Inferences on the Timeline of Reionization at z~8 From the KMOS Lens-Amplified Spectroscopic Survey

Abstract

Detections and non-detections of Lyman alpha (Ly$\alpha$) emission from $z>6$ galaxies ($<1$ Gyr after the Big Bang) can be used to measure the timeline of cosmic reionization. Of key interest to measuring reionization's mid-stages, but also increasing observational challenge, are observations at z > 7, where Ly$\alpha$ redshifts to near infra-red wavelengths. Here we present a search for z > 7.2 Ly$\alpha$ emission in 53 intrinsically faint Lyman Break Galaxy candidates, gravitationally lensed by massive galaxy clusters, in the KMOS Lens-Amplified Spectroscopic Survey (KLASS). With integration times of ~7-10 hours, we detect no Ly$\alpha$ emission with S/N>5 in our sample. We determine our observations to be 80% complete for 5$\sigma$ spatially and spectrally unresolved emission lines with integrated line flux $>5.7\times 10^{-18}$ erg s${}^{-1}$ cm${}^{-2}$. We define a photometrically selected sub-sample of 29 targets at $z=7.9\pm 0.6$, with a median 5$\sigma$ Ly$\alpha$ EW limit of 58A. We perform a Bayesian inference of the average intergalactic medium (IGM) neutral hydrogen fraction using their spectra. Our inference accounts for the wavelength sensitivity and incomplete redshift coverage of our observations, and the photometric redshift probability distribution of each target. These observations, combined with samples from the literature, enable us to place a lower limit on the average IGM neutral hydrogen fraction of $>0.76(68\%),>0.46(95\%)$ at z ~ 8, providing further evidence of rapid reionization at z~6-8. We show that this is consistent with reionization history models extending the galaxy luminosity function to $M_{\text{UV}}\lesssim -12$, with low ionizing photon escape fractions, $f_{\text{esc}}\lesssim 15\%$.

Accepted for publication in MNRAS

References in corpus (42)

• The NumPy array: a structure for efficient numerical computation
• EAZY: A Fast, Public Photometric Redshift Code
• K-corrections and filter transformations in the ultraviolet, optical, and near infrared
• Cosmic Reionization and Early Star-Forming Galaxies: A Joint Analysis of New Constraints from Planck and Hubble Space Telescope
• The KMOS^3D Survey: design, first results, and the evolution of galaxy kinematics from 0.7<z<2.7
• Model-independent evidence in favor of an end to reionization by z~6
• 3D Lyman-alpha radiation transfer. I. Understanding Lyman-alpha line profile morphologies
• The morphology of HII regions during reionization
• Dust in the reionization era: ALMA observations of a $z$=8.38 Galaxy
• Using Lyman-alpha to detect galaxies that leak Lyman continuum
• Strongly baryon-dominated disk galaxies at the peak of galaxy formation ten billion years ago
• Lyman Alpha Emitting Galaxies as a Probe of Reionization
• Line Emitting Galaxies Beyond a Redshift of 7: An Improved Method for Estimating the Evolving Neutrality of the Intergalactic Medium
• New observations of z~7 galaxies: evidence for a patchy reionization
• 21CMMC: an MCMC analysis tool enabling astrophysical parameter studies of the cosmic 21 cm signal
• A Spectroscopic Redshift Measurement for a Luminous Lyman Break Galaxy at z=7.730 using Keck/MOSFIRE
• A method to remove residual OH emission from near infrared spectra
• The MUSE 3D view of the Hubble Deep Field South
• Ultraviolet Emission Lines in Young Low Mass Galaxies at z~2: Physical Properties and Implications for Studies at z>7
• Can the intergalactic medium cause a rapid drop in Lyman alpha emission at z>6?
• Rapid Decline of Lyman-alpha Emission Toward the Reionization Era
• Diffuse Lyman-alpha Halos around Galaxies at z=2.2-6.6: Implications for Galaxy Formation and Cosmic Reionization
• The Global 21-cm Signal in the Context of the High-z Galaxy Luminosity Function
• z~2: An Epoch of Disk Assembly
• Gravitationally Lensed Galaxies at 2<z<3.5: Direct Abundance Measurements of Lya Emitters
• The VIMOS Ultra-Deep Survey (VUDS): fast increase of the fraction of strong Lyman alpha emitters from z=2 to z=6
• Evidence for a Hard Ionizing Spectrum from a z=6.11 Stellar Population
• A spectroscopic search for AGN activity in the reionization era
• The Luminosity Function at z~8 from 97 Y-band dropouts: Inferences About Reionization
• ALMA [CII] detection of a redshift 7 lensed galaxy behind RXJ1347.1-1145
• Linking Ly-alpha and Low-Ionization Transitions at Low Optical Depth
• MUSE integral-field spectroscopy towards the Frontier Fields Cluster Abell S1063: I. Data products and redshift identifications
• A VLT/FORS2 view at $z\sim 6$: Lyman-$\alpha$ emitter fraction and galaxy physical properties at the edge of the epoch of cosmic reionization
• The Grism Lens-Amplified Survey from Space (GLASS) X. Sub-kpc resolution gas-phase metallicity maps at cosmic noon behind the Hubble Frontier Fields cluster MACS1149.6+2223
• The MUSE Hubble Ultra Deep Field Survey VIII : Extended Lyman-alpha haloes around high-redshift star-forming galaxies
• A Comprehensive Study of Ly$\alpha$ Emission in the High-redshift Galaxy Population
• The Lyman Continuum escape fraction of emission line-selected $z\sim 2.5$ galaxies is less than 15%
• Quasar UV luminosity function evolution up to z=8
• Spitzer UltRa Faint SUrvey Program (SURFS UP) I: An Overview
• First Results from the KMOS Lens-Amplified Spectroscopic Survey (KLASS): Kinematics of Lensed Galaxies at Cosmic Noon
• The ASTRODEEP Frontier Fields Catalogues III. Multiwavelength photometry and rest frame properties of MACS-J0717 and MACS-J1149
• Characterization and modeling of contamination for Lyman break galaxy samples at high redshift

Cited by in corpus (138)

• Pōniuā'ena: A Luminous $z=7.5$ Quasar Hosting a 1.5 Billion Solar Mass Black Hole
• The GLASS James Webb Space Telescope Early Release Science Program. I. Survey Design and Release Plans
• Introducing the THESAN project: radiation-magnetohydrodynamic simulations of the epoch of reionization
• Observations of the Lyman-$\alpha$ Universe
• First Results from HERA Phase I: Upper Limits on the Epoch of Reionization 21 cm Power Spectrum
• Constraining the neutral fraction of hydrogen in the IGM at redshift 7.5
• HERA Phase I Limits on the Cosmic 21-cm Signal: Constraints on Astrophysics and Cosmology During the Epoch of Reionization
• Texas Spectroscopic Search for Ly$\alpha$ Emission at the End of Reionization III. the Ly$\alpha$ Equivalent-width Distribution and Ionized Structures at $z>7$
• No missing photons for reionization: moderate ionizing photon escape fractions from the FIRE-2 simulations
• Measurements of the z ~ 6 Intergalactic Medium Optical Depth and Transmission Spikes Using a New z > 6.3 Quasar Sample
• The ASTRID Simulation: Galaxy Formation and Reionization
• The Impact of the First Galaxies on Cosmic Dawn and Reionization
• The THESAN project: properties of the intergalactic medium and its connection to Reionization-era galaxies
• Early results from GLASS-JWST. XIV: A spectroscopically confirmed protocluster 650 million years after the Big Bang
• The THESAN project: Lyman-alpha emission and transmission during the Epoch of Reionization
• LyC escape from SPHINX galaxies in the Epoch of Reionization
• The JWST-PRIMAL Legacy Survey. A JWST/NIRSpec reference sample for the physical properties and Lyman-$\alpha$ absorption and emission of $\sim 500$ galaxies at $z=5.5-13.4$
• Long Dark Gaps in the Ly$\beta$ Forest at $z<6$: Evidence of Ultra Late Reionization from XQR-30 Spectra
• IGM damping wing constraints on reionisation from covariance reconstruction of two $z\gtrsim 7$ QSOs
• (Nearly) Model-Independent Constraints on the Neutral Hydrogen Fraction in the Intergalactic Medium at $z\sim 5-7$ Using Dark Pixel Fractions in Ly$\alpha$ and Ly$\beta$ Forests
• MMT Spectroscopy of Lyman-alpha at z$\simeq$7: Evidence for Accelerated Reionization Around Massive Galaxies
• Reionization after JWST: a photon budget crisis?
• Closing in on the sources of cosmic reionization: first results from the GLASS-JWST program
• Measuring the properties of reionised bubbles with resolved Lyman alpha spectra
• Interpreting LOFAR 21-cm signal upper limits at z~9.1 in the context of high-z galaxy and reionisation observations
• The Evolution of the Lyman-Alpha Luminosity Function During Reionization
• The nature of an ultra-faint galaxy in the cosmic Dark Ages seen with JWST
• The THESAN project: ionizing escape fractions of reionization-era galaxies
• Chasing the Tail of Cosmic Reionization with Dark Gap Statistics in the Ly$\alpha$ Forest over $5<z<6$
• First Light And Reionisation Epoch Simulations (FLARES) V: The redshift frontier
• Inferring the IGM Neutral Fraction at z ~ 6-8 with Low-Luminosity Lyman Break Galaxies
• (Re)Solving Reionization with Lyα: How Bright Lyα Emitters account for the $z\approx 2-8$ Cosmic Ionizing Background
• JADES: Discovery of extremely high equivalent width Lyman-alpha emission from a faint galaxy within an ionized bubble at z=7.3
• Exploring reionisation and high-z galaxy observables with recent multi-redshift MWA upper limits on the 21-cm signal
• A short mean free path at $z=6$ favors late and rapid reionization by faint galaxies
• The Sherwood-Relics simulations: overview and impact of patchy reionization and pressure smoothing on the intergalactic medium
• Witnessing the onset of reionisation via Lyman-$\alpha$ emission at redshift 13
• Strong Ly$\alpha$ Emission in an Overdense Region at $z=6.8$: A Very Large ($R\sim 3$ physical Mpc) Ionized Bubble in COSMOS?
• The production of ionizing photons in UV-faint z~3-7 galaxies
• Probing the Bright End of the Rest-Frame Ultraviolet Luminosity Function at z = 8-10 with Hubble Pure-Parallel Imaging
• The impact of an evolving stellar initial mass function on early galaxies and reionisation
• Fuzzy Dark Matter and the 21cm Power Spectrum
• Early Results from GLASS-JWST. I: Confirmation of Lensed $z⩾7$ Lyman-Break Galaxies Behind the Abell 2744 Cluster With NIRISS
• Chronicling the reionization history at $6\lesssim z\lesssim 7$ with emergent quasar damping wings
• The ALMA REBELS Survey: Efficient Ly$\alpha$ Transmission of UV-Bright z$\simeq$7 Galaxies from Large Velocity Offsets and Broad Line Widths
• Lyman-alpha spectroscopy of extreme [OIII] emitting galaxies at $z\simeq 2-3$: Implications for Ly$\alpha$ visibility and LyC leakage at $z>6$
• Probing Cosmic Reionization and Molecular Gas Growth with TIME
• Peering into cosmic reionization: the Ly$\alpha$ visibility evolution from galaxies at $z$ = 4.5-8.5 with JWST
• Damping wings in the Lyman-α forest: a model-independent measurement of the neutral fraction at 5.4<z<6.1
• Large scale simulations of H and He reionization and heating driven by stars and more energetic sources
• Exploring the epoch of hydrogen reionization using FRBs
• Spectroscopically Confirmed Lyman-Alpha Emitters from Redshift 5 to 7 Behind Ten Galaxy Cluster Lenses
• Searching for z > 6.5 Analogs Near the Peak of Cosmic Star Formation
• SILVERRUSH XI: Constraints on the Ly$\alpha$ luminosity function and cosmic reionization at $z=7.3$ with Subaru/Hyper Suprime-Cam
• The Predicament of Absorption-Dominated Reionization: Increased Demands on Ionizing Sources
• Constraining Lyman-alpha spatial offsets at $3<z<5.5$ from VANDELS slit spectroscopy
• JADES: Primaeval Lyman-$\alpha$ emitting galaxies reveal early sites of reionisation out to redshift $z\sim 9$
• Inferring the Thermal History of the Intergalactic Medium from the Properties of the Hydrogen and Helium Lyman-alpha Forest
• Lyman Alpha Reference Sample: X. Predicting Lyman alpha output from starforming galaxies using multivariate regression
• Elevated UV luminosity density at Cosmic Dawn explained by non-evolving, weakly mass-dependent star formation efficiency
• Constraining the reionization history using deep learning from 21cm tomography with the Square Kilometre Array
• Crucial Factors for Lyα Transmission in the Reionizing Intergalactic Medium: Infall Motion, HII Bubble Size, and Self-shielded Systems
• Lyman-alpha transmission properties of the intergalactic medium in the CoDaII simulation
• The Universe is at Most 88% Neutral at z=10.6
• SPICE: the connection between cosmic reionisation and stellar feedback in the first galaxies
• Future Constraints on the Reionization History and the Ionizing Sources from Gamma-ray Burst Afterglows
• The effect of inhomogeneous reionisation on the Lyman-$\alpha$ forest power spectrum at redshift $z>4$: implications for thermal parameter recovery
• The 21 cm-kSZ-kSZ Bispectrum during the Epoch of Reionization
• Dispu$\tau$able: the high cost of a low optical depth
• Lyman Continuum Escape Fraction from Low-mass Starbursts at z=1.3
• Variations of Observed Lyman-α Spectra Shapes due to the Intergalactic Absorption
• Inferring the properties of the sources of reionization using the morphological spectra of the ionized regions
• Impact of inhomogeneous reionization on the Lyman-α forest
• The Mean Absorption Line Spectra of a Selection of Luminous z~6 Lyman Break Galaxies
• The Morphology of Reionization in a Dynamically Clumpy Universe
• LIMFAST. II. Line Intensity Mapping as a Probe of High-Redshift Galaxy Formation
• The impact of non-Gaussianity on the Epoch of Reionization parameter forecast using 21-cm power spectrum measurements
• LIMFAST. I. A Semi-Numerical Tool for Line Intensity Mapping
• 21cmfish: Fisher-matrix framework for fast parameter forecasts from the cosmic 21-cm signal
• CLEAR: Boosted Ly$\alpha$ Transmission of the Intergalactic Medium in UV bright Galaxies
• Statistical analysis of the causes of excess variance in the 21 cm signal power spectra obtained with the Low-Frequency Array
• The Size and Pervasiveness of Ly$\alpha$-UV Spatial Offsets in Star-Forming Galaxies at $z\sim 6$
• Astraeus VIII: A new framework for Lyman-$\alpha$ emitters applied to different reionisation scenarios
• The detectability of strong 21 centimetre forest absorbers from the diffuse intergalactic medium in late reionisation models
• Nature and Nurture? Comparing Ly$\alpha$ Detections in UV-Bright and Fainter [O III]+H$\beta$ Emitters at $z\sim 8$ With Keck/MOSFIRE
• Early Results from GLASS-JWST XXIII: The transmission of Lyman-alpha from UV-faint z ~ 3-6 galaxies
• Constraints on Dark Matter-Neutrino Interaction from 21-cm Cosmology and Forecasts on SKA1-Low
• Late-end reionization with ATON-HE: towards constraints from Lyman-$\alpha$ emitters observed with JWST
• Constraints on the $z\sim 6-13$ intergalactic medium from JWST spectroscopy of Lyman-alpha damping wings in galaxies
• Probing Reionization and Early Cosmic Enrichment with the MgII Forest
• The THESAN project: Lyman-alpha emitter luminosity function calibration
• Prospects for kSZ${}^2$-Galaxy Cross-Correlations during Reionization
• The effects of binary stars on galaxies and metal-enriched gas during reionization
• Beyond optical depth: Future determination of ionization history from the CMB
• Gaussian Process Reconstruction of Reionization History
• CHORUS IV: Mapping the Spatially Inhomogeneous Cosmic Reionization with Subaru HSC
• Lyman-alpha Emitters in Ionized Bubbles: Constraining the Environment and Ionized Fraction
• The high-redshift Universe with Spitzer
• The Impact of Cosmic Variance on Inferences of Global Neutral Fraction Derived from Ly$\alpha$ Luminosity Functions During Reionization
• Eddington accreting Black Holes in the Epoch of Reionization
• The impact of faint AGN discovered by JWST on reionization
• Extracting the astrophysics of reionization from the Ly$\alpha$ forest power spectrum: a first forecast
• Thermal and Reionisation History within a Large-Volume Semi-Analytic Galaxy Formation Simulation
• Can galaxy evolution mimic cosmic reionization?
• The BoRG-$JWST$ Survey: Abundance and Mass-to-light Ratio of Luminous $z=7-9$ Galaxies from Independent Sight Lines with NIRSpec
• Probing the Early History of Cosmic Reionization by Future Cosmic Microwave Background Experiments
• Understanding the Impact of Semi-numeric Reionization Models when using CNNs
• Dark Twilight Joined with the Light of Dawn to Unveil the Reionization History
• Unresolved z~8 point sources and their impact on the bright end of the galaxy luminosity function
• The ALMA Frontier Fields Survey. VI. Lensing-corrected 1.1mm number counts in Abell 2744, MACSJ0416.1-2403, MACSJ1149.5+2223, Abell 370 and Abell S1063
• The KMOS Lens-Amplified Spectroscopic Survey (KLASS): Kinematics and clumpiness of low-mass galaxies at cosmic noon
• Rapid and Late Cosmic Reionization Driven by Massive Galaxies: a Joint Analysis of Constraints from 21-cm, Lyman Line & CMB Data Sets
• Solar-Metallicity Gas in the Extended Halo of a Galaxy at $z\sim 0.12$
• Impact of the primordial fluctuation power spectrum on the reionization history
• Galaxy formation from a timescale perspective
• Effects of Small-Scale Absorption Systems on Neutral Islands during the Late Epoch of Reionization
• The Epoch of Reionization in Warm Dark Matter Scenarios
• Global signal in the redshifted hydrogen 21-cm line from the Dark Ages and Cosmic Dawn: Dependence on the nature of dark matter and modeling of first light
• Global 21 cm signal: a promising probe of primordial features
• High-redshift AGN population in radiation-hydrodynamics simulations
• Narrowing the discovery space of the cosmological 21-cm signal using multi-wavelength constraints
• Ly$\alpha$ Emission from [OIII] Emitters Near Reionization: The role of environment in galaxy Ly$\alpha$ detection
• Reionizing islands with inhomogeneous recombinations
• Reionization relics in the cross-correlation between the Ly$\alpha$ forest and 21 cm intensity mapping in the post-reionization era
• The impact of cosmic ray feedback during the epoch of reionisation
• Reionization in Protocluster Environments at $z>7$ with JWST/NIRSpec
• What can we learn about Reionization astrophysical parameters using Gaussian Process Regression?
• Constraints on the Epoch of Reionization with Roman Space Telescope and the Void Probability Function of Lyman-Alpha Emitters
• Exploration of the high-redshift universe enabled by THESEUS
• A Lyman continuum analysis for $\sim 100$ galaxies at $z_{\text{spec}}\sim 3$ in the Abell 2744 Cluster Field
• Impact of the cosmological expansion on spectral energy density of radiation in the intergalactic medium and once more about Olbers' paradox
• The MUSE Hubble Ultra Deep Field Survey XIV. The evolution of the Lya emitter fraction from z=3 to z=6
• Deep JWST spectroscopy of galaxies in a candidate ionized bubble at $z=8.7$: probing reionization at pMpc scales with Ly$\alpha$ emission
• The haloes that reionized the Universe
• An emulator for the ionizing photon mean free path in ultra-high resolution simulations: the implications of mean free path measurements for the reionization history
• Probing power spectrum enhancement at small scales with the SKA
• Uncertainty-Aware Neural Networks for Fuzzy Dark Matter Model Selection from \texorpdfstring{$x_{\mathrm{HI}}$}{x_HI} Measurements
• Reionization in HESTIA: Studying reionization in the LG through zoom simulations