---
_id: '11497'
abstract:
- lang: eng
  text: "Context. The hydrogen Lyman α line is often the only measurable feature in
    optical spectra of high-redshift galaxies. Its shape and strength are influenced
    by radiative transfer processes and the properties of the underlying stellar population.
    High equivalent widths of several hundred Å are especially hard to explain by
    models and could point towards unusual stellar populations, for example with low
    metallicities, young stellar ages, and a top-heavy initial mass function. Other
    aspects influencing equivalent widths are the morphology of the galaxy and its
    gas properties.\r\nAims. The aim of this study is to better understand the connection
    between the Lyman α rest-frame equivalent width (EW0) and spectral properties
    as well as ultraviolet (UV) continuum morphology by obtaining reliable EW0 histograms
    for a statistical sample of galaxies and by assessing the fraction of objects
    with large equivalent widths.\r\nMethods. We used integral field spectroscopy
    from the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) combined with broad-band data
    from the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) to measure EW0. We analysed the emission
    lines of 1920 Lyman α emitters (LAEs) detected in the full MUSE-Wide (one hour
    exposure time) and MUSE-Deep (ten hour exposure time) surveys and found UV continuum
    counterparts in archival HST data. We fitted the UV continuum photometric images
    using the Galfit software to gain morphological information on the rest-UV emission
    and fitted the spectra obtained from MUSE to determine the double peak fraction,
    asymmetry, full-width at half maximum, and flux of the Lyman α line.\r\nResults.
    The two surveys show different histograms of Lyman α EW0. In MUSE-Wide, 20% of
    objects have EW0 > 240 Å, while this fraction is only 11% in MUSE-Deep and ≈16%
    for the full sample. This includes objects without HST continuum counterparts
    (one-third of our sample), for which we give lower limits for EW0. The object
    with the highest securely measured EW0 has EW0 = 589 ± 193 Å (the highest lower
    limit being EW0 = 4464 Å). We investigate the connection between EW0 and Lyman
    α spectral or UV continuum morphological properties.\r\nConclusions. The survey
    depth has to be taken into account when studying EW0 distributions. We find that
    in general, high EW0 objects can have a wide range of spectral and UV morphological
    properties, which might reflect that the underlying causes for high EW0 values
    are equally varied."
acknowledgement: We thank the referee for thoughtful and constructive comments that
  have improved the quality of this manuscript. Based on observations collected at
  the European Southern Observatory under ESO programme 1101.A-0127. This work made
  use of v2.2.1 of the Binary Population and Spectral Synthesis (BPASS) models as
  described in Eldridge et al. (2017) and Stanway & Eldridge (2018). A.F. acknowledges
  the support from grant PRIN MIUR2017-20173ML3WW_001. T.N. acknowledges support from
  Australian Research Council Laureate Fellowship FL180100060.
article_number: '183'
article_processing_charge: No
article_type: original
arxiv: 1
author:
- first_name: J.
  full_name: Kerutt, J.
  last_name: Kerutt
- first_name: L.
  full_name: Wisotzki, L.
  last_name: Wisotzki
- first_name: A.
  full_name: Verhamme, A.
  last_name: Verhamme
- first_name: K. B.
  full_name: Schmidt, K. B.
  last_name: Schmidt
- first_name: F.
  full_name: Leclercq, F.
  last_name: Leclercq
- first_name: E. C.
  full_name: Herenz, E. C.
  last_name: Herenz
- first_name: T.
  full_name: Urrutia, T.
  last_name: Urrutia
- first_name: T.
  full_name: Garel, T.
  last_name: Garel
- first_name: T.
  full_name: Hashimoto, T.
  last_name: Hashimoto
- first_name: M.
  full_name: Maseda, M.
  last_name: Maseda
- first_name: Jorryt J
  full_name: Matthee, Jorryt J
  id: 7439a258-f3c0-11ec-9501-9df22fe06720
  last_name: Matthee
  orcid: 0000-0003-2871-127X
- first_name: H.
  full_name: Kusakabe, H.
  last_name: Kusakabe
- first_name: J.
  full_name: Schaye, J.
  last_name: Schaye
- first_name: J.
  full_name: Richard, J.
  last_name: Richard
- first_name: B.
  full_name: Guiderdoni, B.
  last_name: Guiderdoni
- first_name: V.
  full_name: Mauerhofer, V.
  last_name: Mauerhofer
- first_name: T.
  full_name: Nanayakkara, T.
  last_name: Nanayakkara
- first_name: E.
  full_name: Vitte, E.
  last_name: Vitte
citation:
  ama: Kerutt J, Wisotzki L, Verhamme A, et al. Equivalent widths of Lyman α emitters
    in MUSE-Wide and MUSE-Deep. <i>Astronomy &#38; Astrophysics</i>. 2022;659. doi:<a
    href="https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202141900">10.1051/0004-6361/202141900</a>
  apa: Kerutt, J., Wisotzki, L., Verhamme, A., Schmidt, K. B., Leclercq, F., Herenz,
    E. C., … Vitte, E. (2022). Equivalent widths of Lyman α emitters in MUSE-Wide
    and MUSE-Deep. <i>Astronomy &#38; Astrophysics</i>. EDP Sciences. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202141900">https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202141900</a>
  chicago: Kerutt, J., L. Wisotzki, A. Verhamme, K. B. Schmidt, F. Leclercq, E. C.
    Herenz, T. Urrutia, et al. “Equivalent Widths of Lyman α Emitters in MUSE-Wide
    and MUSE-Deep.” <i>Astronomy &#38; Astrophysics</i>. EDP Sciences, 2022. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202141900">https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202141900</a>.
  ieee: J. Kerutt <i>et al.</i>, “Equivalent widths of Lyman α emitters in MUSE-Wide
    and MUSE-Deep,” <i>Astronomy &#38; Astrophysics</i>, vol. 659. EDP Sciences, 2022.
  ista: Kerutt J, Wisotzki L, Verhamme A, Schmidt KB, Leclercq F, Herenz EC, Urrutia
    T, Garel T, Hashimoto T, Maseda M, Matthee JJ, Kusakabe H, Schaye J, Richard J,
    Guiderdoni B, Mauerhofer V, Nanayakkara T, Vitte E. 2022. Equivalent widths of
    Lyman α emitters in MUSE-Wide and MUSE-Deep. Astronomy &#38; Astrophysics. 659,
    183.
  mla: Kerutt, J., et al. “Equivalent Widths of Lyman α Emitters in MUSE-Wide and
    MUSE-Deep.” <i>Astronomy &#38; Astrophysics</i>, vol. 659, 183, EDP Sciences,
    2022, doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202141900">10.1051/0004-6361/202141900</a>.
  short: J. Kerutt, L. Wisotzki, A. Verhamme, K.B. Schmidt, F. Leclercq, E.C. Herenz,
    T. Urrutia, T. Garel, T. Hashimoto, M. Maseda, J.J. Matthee, H. Kusakabe, J. Schaye,
    J. Richard, B. Guiderdoni, V. Mauerhofer, T. Nanayakkara, E. Vitte, Astronomy
    &#38; Astrophysics 659 (2022).
date_created: 2022-07-06T08:17:27Z
date_published: 2022-03-25T00:00:00Z
date_updated: 2022-07-19T09:47:16Z
day: '25'
doi: 10.1051/0004-6361/202141900
extern: '1'
external_id:
  arxiv:
  - '2202.06642'
intvolume: '       659'
keyword:
- Space and Planetary Science
- Astronomy and Astrophysics
- 'galaxies: high-redshift / galaxies: formation / galaxies: evolution / cosmology:
  observations'
language:
- iso: eng
main_file_link:
- open_access: '1'
  url: https://arxiv.org/abs/2202.06642
month: '03'
oa: 1
oa_version: Published Version
publication: Astronomy & Astrophysics
publication_identifier:
  eissn:
  - 1432-0746
  issn:
  - 0004-6361
publication_status: published
publisher: EDP Sciences
quality_controlled: '1'
scopus_import: '1'
status: public
title: Equivalent widths of Lyman α emitters in MUSE-Wide and MUSE-Deep
type: journal_article
user_id: 2DF688A6-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
volume: 659
year: '2022'
...