Simulating realistic Lyman- α emitting galaxies including the effect of radiative transfer

We present an empirical yet physically motivated simulation of realistic Lyman- α emitters (LAEs) at z ∼ 2 − 3 , crucial for ongoing and forthcoming cosmological LAE surveys. We combine an empirical 𝚄 𝚗 𝚒 𝚟 𝚎 𝚛 𝚜 𝚎 𝙼 𝚊 𝚌 𝚑 𝚒 𝚗 𝚎 galaxy-halo model with a simple spherical expanding shell model for the Lyman- α radiative transfer, calibrating only three free parameters to simultaneously reproduce the observed Lyman- α luminosity function and the angular clustering. Our LAE model is further supported by its consistency with other observables such as the Lyman- α equivalent width distribution, the Lyman- α 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 α 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.