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The number density evolution of extreme emission line galaxies in 3D-HST : results from a novel automated line search technique for slitless spectroscopy

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Abstract
The multiplexing capability of slitless spectroscopy is a powerful asset in creating large spectroscopic data sets, but issues such as spectral confusion make the interpretation of the data challenging. Here we present a new method to search for emission lines in the slitless spectroscopic data from the 3D-HST survey utilizing the Wide-Field Camera 3 on board the Hubble Space Telescope. Using a novel statistical technique, we can detect compact (extended) emission lines at 90% completeness down to fluxes of 1.5(3.0) x 10(-17) erg s(-1) cm(-2), close to the noise level of the grism exposures, for objects detected in the deep ancillary photometric data. Unlike previous methods, the Bayesian nature allows for probabilistic line identifications, namely redshift estimates, based on secondary emission line detections and/or photometric redshift priors. As a first application, we measure the comoving number density of Extreme Emission Line Galaxies (restframe [O III] lambda 5007 equivalent widths in excess of 500 angstrom). We find that these galaxies are nearly 10x. more common above z. similar to 1.5 than at z. less than or similar to 0.5. With upcoming large grism surveys such as Euclid and WFIRST, as well as grisms featured prominently on the NIRISS and NIRCam instruments on the James Webb Space Telescope, methods like the one presented here will be crucial for constructing emission line redshift catalogs in an automated and well-understood manner.
Keywords
galaxies: dwarf, galaxies: evolution, galaxies: starburst, galaxies: statistics, methods: statistical, quasars: emission lines, ULTRA DEEP FIELD, STAR-FORMATION, GRISM

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MLA
Maseda, Michael V., et al. “The Number Density Evolution of Extreme Emission Line Galaxies in 3D-HST : Results from a Novel Automated Line Search Technique for Slitless Spectroscopy.” ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL, vol. 854, no. 1, 2018, doi:10.3847/1538-4357/aaa76e.
APA
Maseda, M. V., van der Wel, A., Rix, H.-W., Momcheva, I., Brammer, G. B., Franx, M., … Whitaker, K. E. (2018). The number density evolution of extreme emission line galaxies in 3D-HST : results from a novel automated line search technique for slitless spectroscopy. ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL, 854(1). https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aaa76e
Chicago author-date
Maseda, Michael V, Arjen van der Wel, Hans-Walter Rix, Ivelina Momcheva, Gabriel B Brammer, Marijn Franx, Britt F Lundgren, Rosalind E Skelton, and Katherine E Whitaker. 2018. “The Number Density Evolution of Extreme Emission Line Galaxies in 3D-HST : Results from a Novel Automated Line Search Technique for Slitless Spectroscopy.” ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL 854 (1). https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aaa76e.
Chicago author-date (all authors)
Maseda, Michael V, Arjen van der Wel, Hans-Walter Rix, Ivelina Momcheva, Gabriel B Brammer, Marijn Franx, Britt F Lundgren, Rosalind E Skelton, and Katherine E Whitaker. 2018. “The Number Density Evolution of Extreme Emission Line Galaxies in 3D-HST : Results from a Novel Automated Line Search Technique for Slitless Spectroscopy.” ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL 854 (1). doi:10.3847/1538-4357/aaa76e.
Vancouver
1.
Maseda MV, van der Wel A, Rix H-W, Momcheva I, Brammer GB, Franx M, et al. The number density evolution of extreme emission line galaxies in 3D-HST : results from a novel automated line search technique for slitless spectroscopy. ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL. 2018;854(1).
IEEE
[1]
M. V. Maseda et al., “The number density evolution of extreme emission line galaxies in 3D-HST : results from a novel automated line search technique for slitless spectroscopy,” ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL, vol. 854, no. 1, 2018.
@article{8562689,
  abstract     = {{The multiplexing capability of slitless spectroscopy is a powerful asset in creating large spectroscopic data sets, but issues such as spectral confusion make the interpretation of the data challenging. Here we present a new method to search for emission lines in the slitless spectroscopic data from the 3D-HST survey utilizing the Wide-Field Camera 3 on board the Hubble Space Telescope. Using a novel statistical technique, we can detect compact (extended) emission lines at 90% completeness down to fluxes of 1.5(3.0) x 10(-17) erg s(-1) cm(-2), close to the noise level of the grism exposures, for objects detected in the deep ancillary photometric data. Unlike previous methods, the Bayesian nature allows for probabilistic line identifications, namely redshift estimates, based on secondary emission line detections and/or photometric redshift priors. As a first application, we measure the comoving number density of Extreme Emission Line Galaxies (restframe [O III] lambda 5007 equivalent widths in excess of 500 angstrom). We find that these galaxies are nearly 10x. more common above z. similar to 1.5 than at z. less than or similar to 0.5. With upcoming large grism surveys such as Euclid and WFIRST, as well as grisms featured prominently on the NIRISS and NIRCam instruments on the James Webb Space Telescope, methods like the one presented here will be crucial for constructing emission line redshift catalogs in an automated and well-understood manner.}},
  articleno    = {{29}},
  author       = {{Maseda, Michael V and van der Wel, Arjen and Rix, Hans-Walter and Momcheva, Ivelina and Brammer, Gabriel B and Franx, Marijn and Lundgren, Britt F and Skelton, Rosalind E and Whitaker, Katherine E}},
  issn         = {{0004-637X}},
  journal      = {{ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL}},
  keywords     = {{galaxies: dwarf,galaxies: evolution,galaxies: starburst,galaxies: statistics,methods: statistical,quasars: emission lines,ULTRA DEEP FIELD,STAR-FORMATION,GRISM}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  pages        = {{33}},
  title        = {{The number density evolution of extreme emission line galaxies in 3D-HST : results from a novel automated line search technique for slitless spectroscopy}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aaa76e}},
  volume       = {{854}},
  year         = {{2018}},
}

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