1. |
- Marques-Chaves, R., et al.
(author)
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No correlation of the Lyman continuum escape fraction with spectral hardness
- 2022
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In: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 663
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The properties that govern the production and escape of hydrogen-ionizing photons (Lyman continuum, LyC; with energies > 13.6 eV) in star-forming galaxies are still poorly understood, but they are key to identifying and characterizing the sources that reionized the Universe. Here we empirically explore the relation between the hardness of ionizing radiation and the LyC leakage in a large sample of low-z star-forming galaxies from the recent Hubble Space Telescope Low-z Lyman Continuum Survey. Using Sloan Digital Sky Survey stacks and deep X-shooter observations, we investigate the hardness of the ionizing spectra (QHe+/QH) between 54.4 eV (He+) and 13.6 eV (H) from the optical recombination lines He II 4686 Å and Hβ 4861 Å for galaxies with LyC escape fractions spanning a wide range, fesc(LyC) ≃ 0−90%. We find that the observed intensity of He II/Hβ is primarily driven by variations in the metallicity, but is not correlated with LyC leakage. Both very strong (esc(LyC)> ≃ 0.5) and nonleakers (esc(LyC)> ≃ 0) present similar observed intensities of He II and Hβ at comparable metallicity, between ≃0.01 and ≃0.02 for 12 + log(O/H)> 8.0 and < 8.0, respectively. Our results demonstrate that QHe+/QH does not correlate with fesc(LyC), which implies that strong LyC emitters do not show harder ionizing spectra than nonleakers at similar metallicity.
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2. |
- Amorín, R. O., et al.
(author)
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Ubiquitous broad-line emission and the relation between ionized gas outflows and Lyman continuum escape in Green Pea galaxies
- 2024
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In: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 682
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We report observational evidence of highly turbulent ionized gas kinematics in a sample of 20 Lyman continuum (LyC) emitters (LCEs) at low redshift (z ∼ 0.3). Detailed Gaussian modeling of optical emission line profiles in high-dispersion spectra consistently shows that both bright recombination and collisionally excited lines can be fitted as one or two narrow components with intrinsic velocity dispersion of σ ∼ 40 − 100 km s−1, in addition to a broader component with σ ∼ 100 − 300 km s−1, which contributes up to ∼40% of the total flux and is preferentially blueshifted from the systemic velocity. We interpret the narrow emission as highly ionized gas close to the young massive star clusters and the broader emission as a signpost of unresolved ionized outflows, resulting from massive stars and supernova feedback. We find a significant correlation between the width of the broad emission and the LyC escape fraction, with strong LCEs exhibiting more complex and broader line profiles than galaxies with weaker or undetected LyC emission. We provide new observational evidence supporting predictions from models and simulations; our findings suggest that gas turbulence and outflows resulting from strong radiative and mechanical feedback play a key role in clearing channels through which LyC photons escape from galaxies. We propose that the detection of blueshifted broad emission in the nebular lines of compact extreme emission-line galaxies can provide a new indirect diagnostic of Lyman photon escape, which could be useful to identify potential LyC leakers in the epoch of reionization with the JWST.
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3. |
- Chisholm, J., et al.
(author)
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The far-ultraviolet continuum slope as a Lyman Continuum escape estimator at high redshift
- 2022
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In: Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0035-8711 .- 1365-2966. ; 517:4, s. 5104-5120
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Most of the hydrogen in the intergalactic medium (IGM) was rapidly ionized at high redshifts. While observations have established that reionization occurred, observational constraints on the high-redshift ionizing emissivity remain elusive. Here, we present a new analysis of the Low-redshift Lyman Continuum Survey (LzLCS) and literature observations, a combined sample of 89 star-forming galaxies at redshifts near 0.3 with Hubble Space Telescope observations of their ionizing continua (or Lyman Continuum, LyC). We find a strong (6σ significant) inverse correlation between the continuum slope at 1550 Å (defined as Fλ ∝ λβ1550obs) and both the LyC escape fraction (fesc, LyC) and fesc, LyC times the ionizing photon production efficiency (ξion). On average, galaxies with redder continuum slopes have smaller fesc, LyC than galaxies with bluer slopes mainly due to higher dust attenuation. More than 5 per cent (20 per cent) of the LyC emission escapes galaxies with β1550obs <−2.1 (−2.6). We find strong correlations between β1550obs and the [O III]/[O II] flux ratio (at 7.5σ significance), galaxy stellar mass (at 5.9σ), the gas-phase metallicity (at 4.6σ), and the observed far-ultraviolet absolute magnitude (at 3.4σ). Using previous observations of β1550obs at high redshift, we estimate the evolution of fesc, LyC with both redshift and galaxy magnitude. The LzLCS observations suggest that fainter and lower mass galaxies dominate the ionizing photon budget at higher redshift, possibly due to their rapidly evolving metal and dust content. Finally, we use our correlation between β1550obs and fesc, LyC × ξion to predict the ionizing emissivity of galaxies during the epoch of reionization. Our estimated emissivities match IGM observations, and suggest that star-forming galaxies emit sufficient LyC photons into the IGM to exceed recombinations near redshifts of 7–8.
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