possible by the generous financial support of the W. M. Keck Foundation. Funding Information: 1 Kitt Peak National Observatory, National Optical Astronomy Observatory, is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA), Inc., under cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation. 2 Present address: Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218; rhoads@stsci.edu. 3Hubble Fellow. 4Present address: Johns Hopkins University, 3400 North Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218; san@pha.jhu.edu. 5Present address: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, MS 169-327, Pasadena, CA 91109.",
year = "2000",
month = dec,
day = "20",
doi = "10.1086/317874",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "545",
pages = "L85--L88",
journal = "Astrophysical Journal",
issn = "0004-637X",
publisher = "IOP Publishing Ltd.",
number = "2 PART 2",
}