The evolution of the [OII], Hβ and [OIII] emission-line luminosity functions [GA]

http://arxiv.org/abs/1605.02875


Emission-line galaxies (ELGs) are one of the main tracers of the large-scale structure to be targeted by the next-generation dark energy surveys. To provide a better understanding of the properties and statistics of these galaxies, we have collected spectroscopic data from the VVDS and DEEP2 deep surveys and estimated the galaxy luminosity functions (LFs) of three distinct emission lines, [OII], H$\beta$ and [OIII] at redshifts ($0.2 < z < 1.3$). Our measurements are based on the largest sample so far. We present the first measurement of the \Hb LF at these redshifts. We have also compiled LFs from the literature that were based on independent data or covered different redshift ranges, and we fit the entire set over the whole redshift range with analytic Schechter and Saunders models, assuming a natural redshift dependence of the parameters. We find that the characteristic luminosity ($L_*$) and density ($\phi_*$) of all LFs increase with redshift. Using the Schechter model, we find that $L^*$ of [OII] emitters increase by a factor 12 between redshift 0.2 and 1.3, that $L^*$ of [OIII] emitters increase by a factor 16 between redshift 0.3 and 1 and that $L^*$ of H$\beta$ emitters increase by a factor 13 between redshift 0.3 and 0.8.

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J. Comparat, G. Zhu, V. Perez-Gonzalez, et. al.
Wed, 11 May 16
62/67

Comments: 11 pages. Submitted to MNRAS. Data available at this http URL via the page emission line luminosity functions