First HETDEX spectroscopic determinations of Lyα and UV luminosity functions at z = 2–3: bridging a gap between faint AGNs and bright galaxies

Journal article

We present Lyα and ultraviolet (UV)-continuum luminosity functions (LFs) of galaxies and active galactic nuclei (AGNs) at z = 2.0-3.5 determined by the untargeted optical spectroscopic survey of the Hobby-Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment (HETDEX). We combine deep Subaru imaging with HETDEX spectra resulting in 11.4 deg2 of fiber spectra sky coverage, obtaining 18,320 galaxies spectroscopically identified with Lyα emission, 2126 of which host type 1 AGNs showing broad (FWHM > 1000 km s-1) Lyα emission lines. We derive the Lyα (UV) LF over 2 orders of magnitude covering bright galaxies and AGNs in (-27 < MUV < -20) by the 1/Vmax estimator. Our results reveal that the bright-end hump of the Lyα LF is composed of type 1 AGNs. In conjunction with previous spectroscopic results at the faint end, we measure a slope of the best-fit Schechter function to be αSch=-1.70-0.14+0.13, which indicates that αSch steepens from z = 2-3 toward high redshift. Our UV LF agrees well with previous AGN UV LFs and extends to faint-AGN and bright-galaxy regimes. The number fraction of Lyα-emitting objects (XLAE) increases from MUV∗ ∼ -21 to bright magnitude due to the contribution of type 1 AGNs, while previous studies claim that XLyα decreases from faint magnitudes to MUV∗, suggesting a valley in the XLyα-magnitude relation at MUV∗. Comparing our UV LF of type 1 AGNs at z = 2-3 with those at z = 0, we find that the number density of faint (MUV > -21) type 1 AGNs increases from z ∼ 2 to 0, as opposed to the evolution of bright (MUV < -21) type 1 AGNs, suggesting AGN downsizing in the rest-frame UV luminosity.

Authors: Zhang, Y; Ouchi, M; Gebhardt, K; Cooper, EM; Liu, C

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: IOP Publishing
• Journal: Astrophysical Journal
• Volume: 922
• Issue: 2
• Article number: 167
• Publication date: 2021-11-29
• Acceptance date: 2021-08-16
• DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/ac1e97
• EISSN: 1538-4357
• ISSN: 0004-637X
• Language: English
• Keywords: FFR