Paper detail

Gas Motion Study of Lya Emitters at z~2 Using UV and Optical Spectral Lines

We present the results of Magellan/MMIRS and Keck/NIRSPEC spectroscopy for five Lya emitters (LAEs) at z=2.2 for which high-resolution FUV spectra from Magellan/MagE are available. We detect nebular emission lines including Ha on the individual basis and low-ionization interstellar (LIS) absorption lines in a stacked FUV spectrum, and measure average offset velocities of the Lya line, Delta_v_Lya, and LIS absorption lines, Delta_v_abs, with respect to the systemic velocity defined by the nebular lines. For a sample of eight z~2-3 LAEs without AGN from our study and the literature, we obtain Delta_v_Lya = 175+/-35 km s^{-1}, which is significantly smaller than that of Lyman-break Galaxies (LBGs), Delta_v_Lya=400 km s^{-1}. The stacked FUV spectrum gives Delta_v_abs = -179 +/- 73 km s^{-1}, comparable to that of LBGs. These positive Delta_v_Lya and negative Delta_v_abs suggest that LAEs also have outflows. In contrast to LBGs, however, the LAEs' Delta_v_Lya is as small as |Delta_v_abs|, suggesting low neutral hydrogen column densities. Such a low column density with a small number of resonant scattering may cause the observed strong Lya emission of LAEs. We find an anti-correlation between Lya equivalent width (EW) and Delta_v_Lya in a compilation of LAE and LBG samples. Although its physical origin is not clear, this anti-correlation result appears to challenge the hypothesis that a strong outflow, by means of a reduced number of resonant scattering, produces a large EW. If LAEs at z>6 have similarly small Delta_v_Lya values, constraints on the reionization history derived from the Lya transmissivity may need to be revised.