The ionizing photon production efficiency of compact z~0.3 Lyman continuum leakers and comparison with high redshift galaxies

Abstract

We have recently discovered five Lyman continuum leaking galaxies at z~0.3, selected for their compactness, intense star-formation, and high [OIII]/[OII] ratio (Izotov et al. 2016ab). Here we derive their ionizing photon production efficiency, a fundamental quantity for inferring the number of photons available to reionize the Universe, for the first time for galaxies with confirmed strong Lyman continuum escape (fesc~6-13%). We find an ionizing photon production per unit UV luminosity, which is a factor 2-6 times higher than the canonical value when reported to their observed UV luminosity. After correction for extinction this value is close to the canonical value. The properties of our five Lyman continuum leakers are found to be very similar to those of the confirmed z=3.218 leaker Ion2 from de Barros et al. (2016) and very similar to those of typical star-forming galaxies at z>~6. Our results suggest that UV bright galaxies at high-z such as Lyman break galaxies can be Lyman continuum leakers and that their contribution to cosmic reionization may be underestimated.

arXiv commentAccepted for publication in A&A Letters

References in corpus (28)

• Stellar population synthesis at the resolution of 2003
• UV Luminosity Functions at redshifts z~4 to z~10: 10000 Galaxies from HST Legacy Fields
• The Evolution of the Galaxy Rest-Frame Ultraviolet Luminosity Function Over the First Two Billion Years
• The transition from Population III to normal galaxies: Ly-a and HeII 1640 emission and the ionising properties of high redshift starburst galaxies
• New Constraints on Cosmic Reionization from the 2012 Hubble Ultra Deep Field Campaign
• Reionization after Planck: The Derived Growth of the Cosmic Ionizing Emissivity now matches the Growth of the Galaxy UV Luminosity Density
• UV-Continuum Slopes of >4000 z~4-8 Galaxies from the HUDF/XDF, HUDF09, ERS, CANDELS-South, and CANDELS-North Fields
• Spectral and Photometric Evolution of Young Stellar Populations: the Impact of Gaseous Emission at Various Metallicities
• Ionization State of Inter-Stellar Medium in Galaxies: Evolution, SFR-M_star-Z Dependence, and Ionizing Photon Escape
• The galaxy stellar mass function at 3.5<z<7.5 in the CANDELS/UDS, GOODS-South, and HUDF fields
• The mass evolution of the first galaxies: stellar mass functions and star formation rates at $4<z<7$ in the CANDELS GOODS-South field
• The Spectral Energy Distributions Of z~8 Galaxies From The IRAC Ultra Deep Fields: Emission Lines, Stellar Masses, And Specific Star Formation Rates At 650 Myr
• Lyman continuum leaking from the compact star-forming dwarf galaxy J0925+1403
• Extreme Feedback and the Epoch of Reionization: Clues in the Local Universe
• The impact of nebular emission on the ages of z~6 galaxies
• Spectroscopic detection of CIV in a galaxy at z=7.045: Implications for the ionizing spectra of reionization-era galaxies
• The Origin and Optical Depth of Ionizing Radiation in the "Green Pea" Galaxies
• On the physical properties of z~6-8 galaxies
• A Local Clue to the Reionization of the Universe
• An extreme [OIII] emitter at $z=3.2$: a low metallicity Lyman continuum source
• On the Escape of Ionizing Radiation from Starbursts
• A critical analysis of the UV-continuum slopes of high-redshift galaxies; no evidence (yet) for extreme stellar populations at z > 6
• z~4 Halpha Emitters in GOODS : Tracing the Dominant Mode for Growth of Galaxies
• Properties of $z\sim 3-6$ Lyman Break Galaxies. II. Impact of nebular emission at high redshift
• The brighter galaxies reionised the Universe
• Constraints on the star-formation rate of z~3 LBGs with measured metallicity in the CANDELS GOODS-South field
• Peering through the holes: the far UV color of star-forming galaxies at z~3-4 and the escaping fraction of ionizing radiation
• The Lyman-continuum photon production efficiency in the high-redshift Universe

Cited by in corpus (64)

• Conditions for Reionizing the Universe with A Low Galaxy Ionizing Photon Escape Fraction
• Low-redshift Lyman continuum leaking galaxies with high [OIII]/[OII] ratios
• J1154+2443: a low-redshift compact star-forming galaxy with a 46 per cent leakage of Lyman continuum photons
• Direct Lyman continuum and Lyman-alpha escape observed at redshift 4
• The Low-Redshift Lyman Continuum Survey I: New, Diverse Local Lyman-Continuum Emitters
• EIGER II. first spectroscopic characterisation of the young stars and ionised gas associated with strong H$\beta$ and [OIII] line-emission in galaxies at z=5-7 with JWST
• The VIMOS Ultra Deep Survey: Nature, ISM properties, and ionizing spectra of CIII]1909 emitters at z=2-4
• The GREATS H$\beta$+[OIII] Luminosity Function and Galaxy Properties at $\mathbf{z}\sim 8$: Walking the Way of JWST
• SILVERRUSH. V. Census of Lya, [OIII]5007, Ha, and [CII]158um Line Emission with ~1000 LAEs at z=4.9-7.0 Revealed with Subaru/HSC
• Early results from GLASS-JWST. XIV: A spectroscopically confirmed protocluster 650 million years after the Big Bang
• New Insights on Ly-alpha and Lyman Continuum Radiative Transfer in the Greenest Peas
• Ionising the Intergalactic Medium by Star Clusters: The first empirical evidence
• New Insights into the Evolution of Massive Stars and Their Effects on Our Understanding of Early Galaxies
• A Hard Ionizing Spectrum in z=3-4 Ly-alpha Emitters with Intense [OIII] Emission: Analogs of Galaxies in the Reionization Era?
• EMPRESS. V. Metallicity Diagnostics of Galaxies over 12+log(O/H)=~6.9-8.9 Established by a Local Galaxy Census: Preparing for JWST Spectroscopy
• High star cluster formation efficiency in the strongly lensed Sunburst Lyman-continuum galaxy at z=2.37
• The Lyman Continuum escape fraction of faint galaxies at z~3.3 in the CANDELS/GOODS-North, EGS, and COSMOS fields with LBC
• Physical properties and H-ionizing-photon production rates of extreme nearby star-forming regions
• The Low-Redshift Lyman Continuum Survey. Unveiling the ISM properties of low-$z$ Lyman continuum emitters
• Magnifying the early episodes of star formation: super star clusters at cosmological distances
• Diverse properties of Ly-alpha emission in low-redshift compact star-forming galaxies with extremely high [OIII]/[OII] ratios
• Intense CIV and HeII Emission in z~0 Galaxies: Probing High-Energy Ionizing Photons
• Semi-analytic forecasts for JWST -- IV. Implications for cosmic reionization and LyC escape fraction
• Spectroscopic properties of luminous Lyman-α emitters at $z\approx 6-7$ and comparison to the Lyman-break population
• The Mean Ultraviolet Spectrum of a Representative Sample of Faint z~3 Lyman Alpha Emitters
• Puzzling Lyman-alpha line profiles in green pea galaxies
• The MUSE-Wide Survey: A determination of the Lyman $\alpha$ emitter luminosity function at $3<z<6$
• The ionising photon production efficiency at z~6 for Lyman-alpha emitters using JEMS and MUSE
• Kinematics and Optical Depth in the Green Peas: Suppressed Superwinds in Candidate LyC Emitters
• HST Imaging of the Ionizing Radiation from a Star-forming Galaxy at z = 3.794
• Low-redshift compact star-forming galaxies as analogues of high-redshift star-forming galaxies
• An extreme blue nugget, UV-bright starburst at z=3.613 with ninety per cent of Lyman continuum photon escape
• Strong Lyman continuum emitting galaxies show intense CIV 1550 emission
• Constraints on the Lyman continuum escape fraction for faint star forming galaxies
• Semi-analytic forecasts for JWST -- III. Intrinsic production efficiency of Lyman-continuum radiation
• New Methods for Identifying Lyman Continuum Leakers and Reionization-Epoch Analogues
• The MUSE Hubble Ultra Deep Field Survey: XII. MgII emission and absorption in star-forming galaxies
• Neutral Gas Properties and Ly$\alpha$ Escape in Extreme Green Pea Galaxies
• The efficiency of ionising photon production and the radiation energy balance in compact star-forming galaxies
• Reconciling escape fractions and observed line emission in Lyman-continuum-leaking galaxies
• Chemodynamics of Green Pea galaxies -- I. Outflows and turbulence driving the escape of ionising photons and chemical enrichment
• Ionized gas kinematics and chemical abundances of low-mass star-forming galaxies at $z\sim 3$
• Predicting LyC emission of galaxies using their physical and Ly$\alpha$ emission properties
• Properties of five z~0.3-0.4 confirmed LyC leakers: VLT/XShooter observations
• Intense CIII] 1907,1909 emission from a strong Lyman continuum emitting galaxy
• MUSE Illuminates Channels for Lyman Continuum Escape in the Halo of SBS 0335-52E
• Physics of Prodigious Lyman Continuum Leakers
• The Low-Redshift Lyman Continuum Survey: Optically Thin and Thick Mg II Lines as Probes of Lyman Continuum Escape
• Inferring the properties of the sources of reionization using the morphological spectra of the ionized regions
• Lyman Continuum Escape Fraction from Low-mass Starbursts at z=1.3
• The ionizing photon production efficiency of bright z$\sim$2-5 galaxies
• VLT/XShooter spectroscopy of Lyman Break Analogs: direct method O/H abundances and nitrogen enhancements
• Green Peas in X-rays
• New insights on the nebular emission, ionizing radiation and low metallicity of Green Peas from advanced modelling
• Anatomy of an ionized bubble: NIRCam grism spectroscopy of the $z=6.6$ double-peaked Lyman-$\alpha$ emitter COLA1 and its environment
• Extreme Ionizing Properties of Metal-Poor, Muv ~ -12 Star Complex in the first Gyr
• The resolved chemical composition of the starburst dwarf galaxy CGCG007-025: Direct method versus photoionization model fitting
• Low-redshift Lyman Continuum Survey: Radio continuum properties of low-$z$ Lyman continuum emitters
• A Pristine Star-Forming Complex at z=4.19
• An old stellar population or diffuse nebular continuum emission discovered in green pea galaxies
• Little impact of mergers and galaxy morphology on the production and escape of ionizing photons in the early Universe
• Observations of Ly$\alpha$ Emitters at High Redshift
• Ionizing Radiation Escape from Low-Redshift Galaxies and Its Connection to Cosmic Reionization
• REBELS-IFU: Spatially Resolved Ionizing Photon Production Efficiencies of 12 Bright Galaxies in the Epoch of Reionization