- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/810/107
- Title:
- Lyman break galaxies and LAEs HST photometry
- Short Name:
- J/ApJ/810/107
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- We present U_336_V_606_J_125_H_160_ follow-up Hubble Space Telescope (HST) observations of 16 z~3 candidate Lyman continuum (LyC) emitters in the HS1549+1919 field. With these data, we obtain high spatial-resolution photometric redshifts of all sub-arcsecond components of the LyC candidates in order to eliminate foreground contamination and identify robust candidates for leaking LyC emission. Of the 16 candidates, we find one object with a robust LyC detection that is not due to foreground contamination. This object (MD5) resolves into two components; we refer to the LyC-emitting component as MD5b. MD5b has an observed 1500 {AA} to 900 {AA} flux-density ratio of (F_UV_/F_LyC_)_obs_=4.0+/-2.0, compatible with predictions from stellar population synthesis models. Assuming minimal IGM absorption, this ratio corresponds to a relative (absolute) escape fraction of f_esc,rel_^MD5b^=75%-100% (f_esc,abs_^MD5b^=14%-19%). The stellar population fit to MD5b indicates an age of <~50 Myr, which is in the youngest 10% of the HST sample and the youngest third of typical z~3 Lyman break galaxies, and may be a contributing factor to its LyC detection. We obtain a revised, contamination-free estimate for the comoving specific ionizing emissivity at z=2.85, indicating (with large uncertainties) that star-forming galaxies provide roughly the same contribution as QSOs to the ionizing background at this redshift. Our results show that foreground contamination prevents ground-based LyC studies from obtaining a full understanding of LyC emission from z~3 star-forming galaxies. Future progress in direct LyC searches is contingent upon the elimination of foreground contaminants through high spatial-resolution observations, and upon acquisition of sufficiently deep LyC imaging to probe ionizing radiation in high-redshift galaxies.
Number of results to display per page
Search Results
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/592/728
- Title:
- Lyman break galaxies at redshift z~3
- Short Name:
- J/ApJ/592/728
- Date:
- 04 Dec 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- We present the basic data for a large ground-based spectroscopic survey for z~3 Lyman break galaxies (LBGs), photometrically selected using rest-UV colors from very deep images in 17 high Galactic latitude fields. The total survey covers an area of 0.38deg^2^ and includes 2347 photometrically selected candidate LBGs to an apparent {R}_AB_ magnitude limit of 25.5. Approximately half of these objects have been observed spectroscopically using the Keck telescopes, yielding 940 redshifts with <z>=2.96+/-0.29. We discuss the images, photometry, target selection, and spectroscopic program in some detail and present catalogs of the photometric and spectroscopic data, made available in electronic form. We discuss the general utility of conducting nearly volume-limited redshift surveys in prescribed redshift intervals using judicious application of photometric preselection.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/697/1410
- Title:
- Lyman break galaxies at z~1.8-2.8
- Short Name:
- J/ApJ/697/1410
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- A photometric sample of ~8000 V<25.3 candidate Lyman break galaxies (LBGs) has been selected by combining Subaru/Suprime-Cam BVRCi'z' optical data with deep GALEX/NUV imaging of the Subaru Deep Field. Follow-up spectroscopy confirmed 24 LBGs at 1.5<~z<~2.7. Among the optical spectra, 12 have Ly{alpha} emission with rest-frame equivalent widths of ~5-60{AA}. The success rate for identifying LBGs as NUV-dropouts at 1.5<z<2.7 is 86%. The rest-frame UV (1700{AA}) luminosity function (LF) is constructed from the photometric sample with corrections for stellar contamination and z<1.5 interlopers (lower limits). The LF is 1.7+/-0.1 (1.4+/-0.1 with a hard upper limit on stellar contamination) times higher than those of z~2 BXs and z~3 LBGs.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/519/1
- Title:
- Lyman-break galaxies at z {>~} 4
- Short Name:
- J/ApJ/519/1
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- We present initial results of a survey for star-forming galaxies in the redshift range 3.8{<~}z{<~}4.5. This sample consists of a photometric catalog of 244 galaxies culled from a total solid angle of 0.23 deg^2^ to an apparent magnitude of I_AB_=25.0. Spectroscopic redshifts in the range 3.61{<~}z{<~}4.81 have been obtained for 48 of these galaxies; their median redshift is <z>=4.13. Selecting these galaxies in a manner entirely analogous to our large survey for Lyman-break galaxies at smaller redshift (2.7{<~}z{<~}3.4) allows a relatively clean differential comparison between the populations and integrated luminosity density at these two cosmic epochs. Over the same range of UV luminosity, the spectroscopic properties of the galaxy samples at z{~}4 and z{~}3 are indistinguishable, as are the luminosity function shapes and the total integrated UV luminosity densities [{rho}_UV_(z=3)/{rho}_UV_(z=4)=1.1{+/_}0.3].
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/736/48
- Title:
- 48 Lyman break galaxies at z~3 in HUDF
- Short Name:
- J/ApJ/736/48
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- We present evidence for spatially extended low surface brightness emission around Lyman break galaxies (LBGs) in the V-band image of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field, corresponding to the z~3 rest-frame far-UV (FUV) light, which is a sensitive measure of star formation rates (SFRs). We find that the covering fraction of molecular gas at z~3 is not adequate to explain the emission in the outskirts of LBGs, while the covering fraction of neutral atomic-dominated hydrogen gas at high redshift is sufficient. We develop a theoretical framework to connect this emission around LBGs to the expected emission from neutral HI gas, i.e., damped Ly{alpha} systems (DLAs), using the Kennicutt-Schmidt (KS) relation. Working under the hypothesis that the observed FUV emission in the outskirts of LBGs is from in situ star formation in atomic-dominated hydrogen gas, the results suggest that the SFR efficiency in such gas at z~3 is between factors of 10 and 50 lower than predictions based on the local KS relation. The total SFR density in atomic-dominated gas at z~3 is constrained to be ~10% of that observed from the inner regions of LBGs. In addition, the metals produced by in situ star formation in the outskirts of LBGs yield metallicities comparable to those of DLAs, which is a possible solution to the "Missing Metals" problem for DLAs. Finally, the atomic-dominated gas in the outskirts of galaxies at both high and low redshifts has similar reduced SFR efficiencies and is consistent with the same power law.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/703/2033
- Title:
- Lyman-break galaxies (LBG) in the HUDF
- Short Name:
- J/ApJ/703/2033
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- We present a sample of 407 z~3 Lyman break galaxies (LBGs) to a limiting isophotal u-band magnitude of 27.6mag in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field. The LBGs are selected using a combination of photometric redshifts and the u-band drop-out technique enabled by the introduction of an extremely deep u-band image obtained with the Keck I telescope and the blue channel of the Low Resolution Imaging Spectrometer. The Keck u-band image, totaling 9hr of integration time, has a 1{sigma} depth of 30.7mag/arcsec^2^, making it one of the most sensitive u-band images ever obtained. The u-band image also substantially improves the accuracy of photometric redshift measurements of ~50% of the z~3 LBGs, significantly reducing the traditional degeneracy of colors between z~3 and z~0.2 galaxies.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/736/18
- Title:
- Lyman-continuum emission at z~3 in SSA22 field
- Short Name:
- J/ApJ/736/18
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- We present the results of an ultradeep, narrowband imaging survey for Lyman-continuum (LyC) emission at z~3 in the SSA22a field. We employ a custom narrowband filter centered at {lambda}=3640{AA} (NB3640), which probes the LyC region for galaxies at z>=3.06. We also analyze new and archival NB4980 imaging tuned to the wavelength of the Ly{alpha} emission line at z=3.09, and archival broadband B, V, and R images of the non-ionizing UV continuum. Our NB3640 images contain 26 z>=3.06 Lyman break galaxies (LBGs) as well as a set of 130 Ly{alpha} emitters (LAEs), identified by their excess NB4980 flux relative to the BV continuum. Six LBGs and 28 LAEs are detected in the NB3640 image. LBGs appear to span a range of NB3640-R colors, while LAEs appear bimodal in their NB3640-R properties. We estimate average UV-to-LyC flux density ratios.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/897/41
- Title:
- Lyman Continuum in 111 GOODS and ERS galaxies
- Short Name:
- J/ApJ/897/41
- Date:
- 11 Mar 2022
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- We present our analysis of the Lyman continuum (LyC) emission and escape fraction of 111 spectroscopically verified galaxies with and without active galactic nuclei (AGN) from 2.26<z<4.3. We extended our ERS sample from Smith et al. with 64 galaxies in the GOODS North and South fields using WFC3/UVIS F225W, F275W, and F336W mosaics we independently drizzled using the HDUV, CANDELS, and UVUDF data. Among the 17 AGN from the 111 galaxies, one provided a LyC detection in F275W at m_AB_=23.19mag (signal-to-noise ratio, S/N~133) and GALEX NUV at m_AB_=23.77mag (S/N~13). We simultaneously fit SDSS and Chandra spectra of this AGN to an accretion disk and Comptonization model, and find f_esc_ values of f_esc_^F275W^~28_-4_^+20^% and f_esc_^NUV^~30_-5_^+22^% . For the remaining 110 galaxies, we stack image cutouts that capture their LyC emission using the F225W, F275W, and F336W data of the GOODS and ERS samples, and both combined, as well as subsamples of galaxies with and without AGN, and all galaxies. We find the stack of 17 AGN dominate the LyC production from <z>~2.3-4.3 by a factor of ~10 compared to all 94 galaxies without AGN. While the IGM of the early universe may have been reionized mostly by massive stars, there is evidence that a significant portion of the ionizing energy came from AGN.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/884/151
- Title:
- Lyman cont. luminosity of SDSS quasar pairs at z~3
- Short Name:
- J/ApJ/884/151
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- We have used spectra of 181 projected quasar pairs at separations <=1.5' from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 12 in the redshift range of 2.5-3.5 to probe the proximity regions of the foreground quasars. We study the proximity effect both in the longitudinal and in the transverse directions, by carrying out a comparison of the Ly{alpha} absorption lines originating from the vicinity of quasars to those originating from the general intergalactic medium at the same redshift. We found an enhancement in the transmitted flux within 4Mpc to the quasar in the longitudinal direction. However, the trend is found to be reversed in the transverse direction. In the longitudinal direction, we derived an excess overdensity profile showing an excess up to r<=5Mpc after correcting for the quasar's ionization, taking into account the effect of low spectral resolution. This excess overdensity profile matches with the average overdensity profile in the transverse direction without applying any correction for the effect of the quasar's ionization. Among various possible interpretations, we found that the anisotropic obscuration of the quasar's ionization seems to be the most probable explanation. This is also supported by the fact that all of our foreground quasars happen to be type 1 AGNs. Finally, we constrain the average quasar's illumination along the transverse direction as compared to that along the longitudinal direction to be <=27% (3{sigma} confidence level).
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/775/78
- Title:
- Lyman limit absorption systems in z~3 QSOs
- Short Name:
- J/ApJ/775/78
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- We present the results of a blind survey of Lyman limit systems (LLSs) detected in absorption against 105 quasars at z~3 using the blue sensitive MagE spectrograph at the Magellan Clay telescope. By searching for Lyman limit absorption in the wavelength range {lambda}~3000-4000{AA}, we measure the number of LLSs per unit redshift {ell}(z)=1.21+/-0.28 at z~2.8. Using a stacking analysis, we further estimate the mean free path of ionizing photons in the z~3 universe {lambda}_mfp_^912^=100+/-29h_70.4_^-1^Mpc. Combined with our LLS survey, we conclude that systems with logN_HI_>=17.5/cm2 contribute only ~40% to the observed mean free path at these redshifts. Furthermore, with the aid of photoionization modeling, we infer that a population of ionized and metal poor systems is likely required to reproduce the metal line strengths observed in a composite spectrum of 20 LLSs with log N_HI_~17.5-19/cm2 at z~2.6-3.0. Finally, with a simple toy model, we deduce that gas in the halos of galaxies can alone account for the totality of LLSs at z<~3, but a progressively higher contribution from the intergalactic medium is required beyond z~3.5. We also show how the weakly evolving number of LLSs per unit redshift at z<~3 can be modeled either by requiring that the spatial extent of the circumgalactic medium is redshift invariant in the last ~10Gyr of cosmic evolution or by postulating that LLSs arise in halos that are rare fluctuations in the density field at each redshift.
