The faint-end slope of the redshift 5.7 Ly[alpha] luminosity function

Abstract

Using new Keck DEIMOS spectroscopy, we examine the origin of the steep number counts of ultra-faint emission-line galaxies recently reported by Dressler et al. We confirm six Ly[alpha] emitters (LAEs), three of which have significant asymmetric line profiles with prominent wings extending 300–400 km s[superscript −1] redward of the peak emission. With these six LAEs, we revise our previous estimate of the number of faint LAEs in the Dressler et al. survey. Combining these data with the density of bright LAEs in the Cosmic Evolution Survey and Subaru Deep Field provides the best constraints to date on the redshift 5.7 LAE luminosity function (LF). Schechter function parameters, [phi] = 4.5 × 10[superscript −4] Mpc[superscript −3], L = 9.1 × 10[superscript 42] erg s[superscript −1], and [alpha] = −1.70, are estimated using a maximum likelihood technique with a model for slit-losses. To place this result in the context of the UV-selected galaxy population, we investigate how various parameterizations of the Ly[alpha] equivalent width distribution, along with the measured UV-continuum LF, affect shape and normalization of the Ly[alpha] LF. The nominal model, which uses z ∼ 6 equivalent widths from the literature, falls short of the observed space density of LAEs at the bright end, possibly indicating a need for higher equivalent widths. This parameterization of the equivalent width distribution implies that as many as 50% of our faintest LAEs should have M[subscript UV] [greater than] −18.0, rendering them undetectable in even the deepest Hubble Space Telescope surveys at this redshift. Hence, ultra-deep emission-line surveys find some of the faintest galaxies ever observed at the end of the reionization epoch. Such faint galaxies likely enrich the intergalactic medium with metals and maintain its ionized state in the post-reionization era. Observations of these objects provide a glimpse of the building blocks of present-day galaxies at an early time.