Lyα Emission‐Line Galaxies at<i>z</i>= 3.1 in the Extended Chandra Deep Field–South

Abstract

We describe the results of an extremely deep, 0.28 deg 2 survey for z = 3.1 Lyα emission-line galaxies in the Extended Chandra Deep Field South. By using a narrow-band 5000 ˚A filter and complementary broadband photometry from the MUSYC survey, we identify a statistically complete sample of 162 galaxies with monochromatic fluxes brighter than 1.5×10 −17 ergs cm −2 s −1 and observers frame equivalent widths greater than 80 ˚A. We show that the equivalent width distribution of these objects follows an exponential with a rest-frame scale length of w0 = 76 +11 −8 ˚A. In addition, we show that in the emission line, the luminosity