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Lyman-break Galaxies at z ∼ 3 in the Subaru Deep Field: Luminosity Function, Clustering, and [O iii] Emission

Abstract

We combined deep U-band and optical/near-infrared imaging, in order to select Lyman Break Galaxies (LBGs) at using U-V and colors in the Subaru Deep Field. The resulting sample of 5161 LBGs gives a UV luminosity function (LF) down to , with a steep faint-end slope of . We analyze UV-To-NIR energy distributions (SEDs) from optical photometry and photometry on IR median-stacked images. In the stacks, we find a systematic background depression centered on the LBGs. This results from the difficulty of finding faint galaxies in regions with higher-Than-Average surface densities of foreground galaxies, so we corrected for this deficit. Best-fit stellar population models for the LBG SEDs indicate stellar masses and star formation rates of and M o yr-1 at , down to and yr-1 at . The faint LBGs show a ∼1 mag excess over the stellar continuum in K-band. We interpret this excess flux as redshifted [O iii] lines. The observed excesses imply equivalent widths that increase with decreasing mass, reaching A (rest-frame). Such strong [O iii] emission is seen only in a miniscule fraction of local emission-line galaxies, but is probably universal in the faint galaxies that reionized the universe. Our halo occupation distribution analysis of the angular correlation function gives a halo mass of for the full sample of LBGs, and for the brightest half of the sample.

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