Luminosity function of [O II] emission-line galaxies in the MassiveBlack-II simulation

We examine the luminosity function (LF) of [OII] emission-line galaxies in the high-resolution cosmological simulation MassiveBlack-II (MBII). From the spectral energy distribution of each galaxy, we select a sub-sample of star-forming galaxies at 0.06 <= z <= 3.0 using the [OII] emission line luminosity L([O II]). We confirm that the specific star formation rate matches that in the Galaxy And Mass Assembly survey. We show that the [OII] LF at z = 1.0 from the MBII shows good agreement with the LFs from several surveys below L([O II])= 10(43.0) erg s(-1) while the low redshifts (z = 0.3) show an excess in the prediction of bright [O II] galaxies, but still displaying a good match with observations below L([O II]) = 10(41.6) erg s(-1). Based on the validity in reproducing the properties of [OII] galaxies at low redshift (z = 1), we forecast the evolution of the [O II] LF at high redshift (z = 3), which can be tested by upcoming surveys such as the Hobby-Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment and Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument. The slopes of the LFs at bright and faint ends range from -3 to -2 showing minima at z = 2. The slope of the bright end evolves approximately as (z + 1)(-1) at z = 2 while the faint end evolves as similar to 3(z + 1)(-1) at 0.6 <= z <= 2. In addition, a similar analysis is applied for the evolution of [O III] LFs, which is to be explored in the forthcoming survey Wide-Field InfraRed Survey Telescope-Astrophysics Focused Telescope Assets. Finally, we show that the auto-correlation function of [OII] and [O III] emitting galaxies shows a rapid evolution from z = 2 to 1.