Lyman break galaxies: A ten-year perspective

摘要

In the space of a decade, we have progressed from the discovery of"Lyman break galaxies" to the determination of some of the most important physicalparameters of what has turned out to be the population of galaxies responsible forthe bulk of the stellar mass assembly at z = 2-3. In this brief review we summarise awide variety of data, obtained from observations of the rest-frame UV and near-IRspectra of these galaxies and complemented by photometry at other wavelengthsfrom the ground and from space. Taken together, the information gathered sofar identifies most naturally the star-forming galaxies at z = 2-3 (and beyond)as the progenitors of today's ellipticals and bulges, caught at the peak epoch oftheir activity, before their gas supply became exhausted and they began to evolvepassively to the present day. We conclude with a cursory look at future directionsof research in this field.