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 physical parameters of what has turned out to be the population of galaxies responsible for the bulk of the stellar mass assembly at z = 2-3. In this brief review we summarise a wide variety of data, obtained from observations of the rest-frame UV and near-IR spectra of these galaxies and complemented by photometry at other wavelengths from the ground and from space Taken together, the information gathered so far 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 of their activity, before their gas supply became exhausted and they began to evolve passively to the present day. We conclude with a cursory look at future directions of research in this field.