| Abstract | We report a search for z = 7 Lyα emitters (LAEs) using a custom-made narrowband filter centered at 9755 Å with the Suprime-Cam instrument installed at the Subaru telescope. We observed two different fields and obtained two samples of seven LAEs, of which four are robust in each field. We cover the luminosity range of 9.1042-2.1043 erg s-1 in comoving volumes of ∼4 × 105 and 4.3 × 105 Mpc3. From this result, we derived possible z ∼ 7 Lyα luminosity functions for the full samples and for a subsample of four objects in each field. We do not observe, in each case, any strong evolution between the z = 6.5 and z ∼ 7 Lyα luminosity functions. Spectroscopic confirmation for these candidate samples is required to establish a definitive measure of the luminosity function at z ∼ 7. © 2012. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. |
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