A Luminous Lyman-alpha Emitting Galaxy at Redshift z=6.535: Discovery and Spectroscopic Confirmation

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  • 5 March 2004
Abstract
We present a redshift z=6.535 galaxy discovered by its Lyman-alpha emission in a 9180 Angstrom narrowband image from the Large Area Lyman Alpha (LALA) survey. The Lyman-alpha line luminosity (1.1e43 erg/sec) and rest frame equivalent width (> 100 Angstroms) are among the largest known for star forming galaxies at redshift 6.5. Because a neutral intergalactic medium (IGM) suppresses the Lyman-alpha equivalent width and luminosity, the detection of this galaxy is most easily explained if the IGM is mostly ionized at redshift 6.5. We also present complete spectroscopic followup of the remaining candidates with line flux > 2e-17 erg/cm2/sec in our 1200 square arcminute narrowband image. These include another galaxy with a strong emission line at 9136 Angstroms and no detected continuum flux, which however is most likely an [OIII] 5007 Angstrom source at z=0.824 based on a weak detection of the [OIII] 4959 Angstrom line.

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