# Models for High–Redshift Ly𝛼 Emitters

## Introduction

Until a decade ago, the search for high–redshift Ly$`\alpha `$ galaxies had enjoyed no compelling successes tdt95 . With the improved sensitivity on large area telescopes in the last couple of years, these young galaxies are finally being detected hcm98 ; d98 . Clearly, this population is of great interest to the field of galaxy formation and the early evolution of the universe. Fundamental questions we need to understand are why the earlier surveys have been unsuccessful, how many objects are still expected to be found, and what physical conditions pertain in these early systems so that the Ly$`\alpha `$ radiation may escape.

In a galactic setting, the emerging luminosity of the Ly$`\alpha `$ line is strongly modulated by the amount and spatial distribution of stellar dust n91 . Observations have firmly established the strong decrease in Ly$`\alpha `$ equivalent width with increasing oxygen abundance t93 . Indeed, even a modest amount of dust (observationally traced by oxygen) inside a homogeneous HII region is sufficient to attenuate all of the produced Ly$`\alpha `$ radiation, because Ly alpha photons are resonantly scattered, and dust absorption significantly increases the effective line optical depths cf93 . However, this situation can be alleviated if the medium is inhomogeneous n91 . In a multi–phase medium where dust resides in opaque clumps, the photons do not penetrate the clumps and spend most of their time in the interclump medium, where the opacity is very small. The result is that the escape of Ly$`\alpha `$ radiation is significantly enhanced compared to the case of resonant scattering in a homogeneous medium. Alternatively, large enough velocity gradients can provide a second way of efficient escape of Ly$`\alpha `$ radiation, as suggested by recent observations of 4 nearby galaxies k98 .

In a cosmological context, the formation of dust requires the presence of metals. Since the enrichment of the gas with metals is expected to build up only gradually during the star formation history of the universe hl97 , at high enough redshifts the enrichment level will be low. The correspondingly small dust content of the earliest galaxies would facilitate the escape of their Ly$`\alpha `$ radiation. Such an interplay between the dust enrichment of the IGM and the galactic environment could be the mechanism that leads to the observed surface density of high–z Ly$`\alpha `$ emitters hs98 .

## Ly$`\alpha `$ Emission from Inhomogeneous Clouds

The radiative transfer problem which needs to be solved for the Ly$`\alpha `$ line is well studied n90 . We have modeled individual galaxies with a range of masses for the ionizing stars, dust content, and inhomogeneity, using a numerical Monte Carlo approach s96 . We assumed a Scalo IMF for the spectral types of the central stars in the HII regions, ranging from O5 to B1, with the stars distributed in a statistically homogeneous manner inside a percolating multi–phase medium. We adopted the formalism of Neufeld n91  for a multi–phase medium, and assumed a typical line width of $`\mathrm{\Delta }v8`$ km/s. We parameterized the multi–phase medium by opaque clumps embedded in an inter–clump medium of negligible opacity. The clump covering factor $`F_{\mathrm{cov}}`$, i.e. the average number of clumps along a line of sight, fixes the degree of inhomogeneity. The escape fractions $`F_{\mathrm{esc}}`$ were computed on a grid of models with dust contents between $`Z_\mathrm{d}=10^21`$ solar, and covering factors $`F_{\mathrm{cov}}=1,5,\mathrm{}`$. Figure 1 shows the escape fraction, and demonstrates its sensitivity to the covering factor. The inhomogeneous percolating slabs are much more transparent than the homogeneous ones; the difference around $`Z_\mathrm{d}10^1`$ solar is over an order of magnitude.

## Cosmological Abundance of Ly$`\alpha `$ Emitters

In order to model the cosmological abundance of high–redshift Ly$`\alpha `$ emitters, we assumed that the formation of dark matter halos follows the Press–Schechter ps74  theory, and every halo with a virial temperature larger than $`10^4`$ K forms a galaxy that goes through a Ly$`\alpha `$ emitting phase hrl97 . A fraction $`ϵ_{}`$ of the gas was turned into stars, with a constant star formation rate (SFR) over a period of $`t_{}`$ years. The SFR was related to the intrinsic Ly$`\alpha `$ luminosity k93 , assuming case B recombination. We adopted the simplest assumption, i.e. that $`ϵ_{}`$ and $`t_{}`$ both have the same constant values in each halo. The amount of dust produced and retained in each galaxy, $`Z_{\mathrm{d},\mathrm{ISM}}`$ then increases linearly for $`t_{}`$ years, after which it reaches the final value of $`Z_{\mathrm{d},\mathrm{ISM}}(t_{})=0.3`$ solar. Similarly, we assume that each galaxy deposits dust into the surrounding IGM at a constant rate for $`t_{}`$ years, and causes an enrichment of the surrounding regions within the intergalactic medium to $`Z_{\mathrm{d},\mathrm{IGM}}(z)`$. We normalize $`Z_{\mathrm{d},\mathrm{IGM}}`$ to the cluster metallicity of $`0.3`$ solar at redshift $`z1`$. Note that our $`Z_{\mathrm{d},\mathrm{IGM}}`$ is the average metallicity within the polluted regions, and not the universal average dust fraction of the IGM. Given a cosmology, the five parameters $`t_{}`$, $`F_{\mathrm{cov}}`$, $`ϵ_{}`$, $`Z_{\mathrm{d},\mathrm{IGM}}(z=1)`$, and $`Z_{\mathrm{d},\mathrm{ISM}}(t_{})`$ uniquely determine the number density of Ly$`\alpha `$ emitters at any flux and redshift. Figure 2 shows the resulting surface density of emitters, as a function of redshift, in a flat $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$CDM model with a tilted power spectrum ($`\mathrm{\Omega }_0,\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda },\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{b},h,\sigma _{8h^1},n`$)=(0.35, 0.65, 0.04, 0.65, 0.87, 0.96). We also indicate the observed surface density of emitters hcm98  at the two redshifts $`z=3.4`$ and $`z=4.5`$.

Figure 2 has several interesting features. It demonstrates that the surface abundance strongly depends on the time over which the dust is produced ($`t_{\mathrm{star}}`$), and on the ambient inhomogeneity of the HII regions that surround the ionizing OB stars ($`F_{\mathrm{cov}}`$). Our models indicate that the dust content builds up in $`<\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}5}\times 10^8`$ yr, the galactic HII regions are inhomogeneous with a cloud covering factor of order unity, and the overall star formation efficiency is at least $`5\%`$. These numbers should be predicted by more complete and detailed models of galactic evolution, and will be useful discriminators between such models. The surface density of emitters is also a steep function of the detection threshold, a feature that makes our model consistent both with recent detections hcm98  and earlier upper limits tdt95 . Our models predict that the surface density changes relatively slowly with redshift to $`z<\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}8}`$, and Ly$`\alpha `$ galaxies will be detectable, around the present flux threshold, upto redshifts as high as $``$8. Recent detections of three new Ly$`\alpha `$ emitters at $`z5.7`$ support this conclusion c98 . However, if the universe is reionized at $`z_{\mathrm{reion}}<\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}8}`$, then the damping wing of Ly$`\alpha `$ absorption from the neutral IGM would severely damp the Ly$`\alpha `$ emission line m98 . This would render Ly$`\alpha `$ emission from $`z>z_{\mathrm{reion}}`$ undetectable, and cause a decline in the number of observed emitters beyond $`z_{\mathrm{reion}}`$. In addition, the neutral IGM would likely imprint a characteristic assymetry on the emission line profiles of emitters located near the reionization epoch. Provided this assymetry is measured, the disappearance of the Ly$`\alpha `$ emitter population could be useful diagnostic signature of reionization.

ZH was supported at Fermilab by the DOE and the NASA grant NAG 5-7092.