Publication: Gran Telescopio Canarias observations of an overdense region of Lyman alpha emitters at z=6.5
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2017-08
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Wiley
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Abstract
We present the results of our search near the end of the Reionization Epoch for faint galaxies. This has been done using very deep OSIRIS images obtained at the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC). Our observations focus around two close, massive Lyman alpha emitters (LAEs) at redshift 6.5, discovered in the SXDS field within a large-scale overdense region. The total GTC observing time in three medium band filters (F883w35, F913w25 and F941w33) is over 34 h covering 7.0 x 8.5 arcmin(2) (or similar to 30 000 Mpc(3) at z = 6.5). In addition to the two spectroscopically confirmed LAEs in the field, we have identified 45 other LAE candidates. The preliminary luminosity function derived from our observations, assuming a spectroscopic confirmation success rate of 2/3 as in previous surveys, suggests this area is about 2 times denser than the general field galaxy population at z = 6.5. If confirmed spectroscopically, our results will imply the discovery of one of the earliest protoclusters in the Universe, which will evolve to resemble the most massive galaxy clusters today.
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© 2017 The Authors Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. ArtÃculo firmado por 15 autores. This work is based on observations made during observing semesters 2011B and 2012B at GTC, which is located at the Spanish Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos of the Instituto de AstrofÃsica de Canarias, on the island of La Palma, Spain. The observation time allocated was 14 h via the University of Florida and 20.33 h via collaborators in Spain and México. We are thankful for help and support during the observation runs from Antonio Cabrera Lavers and GTC staff. This work is (partly) based on data obtained with the SHARDS filter set, purchased by Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM). SHARDS was funded by the Spanish Government through grant AYA2012-31277.; Furthermore, this research made use of the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED), which is operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.; We are thankful for the funding support provided to the graduate student working on this project through a Royal Thai Government Scholarship from the National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand (NARIT). JMRE, RC and NCR (AYA2012-39168-C03-01), ESS and AM (AYA2012-39168-C03-02), and JMMH (AYA2010-21887-C04-04, AYA2010-21887-C04-02 and AYA2012-39362-C02-01) acknowledge support from the Spanish MINECO under the PNAyA grants given in parenthesis. ET, RT and IA acknowledge support from the Mexican Research Council (CONACYT) under grants 2008-103365, 2010-01-155046 and 2011-01-167291.