Title: The Curious Case of Lyman-alpha Emitting Galaxies
Speaker:Zheng Zheng (Physics and Astronomy at the University of Utah)
Time: 3 pm, January 18 (Thursday) 
Location: Lecture Hall, 3rd floor 
Abstract: Lyman-alpha Emitting galaxies or Lyman-alpha emitters (LAEs), star-forming galaxies selected through their strong Lyman-alpha emission, are becoming an important probe of galaxy formation, cosmic reionization, and cosmology. I will present our recent and ongoing work towards understanding some properties of those galaxies based on Lyman-alpha radiative transfer modeling, which includes the role of the anisotropic gas distribution around galaxies in shaping observed properties of LAEs and the origin of the extended Lyman-alpha emission around LAEs. I will also talk about the anisotropic clustering of LAEs induced by the radiative transfer effect and the current observational status. Finally, I will discuss some puzzles in the study of LAEs.