We are approaching a new era in the field of high-redshift galaxies with the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Thus, it is critical to provide a robust sample of potential targets, as well as understand galaxies in the epochs near reionization to bridge the gap between current and future observations. We present the results from 2 spectroscopic surveys to analyze Lyman-α emitters at the epoch at the end of reionization (z~4-6).


Deeper than Deep Survey


with M. C. Cooper, Steven L. Finkelstein, Intae Jung, Pablo G. Pérez-González, Caitlin M. Casey, Olivia R. Cooper, Nimish P. Hathi, Benne W. Holwerda, Anton M. Koekemoer, Vital Fernández, Rebecca L. Larson, Ray A. Lucas, L. Y. Aaron Yung
We introduce an extensive survey of z > 3 Lyman-α emitters in the EGS field. Using HST photometry, we select 947 potential Lyman-α emitters with zphot > 3 for spectroscopic follow up with Keck/DEIMOS. We confirm 126 Lyman-α emitters at 2.8 < z < 6.5, including 4 with z > 6. Our observations will help constrain the Lyman-α fraction from 4 < z < 6 in an independent field from previous studies. In addition, this survey will greatly assist target selection for The Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science Survey (CEERS), which studied >400 galaxies in the EGS field within the first 5 months of JWST science observations.
The survey website, where you can download the entire catalog, can be found here: https://sstawins.github.io/deeper_than_deep/index.html

WERLS Survey


with Caitlin M. Casey, Jeyhan Kartaltepe, Olivia Cooper, Arianna Long, Mike Cooper, and others

This is an extensive survey of high-redshift (6 < z < 8) Lyman-alpha emitters in the EGS, COSMOS, and UDS. The massive observational effort was awarded 29 nights using Keck/LRIS and Keck/MOSFIRE, and was completed by January 2024. I conducted Keck/LRIS obsrevations, data reduction, and analysis, to be descirbed in Urbano Stawinski et al. in prepartion.
The observations will greatly increase the number of known Lyman-alpha emitters in fields targeted by major JWST programs. Our data will aid in target selection as well as understanding galaxies at the end of reionization.