Speaker:Dr. Zheng Zheng(Yale Center For Astronomy and Astrophysics)
Time:  Friday 3:00pm ,13th August, 2010
Venue:  A601 NAOC
Abstract:
Lyman Alpha Emitters (LAEs), galaxies selected by their Lya emission, are becoming an important probe of galaxy formation, reionization, and cosmology. To correctly interpret the observations of LAEs, the effect of resonant scattering of Lya photons has to be taken into account. I will present results from a theoretical study of z~5.7 LAEs, which combines a state-of-the-art cosmological reionization simulation and a Monte Carlo Lya radiative transfer code. Our model introduces Lya radiative transfer as the single factor in transforming the intrinsic Lya emission properties into the observed ones.We find that resonant scatterings of Lya photons lead to a coupling between the observed Lya emission and the circumgalactic and intergalactic environments. I will show that the environment dependent radiative transfer alone is able to explain an array of observed properties of LAEs. The environment dependence also produces interesting new features in the clustering of LAEs. I will discuss implications of the results for our understanding of LAEs and for studying reionization and cosmology with LAEs.