Green Peas: Local Analogs of Reionization Galaxies
Abstract
We show that low-redshift, compact, extreme line emitting galaxies, known as Green Peas, are excellent analogs of high-redshift Lyman-alpha galaxies. Moreover, they afford excellent opportunities to measure prominent optical emission lines and other properties unavailable for their high-redshift counterparts. This allows us to study their physical properties in detail. The Green Peas are compact, low metallicity, dust-poor, and very young starbursts. A substantial fraction are suspected of being low luminosity AGN. After deriving correlations of Lyman-alpha escape fraction with kinematics and extinction, we can predict their Lyman-alpha fluxes to 0.3 dex. With JWST, we will have similar information for Lyman-alpha emitters at redshift z>7, and thus will be able to derive the Lyman-alpha escape fraction. Thus we can derive the transmission of Lyman alpha through the intergalactic medium for individual galaxies, dramatically increasing their power as diagnostics of reionization.
- Publication:
-
American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #233
- Pub Date:
- January 2019
- Bibcode:
- 2019AAS...23336809M