%0 Generic %1 cabello2021nearir %A Cabello, C. %A Gallego, J. %A Cardiel, N. %A Pascual, S. %A Guzmán, R. %A Herrero, A. %A Manrique, A. %A Marín-Franch, A. %A Mas-Hesse, J. M. %A Rodríguez-Espinosa, J. M. %A Salvador-Solé, E. %D 2021 %K library %T Near-IR narrow-band imaging with CIRCE at GTC: searching for Ly$\alpha$-emitters at $z 9.3$ %U http://arxiv.org/abs/2112.04505 %X Identifying very high redshift galaxies is crucial for understanding the formation and evolution of galaxies. However, nowadays many questions remain and the uncertainty on the Epoch of Reionization is large. In this approach, some models allow a double reionization scenario, although the number of confirmed detections at very high-$z$ is still scarce to stand as observational proof. The main goal of this project is to study the feasibility of searching for Lyman-$\alpha$ Emitters (LAEs) at $z 9$ using a narrow-band (NB) filter designed specifically by our team and built for this experiment. We make use of the NB technique to select candidates by measuring the flux excess due to the Ly$\alpha$ emission. The observations were taken with a NB filter (FWHM = 11 nm and central wavelength $łambda_c = 1.257 \mu$m) and the CIRCE near-infrared camera for the GTC telescope. We describe a data reduction procedure specially optimized to minimize the instrumental effects. With a total exposure time of 18.3 hours, the final NB image covers an area of $\sim 6.7$ arcmin$^2$, which corresponds to a comoving volume of $1.1 \times 10^3$ Mpc$^3$ at $z = 9.3$. We push to the limit the sources detection which allows us to analyze an initial sample of roughly one hundred objects. We detail the different criteria applied, including visual checks in different photometric bands, for the candidate selection. Notwithstanding, none of the objects resembled a reliable LAE and we did not find any robust candidate down to an emission-line flux of $2.9 10^-16$ erg s$^-1$ cm$^-2$, which corresponds to a Ly$\alpha$ luminosity limit of $3 10^44$ erg s$^-1$. We derive an upper limit on the Ly$\alpha$ luminosity function at $z 9$ in good agreement with previous constraints. We conclude that deeper and wider surveys are needed to study the LAE population at the cosmic dawn.

@misc{cabello2021nearir, abstract = {Identifying very high redshift galaxies is crucial for understanding the formation and evolution of galaxies. However, nowadays many questions remain and the uncertainty on the Epoch of Reionization is large. In this approach, some models allow a double reionization scenario, although the number of confirmed detections at very high-$z$ is still scarce to stand as observational proof. The main goal of this project is to study the feasibility of searching for Lyman-$\alpha$ Emitters (LAEs) at $z \sim 9$ using a narrow-band (NB) filter designed specifically by our team and built for this experiment. We make use of the NB technique to select candidates by measuring the flux excess due to the Ly$\alpha$ emission. The observations were taken with a NB filter (FWHM = 11 nm and central wavelength $\lambda_{c} = 1.257 \mu$m) and the CIRCE near-infrared camera for the GTC telescope. We describe a data reduction procedure specially optimized to minimize the instrumental effects. With a total exposure time of 18.3 hours, the final NB image covers an area of $\sim 6.7$ arcmin$^{2}$, which corresponds to a comoving volume of $1.1 \times 10^{3}$ Mpc$^{3}$ at $z = 9.3$. We push to the limit the sources detection which allows us to analyze an initial sample of roughly one hundred objects. We detail the different criteria applied, including visual checks in different photometric bands, for the candidate selection. Notwithstanding, none of the objects resembled a reliable LAE and we did not find any robust candidate down to an emission-line flux of $2.9 \times 10^{-16}$ erg s$^{-1}$ cm$^{-2}$, which corresponds to a Ly$\alpha$ luminosity limit of $3 \times 10^{44}$ erg s$^{-1}$. We derive an upper limit on the Ly$\alpha$ luminosity function at $z \sim 9$ in good agreement with previous constraints. We conclude that deeper and wider surveys are needed to study the LAE population at the cosmic dawn.}, added-at = {2021-12-10T04:28:04.000+0100}, author = {Cabello, C. and Gallego, J. and Cardiel, N. and Pascual, S. and Guzmán, R. and Herrero, A. and Manrique, A. and Marín-Franch, A. and Mas-Hesse, J. M. and Rodríguez-Espinosa, J. M. and Salvador-Solé, E.}, biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/20df2532389974878b9d91f575eaf667c/gpkulkarni}, description = {Near-IR narrow-band imaging with CIRCE at GTC: searching for Ly$\alpha$-emitters at $z \sim 9.3$}, interhash = {95fe82a64fd2914ee5b98f41b943a3ce}, intrahash = {0df2532389974878b9d91f575eaf667c}, keywords = {library}, note = {cite arxiv:2112.04505Comment: 17 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics}, timestamp = {2021-12-10T04:28:04.000+0100}, title = {Near-IR narrow-band imaging with CIRCE at GTC: searching for Ly$\alpha$-emitters at $z \sim 9.3$}, url = {http://arxiv.org/abs/2112.04505}, year = 2021 }