Simulating realistic Lyman- <a:math xmlns:a="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <a:mi>α</a:mi> </a:math> emitting galaxies including the effect of radiative transfer

We present an empirical yet physically motivated simulation of realistic Lyman- <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <mml:mi>α</mml:mi> </mml:math> emitters (LAEs) at <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>z</mml:mi> <mml:mo>∼</mml:mo> <mml:mn>2</mml:mn> <mml:mo>−</mml:mo> <mml:mn>3</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> , crucial for ongoing and forthcoming cosmological LAE surveys. We combine an empirical <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>𝚄</mml:mi> <mml:mi>𝚗</mml:mi> <mml:mi>𝚒</mml:mi> <mml:mi>𝚟</mml:mi> <mml:mi>𝚎</mml:mi> <mml:mi>𝚛</mml:mi> <mml:mi>𝚜</mml:mi> <mml:mi>𝚎</mml:mi> <mml:mi>𝙼</mml:mi> <mml:mi>𝚊</mml:mi> <mml:mi>𝚌</mml:mi> <mml:mi>𝚑</mml:mi> <mml:mi>𝚒</mml:mi> <mml:mi>𝚗</mml:mi> <mml:mi>𝚎</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> galaxy-halo model with a simple spherical expanding shell model for the Lyman- <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <mml:mi>α</mml:mi> </mml:math> radiative transfer, calibrating only three free parameters to simultaneously reproduce the observed Lyman- <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <mml:mi>α</mml:mi> </mml:math> luminosity function and the angular clustering. Our LAE model is further supported by its consistency with other observables such as the Lyman- <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <mml:mi>α</mml:mi> </mml:math> equivalent width distribution, the Lyman- <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <mml:mi>α</mml:mi> </mml:math> escape fraction as a function of stellar mass and dust reddening, and the systemic velocity offsets. Our LAE model provides predictions for the halo occupation distributions for LAEs and relationship between Ly <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <mml:mi>α</mml:mi> </mml:math> luminosity and halo mass, including the distribution of satellite LAEs. Our work provides a crucial first step towards creating a high-fidelity LAE synthetic catalog for the LAE cosmology surveys. We make our LAE catalog and spectra publicly available upon publication.