The Halpha Luminosity Function and Star Formation Rate at z~0.24 Based on Subaru Deep Imaging Data

Abstract

We have carried out a deep imaging survey for H$α$ emitting galaxies at $z\approx$0.24 using a narrowband filter tuned with the redshifted line. The total sky area covered is 706 arcmin$^2$ within a redshift range from 0.234 to 0.252 ($δz$=0.018). This corresponds to a volume of 3.9$\times10^3$ Mpc$^3$ when $Ω_{\rm matter}=0.3$, $Ω_Λ=0.7$, and $H_{\mathrm{0}}$=70 km s$^{-1}$ Mpc$^{-1}$ are adopted. We obtain a sample of 348 H$α$ emitting galaxies whose observed emission-line equivalent widths are greater than 12 à . We find an extinction-corrected H$α$ luminosity density of $10^{39.65^{+0.08}_{-0.12}}$ ergs s$^{-1}$ Mpc$^{-3}$. Using the Kennicutt relation between the H$α$ luminosity and star formation rate, the star formation rate density in the covered volume is estimated as $0.036^{+0.006}_{-0.012}$ $M_{\sun}$ yr$^{-1}$ Mpc$^{-3}$. This value is higher by a factor of 3 than the local SFR density.

6 pages, 5 figures. ApJ Letters, in press