[O III] emission line as a tracer of star-forming galaxies at high redshifts: Comparison between Hα and [O III] emitters at z = 2.23 in HiZELS

T. L. Suzuki, T. Kodama, D. Sobral, A. A. Khostovan, M. Hayashi, R. Shimakawa, Y. Koyama, K. I. Tadaki, I. Tanaka, Y. Minowa, M. Yamamoto, I. Smail, P. N. Best

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

17 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We investigate the properties of z = 2.23 Ha and [O III] λ5007 emitters using the narrow-bandselected samples obtained from the High-z Emission Line Survey. We construct two samples of the Hα and [O III] emitters and compare their integrated physical properties. We find that the distribution of stellar masses, dust extinction, star formation rates (SFRs), and specific SFRs (sSFRs) is not statistically different between the two samples. When we separate the full galaxy sample into three subsamples according to the detections of the Ha and/or [O III] emission lines, most of the sources detected with both Ha and [O III] show log(sSFRUV) ≳ -9.5. The comparison of the three subsamples suggests that sources with strong [O III] line emission tend to have the highest star-forming activity out all galaxies that we study. We argue that the [OIII] emission line can be used as a tracer of star-forming galaxies at high redshift, and that it is especially useful to investigate star-forming galaxies at z > 3, for which Ha emission is no longer observable from the ground.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)181-189
Number of pages9
JournalMonthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Volume462
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2016 Oct 11
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Galaxies: evolution
  • Galaxies: high-redshift

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Astronomy and Astrophysics
  • Space and Planetary Science

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