& 26.3 & 26.3 & $-$20.7 & 7.17 & $[6.23, 7.25]$ & 0.49 & $<$ 23

Because Ly$\alpha$ is redshifted into the near-infrared, pushing the study of Ly$\alpha$ emission to a higher redshift of $z > 7$ had been relatively slow. However, the advent of a new generation of ground-based near-infrared spectrographs with multiplexing capability and increased sensitivity has been changing the game by enabling more systematic searches for Ly$\alpha$ emission in $z \gtrsim 7$ galaxies. However, the current sample at $z>7$ lacks the statistical power to discern between the two models of Ly$\alpha$ attenuation [e.g., @tilvi14], as the required sample size is predicted to be at least several tens [@treu12].

As expected, previous attempts in the search for Ly$\alpha$ emission at $z>7$ have revealed that spectroscopically confirming galaxies at $z>7$ via Ly$\alpha$ is challenging, yielding, in addition to two galaxies confirmed via Ly$\alpha$-break and/or dust continuum [@watson15; @oesch16], only 10 spectroscopically confirmed galaxies via Ly$\alpha$ so far (@vanzella11 [@ono12; @schenker12; @schenker14; @shibuya12; @finkelstein13; @oesch15; @roberts-borsani15; @zitrin15]; see review in @finkelstein15a), and only four at $z>7.5$, possibly due to an increased neutral fraction in the IGM. Despite these challenges, spectroscopic follow-up of galaxy candidates at these high redshifts, either yielding 