DESI Spectroscopy of HETDEX Emission-line Candidates. I. Line Discrimination Validation

Abstract The Hobby–Eberly Dark Energy Experiment (HETDEX) is an untargeted spectroscopic galaxy survey that uses Ly α- emitting galaxies (LAEs) as tracers of 1.9 < z < 3.5 large-scale structure. Most detections consist of a single emission line, whose identity is inferred via a Bayesian analysis of ancillary data. To determine the accuracy of these line identifications, HETDEX detections were observed with the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI). In two DESI pointings, high-confidence spectroscopic redshifts are obtained for 1157 sources, including 982 LAEs. The DESI spectra are used to evaluate the accuracy of the HETDEX object classifications and tune the methodology to achieve the HETDEX science requirement of ≲2% contamination of the LAE sample by low-redshift emission-line galaxies, while still assigning 96% of the true Ly α emission sample with the correct spectroscopic redshift. We compare emission-line measurements between the two experiments assuming a simple Gaussian line fitting model. Fitted values for the central wavelength of the emission line, the measured line flux, and line widths are consistent between the surveys within uncertainties. Derived spectroscopic redshifts, from the two classification pipelines, when both agree as an LAE classification, are consistent to within 〈Δ z /(1 + z )〉 = 6.9 × 10 −5 with an rms scatter of 3.3 × 10 −4 . Data are available at https://data.desi.lbl.gov/desi/public/dr1/vac/dr1/hetdex .

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Journal
The Astrophysical Journal
Published
2025-12-19
DOI
https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ae1ae6
Primary Topic
X-ray Spectroscopy and Fluorescence Analysis
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article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
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article

DESI Spectroscopy of HETDEX Emission-line Candidates. I. Line Discrimination Validation

M. Schubnell, D. Brooks, Donghui Jeong, S. Juneau et al.
The Astrophysical Journal
X-ray Spectroscopy and Fluorescence Analysis
article

DESI Spectroscopy of HETDEX Emission-line Candidates. I. Line Discrimination Validation

M. Schubnell, D. Brooks, Donghui Jeong, S. Juneau, Anand Raichoor, Robin Ciardullo, S. Nadathur, Gregory Tarlé, E. Armengaud, Daniel J. Farrow, Gary J. Hill, Laurent Le Guillou, David Sprayberry, D. Bianchi, Dustin Davis, Ignasi Pérez-Ràfols, Axel de la Macorra, Simone Ferraro, M. E. Levi, Marc Manera, Gaston Gutierrez, J. Aguilar, Eusebio Sanchez, Satya Gontcho A Gontcho, ChangHoon Hahn, ENRIQUE GAZTAÑAGA, K. Honscheid, B. A. Weaver, Cullan Howlett, Michael Wilson, Arjun T. Dey, Shun Saito, J. E. Forero-Romero, Steven P. Ahlen, Aaron Meisner, Karl Gebhardt, R. Miquel, Erin Mentuch Cooper, R. Kehoe, John Moustakas, Claire Poppett, Chenxu Liu, Rong Zhou, Donald P. Schneider, Hu Zou, Graziano Rossi, Martin Landriau, David Schlegel, Anthony Kremin, T. Kisner, M Ishak, T. Claybaugh, Francisco Prada
article en

Abstract

Abstract The Hobby–Eberly Dark Energy Experiment (HETDEX) is an untargeted spectroscopic galaxy survey that uses Ly α- emitting galaxies (LAEs) as tracers of 1.9 < z < 3.5 large-scale structure. Most detections consist of a single emission line, whose identity is inferred via a Bayesian analysis of ancillary data. To determine the accuracy of these line identifications, HETDEX detections were observed with the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI). In two DESI pointings, high-confidence spectroscopic redshifts are obtained for 1157 sources, including 982 LAEs. The DESI spectra are used to evaluate the accuracy of the HETDEX object classifications and tune the methodology to achieve the HETDEX science requirement of ≲2% contamination of the LAE sample by low-redshift emission-line galaxies, while still assigning 96% of the true Ly α emission sample with the correct spectroscopic redshift. We compare emission-line measurements between the two experiments assuming a simple Gaussian line fitting model. Fitted values for the central wavelength of the emission line, the measured line flux, and line widths are consistent between the surveys within uncertainties. Derived spectroscopic redshifts, from the two classification pipelines, when both agree as an LAE classification, are consistent to within 〈Δ z /(1 + z )〉 = 6.9 × 10 −5 with an rms scatter of 3.3 × 10 −4 . Data are available at https://data.desi.lbl.gov/desi/public/dr1/vac/dr1/hetdex .

The Astrophysical JournalVol. 995(2)
Boston University (US), Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ES), Universidad Complutense de Madrid (ES), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ES), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR), Pennsylvania State University (US), Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (US), Institute of Space Sciences (ES), Hiroshima Shudo University (JP), Berkeley College (US), University of Arizona (US), High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (JP), Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (US), State Street (United States) (US), Universidad de Los Andes (CO), The University of Texas at Dallas (US), The University of Queensland (AU), Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (JP), Southern Methodist University (US), Institute for High Energy Physics (ES), University of Milan (IT), Yunnan University (CN), University of Hull (GB), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN), Princeton University (US), Missouri University of Science and Technology (US), Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives (FR), Université Paris-Saclay (FR), University of Michigan (US), Brera Astronomical Observatory (IT), Sejong University (KR), Sorbonne Université (FR), National Solar Observatory (US), Institut d'Estudis Espacials de Catalunya (ES), Institut Català de Ciències del Clima (ES), Laboratoire de Physique Nucléaire et de Hautes Énergies (FR), Centre for Theoretical Physics and Astrophysics (UZ), Michigan United (US), Unidades Centrales Científico-Técnicas (ES), CEA Paris-Saclay (FR), Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules (FR), Community Science and Data Center (US), Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Milano (IT), NSF NOIRLab (US), Mylan (Switzerland) (CH), Hull Lifesaving Museum (US), Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (ES), National Astronomical Observatories (CN), Institut de Recherche sur les Lois Fondamentales de l'Univers (FR), Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas, Medioambientales y Tecnológicas (ES), State Library of Ohio (US), University College London (GB), University of Virginia (US), The Ohio State University (US), University of Portsmouth (GB), Syracuse University (US), The University of Tokyo (JP), The University of Texas at Austin (US), Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (MX), Siena College (US), Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (NL), University of California, Berkeley (US), Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (ES)
National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Energy, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, University of Texas at Austin, Missouri University of Science and Technology, University of Oxford, Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, China Scholarship Council, University of Tokyo, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives, Leibniz-Institut für Astrophysik Potsdam, Max-Planck-Institut für Astrophysik, Office of Science, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Texas at Austin, U.S. Air Force, Leibniz-Gemeinschaft, Division of Astronomical Sciences, Air Force Research Laboratory
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