2011ApJ...741..101H

We report a search for z ∼ 6.96 Lyα emitters (LAEs) using a narrowband filter, centered at 9680 Å with the Inamori-Magellan Area Camera and Spectrograph instrument on the Magellan telescope at Las Campanas Observatory. We obtain a sample of six LAE candidates of luminosity ∼10⁴² erg/s in a total area of 465 arcmin² corresponding to a comoving volume of ∼72,000 Mpc³. From this result, we derive a Lyα luminosity function (LF) at z ∼ 6.96 and compare our sample with the only z ∼ 6.96 LAE spectroscopically confirmed to date. We find no evolution between the z = 5.7 and z ∼ 7 Lyα LFs if a majority of our candidates are confirmed. Spectroscopic confirmation for this sample will enable more robust conclusions.