The mean H$\alpha$ EW and Lyman-continuum photon production efficiency for faint $z\approx 4-5$ galaxies

Abstract

We present the first measurements of the Lyman-continuum photon production efficiency ${\xi }_{\text{ion,0}}$ at $z\sim 4$-5 for galaxies fainter than 0.2 $L^{\ast }$ ($-$19 mag). ${\xi }_{\text{ion,0}}$ quantifies the production rate of ionizing photons with respect to the UV luminosity density assuming a fiducial escape fraction of zero. Extending previous measurements of ${\xi }_{\text{ion,0}}$ to the faint population is important, as ultra-faint galaxies are expected to contribute the bulk of the ionizing emissivity. We probe ${\xi }_{\text{ion,0}}$ to such faint magnitudes by taking advantage of 200-hour depth Spitzer/IRAC observations from the GREATS program and $\approx$300 3<$z$<6 galaxies with spectroscopic redshifts from the MUSE GTO Deep + Wide programs. Stacked IRAC [3.6]$-$[4.5] colors are derived and used to infer the H$\alpha$ rest-frame equivalent widths, which range from 403Å to 2818Å. The derived ${\xi }_{\text{ion,0}}$ is ${\log }_{10}({\xi }_{\text{ion,0}}/{\text{Hz erg}}^{-1})=25.36\pm 0.08$ over $-$20.5 < M${}_{\text{UV}}$ < $-$17.5, similar to those derived for brighter galaxy samples at the same redshift and therefore suggesting that ${\xi }_{\text{ion}}$ shows no strong dependence on $M_{UV}$. The ${\xi }_{\text{ion,0}}$ values found in our sample imply that the Lyman-continuum escape fraction for $M_{\text{UV}}\approx -19$ star-forming galaxies cannot exceed $\approx$8-20\% in the reionization era.

arXiv commentPublished by A&A

References in corpus (48)

• Planck 2015 results. XIII. Cosmological parameters
• The Dust Content and Opacity of Actively Star-Forming Galaxies
• CANDELS: The Cosmic Assembly Near-infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey - The Hubble Space Telescope Observations, Imaging Data Products and Mosaics
• EAZY: A Fast, Public Photometric Redshift Code
• Dust Absorption And The Ultraviolet Luminosity Density At z \approx 3 As Calibrated By Local Starburst Galaxies
• An ultra-deep near-infrared spectrum of a compact quiescent galaxy at z=2.2
• 3D-HST WFC3-selected Photometric Catalogs in the Five CANDELS/3D-HST Fields: Photometry, Photometric Redshifts and Stellar Masses
• Cosmic Reionization and Early Star-Forming Galaxies: A Joint Analysis of New Constraints from Planck and Hubble Space Telescope
• The Galactic disk mass function: reconciliation of the HST and nearby determinations
• Radiative Transfer in a Clumpy Universe: III. The Nature of Cosmological Ionizing Sources
• New Constraints on Cosmic Reionization from the 2012 Hubble Ultra Deep Field Campaign
• CANDELS Multi-wavelength Catalogs: Source Detection and Photometry in the GOODS-South Field
• UV-continuum slopes at z~4-7 from the HUDF09+ERS+CANDELS observations: Discovery of a well-defined UV-color magnitude relationship for z>=4 star-forming galaxies
• The Interstellar Medium In Galaxies Seen A Billion Years After The Big Bang
• Keck Spectroscopy of 3<z<7 Faint Lyman Break Galaxies: The Importance of Nebular Emission in Understanding the Specific Star Formation Rate and Stellar Mass Density
• Reionization after Planck: The Derived Growth of the Cosmic Ionizing Emissivity now matches the Growth of the Galaxy UV Luminosity Density
• The Dust Attenuation Law in Distant Galaxies: Evidence for Variation with Spectral Type
• Cosmic Reionization after Planck: Could Quasars Do It All?
• Lyman-alpha and CIII] Emission in z=7-9 Galaxies: Accelerated Reionization Around Luminous Star Forming Systems?
• Spectral and Photometric Evolution of Young Stellar Populations: the Impact of Gaseous Emission at Various Metallicities
• The MUSE Hubble Ultra Deep Field Survey: I. Survey description, data reduction and source detection
• The Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey. VLT/FORS2 Spectroscopy in the GOODS-South Field: Part III
• The Keck Lyman Continuum Spectroscopic Survey (KLCS): The Emergent Ionizing Spectrum of Galaxies at $z\sim 3$
• The HST eXtreme Deep Field XDF: Combining all ACS and WFC3/IR Data on the HUDF Region into the Deepest Field Ever
• WFPC2 Observations of the Hubble Deep Field-South
• ALMA Spectroscopic Survey in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field: The Infrared Excess of UV-selected z=2-10 galaxies as a function of UV-continuum Slope and Stellar Mass
• The Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey - VLT/VIMOS Spectroscopy in the GOODS-South Field: Part II
• Keeping the Universe ionised: Photo-heating and the clumping factor of the high-redshift intergalactic medium
• ALMA Spectroscopic Survey in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field: Survey Description
• The Lyman-Continuum Photon Production Efficiency xi_{ion} of z~4-5 Galaxies from IRAC-based Halpha Measurements: Implications for the Escape Fraction and Cosmic Reionization
• The Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey - VLT/FORS2 Spectroscopy in the GOODS-South Field
• The Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey VLT/FORS2 Spectroscopy in the GOODS-South Field: Part II
• Spectroscopic Observations of Lyman-Break Galaxies at Redshift ~ 4, 5 and 6 in the GOODS-South Field
• UVUDF: Ultraviolet Through Near-infrared Catalog and Photometric Redshifts of Galaxies in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field
• The MUSE Hubble Ultra Deep Field Survey: II. Spectroscopic redshifts and comparisons to color selections of high-redshift galaxies
• z~4 Halpha Emitters in GOODS : Tracing the Dominant Mode for Growth of Galaxies
• The MOSDEF Survey: Direct Observational Constraints on the Ionizing Photon Production Efficiency, ${\xi }_{\mathrm{ion}}$, at z~2
• The production and escape of Lyman-Continuum radiation from star-forming galaxies at z~2 and their redshift evolution
• 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
• The MUSE-Wide Survey: Survey Description and First Data Release
• The MUSE-Wide Survey: A first catalogue of 831 emission line galaxies
• The evolution of the equivalent width of the Ha emission line and specific star-formation rate in star-forming galaxies at 1<z<5
• Inferred Hα Flux as a Star-Formation Rate Indicator at z ~ 4-5: Implications for Dust Properties, Burstiness, and the z = 4-8 Star-Formation-Rate Functions
• Ultradeep IRAC Imaging Over The HUDF And GOODS-South: Survey Design And Imaging Data Release
• The blue UV slopes of z~4 Lyman break galaxies: implications for the corrected star formation rate density
• Mean Halpha+[NII]+[SII] EW Inferred for Star-Forming Galaxies at z=5.1-5.4 Using High-Quality Spitzer/IRAC Photometry
• Lyman Break Galaxies at $z\sim 5$: Rest-Frame UV Spectra
• High-Redshift Galaxy Surveys and the Reionization of the Universe

Cited by in corpus (43)

• Rapid Reionization by the Oligarchs: The Case for Massive, UV-Bright, Star-Forming Galaxies with High Escape Fractions
• Galaxy Formation and Reionization: Key Unknowns and Expected Breakthroughs by the James Webb Space Telescope
• The ALPINE-ALMA [CII] Survey: Multi-Wavelength Ancillary Data and Basic Physical Measurements
• z~2-9 Galaxies Magnified by the Hubble Frontier Field Clusters II: Luminosity Functions and Constraints on a Faint-End Turnover
• New Insights into the Evolution of Massive Stars and Their Effects on Our Understanding of Early Galaxies
• The Recent Burstiness of Star Formation in Galaxies at z~4.5 from H$\alpha$ Measurements
• 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
• The Reionization Lensing Cluster Survey (RELICS) and the Brightest High-z Galaxies
• First Sample of H$\alpha$+[O III] $\lambda$5007 Line Emitters at $z>6$ Through JWST/NIRCam Slitless Spectroscopy: Physical Properties and Line Luminosity Functions
• Reionization after JWST: a photon budget crisis?
• Semi-analytic forecasts for JWST -- IV. Implications for cosmic reionization and LyC escape fraction
• The Star Formation Burstiness and Ionizing Efficiency of Low-mass Galaxies
• The MUSE Deep Lensed Field on the Hubble Frontier Field MACS~J0416
• Elevated ionizing photon production efficiency in faint high-equivalent-width Lyman-alpha emitters
• (Re)Solving Reionization with Lyα: How Bright Lyα Emitters account for the $z\approx 2-8$ Cosmic Ionizing Background
• The ionising photon production efficiency at z~6 for Lyman-alpha emitters using JEMS and MUSE
• Low-redshift compact star-forming galaxies as analogues of high-redshift star-forming galaxies
• MIDIS: Strong (Hb + [OIII]) and Ha emitters at redshift $z\simeq 7-8$ unveiled with JWST/NIRCam and MIRI imaging in the Hubble eXtreme Deep Field (XDF)
• The production of ionizing photons in UV-faint z~3-7 galaxies
• High Equivalent Width of Hα+[N II] Emission in z~8 Lyman-break Galaxies from IRAC 5.8μm Observations: Evidence for Efficient Lyman-continuum Photon production in the Epoch of Re-ionization
• Semi-analytic forecasts for JWST -- III. Intrinsic production efficiency of Lyman-continuum radiation
• The Ionizing Photon Production Efficiency (${\xi }_{ion}$) Of Lensed Dwarf Galaxies At $z\sim 2$
• Outshining in the Spatially Resolved Analysis of a Strongly-Lensed Galaxy at z=6.072 with JWST NIRCam
• The MUSE Hubble Ultra Deep Field Survey. XV. The mean rest-UV spectra of Ly-alpha emitters at z>3
• An Hα Impression of Lyα Galaxies at $z\simeq 6$ with Deep JWST/NIRCam Imaging
• Broad-band selection, spectroscopic identification, and physical properties of a population of extreme emission line galaxies at 3<z<3.7
• Spatially-resolved H$\alpha$ and ionizing photon production efficiency in the lensed galaxy MACS1149-JD1 at a redshift of 9.11
• Recovery and analysis of rest-frame UV emission lines in 2052 galaxies observed with MUSE at $1.5<z<6.4$
• Reconstructing the observed ionizing photon production efficiency at z~2 using stellar population models
• The ionizing photon production efficiency of bright z$\sim$2-5 galaxies
• The Spitzer/IRAC Legacy over the GOODS Fields: Full-Depth 3.6, 4.5, 5.8 and 8.0um Mosaics and Photometry for > 9000 Galaxies at z~3.5-10 from the GOODS Re-ionization Era wide-Area Treasury from Spitzer (GREATS)
• The nature of CR7 revealed with MUSE: a young starburst powering extended Lyman-$\alpha$ emission at z=6.6
• Extreme Ionizing Properties of Metal-Poor, Muv ~ -12 Star Complex in the first Gyr
• Insights into the reionization epoch from cosmic-noon-CIV emitters in the VANDELS survey
• First Light And Reionisation Epoch Simulations (FLARES) XIII: The Lyman-continuum emission of high-redshift galaxies
• The Infrared Medium-deep Survey. \Romannum{7}. Faint Quasars at $z\sim 5$ in the ELAIS-N1 Field
• Investigating the physical properties of galaxies in the Epoch of Reionization with MIRI/JWST spectroscopy
• Deep Spitzer/IRAC Data for z~10 galaxies Reveal Blue Balmer Break Colors: Young Stellar Populations at ~500 Myr of Cosmic Time
• The high-redshift Universe with Spitzer
• The ionizing photon production efficiency of star-forming galaxies at $z\sim 4-10$
• Towards unveiling the Cosmic Reionization: the ionizing photon production efficiency (${\xi }_{ion}$) of Low-mass H$\alpha$ emitters at $z\sim 2.3$
• Spatially resolved H$\alpha$ emission in B14-65666: compact starbursts, ionizing efficiency and gas kinematics in an advanced merger at the Epoch of Reionization
• REBELS-IFU: Spatially Resolved Ionizing Photon Production Efficiencies of 12 Bright Galaxies in the Epoch of Reionization