Early Results from GLASS-JWST XXII: Rest frame UV-optical spectral properties of Lyman-alpha emitting galaxies at 3 $<$ z $<$ 6

Abstract

Ly$\alpha$ emission is possibly the best indirect diagnostic of Lyman continuum (LyC) escape since the conditions that favor the escape of Ly$\alpha$ photons are often the same that allows for the escape of LyC photons. In this work, we present the rest UV-optical spectral characteristics of 11 Ly$\alpha$ emitting galaxies at 3 $<$ z $<$ 6 - the optimal redshift range chosen to avoid the extreme IGM attenuation while simultaneously studying galaxies close enough to the epoch of reionization. From a combined analysis of JWST/NIRSpec and MUSE data, we present the Ly$\alpha$ escape fraction and study their correlations with other physical properties of galaxies that might facilitate Ly$\alpha$ escape. We find that our galaxies have low masses (80\% of the sample with $\mathrm{lo}{\mathrm{g}}_{10}{\mathrm{M}}_{\star }<9.5{\mathrm{M}}_{\odot }$), compact sizes (median ${\mathrm{R}}_{\mathrm{e}}\sim 0.7\mathrm{kpc}$), low dust content, moderate [OIII]/[OII] flux ratios (mean $\sim$ 6.8 $\pm$ 1.2), and moderate Ly$\alpha$ escape fraction (mean ${\mathrm{f}}_{\mathrm{esc}}^{\mathrm{Ly}\alpha }\sim$ 0.11). Our sample show characteristics that are broadly consistent with the low redshift galaxies with Ly$\alpha$ emission, which are termed as "analogs" of high redshift population. We predict the Lyman continuum escape fraction in our sample to be low (0.03-0.07), although larger samples in the post-reionization epoch are needed to confirm these trends.

15 pages, 4 figures, 1 table; Submitted to ApJL

References in corpus (43)

• Cosmic Reionization and Early Star-Forming Galaxies: A Joint Analysis of New Constraints from Planck and Hubble Space Telescope
• The MUSE Hubble Ultra Deep Field Survey: I. Survey description, data reduction and source detection
• Conditions for Reionizing the Universe with A Low Galaxy Ionizing Photon Escape Fraction
• Using Lyman-alpha to detect galaxies that leak Lyman continuum
• The chemical enrichment in the early Universe as probed by JWST via direct metallicity measurements at z~8
• The GLASS James Webb Space Telescope Early Release Science Program. I. Survey Design and Release Plans
• Identification and properties of intense star-forming galaxies at redshifts z>10
• New insights into the stellar content and physical conditions of star-forming galaxies at z = 2-3 from spectral modelling
• The MOSDEF Survey: Excitation Properties of $z\sim 2.3$ Star-forming Galaxies
• Galaxy Formation and Reionization: Key Unknowns and Expected Breakthroughs by the James Webb Space Telescope
• Lyman-alpha spectral properties of five newly discovered Lyman continuum emitters
• The Low-Redshift Lyman Continuum Survey I: New, Diverse Local Lyman-Continuum Emitters
• The Ly-alpha Properties of Faint Galaxies at z2-3 with Systemic Redshifts and Velocity Dispersions from Keck-MOSFIRE
• The MUSE Hubble Ultra Deep Field Survey: II. Spectroscopic redshifts and comparisons to color selections of high-redshift galaxies
• CEERS Spectroscopic Confirmation of NIRCam-Selected z > 8 Galaxy Candidates with JWST/NIRSpec: Initial Characterization of their Properties
• The Low-Redshift Lyman Continuum Survey II: New Insights into LyC Diagnostics
• An Atlas of MUSE Observations towards Twelve Massive Lensing Clusters
• JWST NIRCam+NIRSpec: Interstellar medium and stellar populations of young galaxies with rising star formation and evolving gas reservoirs
• The Lyman alpha Reference Sample: Extended Lyman alpha Halos Produced at Low Dust Content
• Blueberry galaxies: the lowest mass young starbursts
• The Physical Conditions of Emission-Line Galaxies at Cosmic Dawn from JWST/NIRSpec Spectroscopy in the SMACS 0723 Early Release Observations
• The Lyman-alpha Reference Sample: I. Survey outline and first results for Markarian 259
• Early results from GLASS-JWST. XIV: A spectroscopically confirmed protocluster 650 million years after the Big Bang
• The MUSE Hubble Ultra Deep Field surveys: Data release II
• The origin of the escape of Lyman alpha and ionizing photons in Lyman Continuum Emitters
• An uncontaminated measurement of the escaping Lyman continuum at $z\sim 3$
• Optically-Thin Spatially-Resolved Mg II Emission Maps the Escape of Ionizing Photons
• Closing in on the sources of cosmic reionization: first results from the GLASS-JWST program
• The Effects of Stellar Population and Gas Covering Fraction on the Emergent Lyman Alpha Emission of High-Redshift Galaxies
• Kinematics and Optical Depth in the Green Peas: Suppressed Superwinds in Candidate LyC Emitters
• Low-redshift compact star-forming galaxies as analogues of high-redshift star-forming galaxies
• The MUSE Hubble Ultra Deep Field Survey: IV. Global properties of C III] emitters
• The Low-redshift Lyman-continuum Survey: [S II]-deficiency and the leakage of ionizing radiation
• New Methods for Identifying Lyman Continuum Leakers and Reionization-Epoch Analogues
• Spectral shapes of the Lyman-alpha emission from galaxies: I. blueshifted emission and intrinsic invariance with redshift
• Equivalent widths of Lyman $\alpha$ emitters in MUSE-Wide and MUSE-Deep
• Tracing Lyman-alpha and Lyman Continuum Escape in Galaxies with Mg II Emission
• Neutral ISM, Lyman-Alpha and Lyman-continuum in the nearby starburst Haro 11
• Evolution of Lyman Alpha Galaxies: Stellar Populations at z ~ 0.3
• Two Modes of LyC Escape From Bursty Star Formation: Implications for [C II] Deficits and the Sources of Reionization
• The Low-Redshift Lyman Continuum Survey: Optically Thin and Thick Mg II Lines as Probes of Lyman Continuum Escape
• Spectral Shapes of the Lya Emission from Galaxies. II. the influence of stellar properties and nebular conditions on the emergent Lya profiles
• Metal-poor dwarf galaxies in the SIGRID galaxy sample. II. The electron temperature-abundance calibration and the parameters that affect it

Cited by in corpus (11)

• Peering into cosmic reionization: the Ly$\alpha$ visibility evolution from galaxies at $z$ = 4.5-8.5 with JWST
• Anatomy of an ionized bubble: NIRCam grism spectroscopy of the $z=6.6$ double-peaked Lyman-$\alpha$ emitter COLA1 and its environment
• Early Results from GLASS-JWST XXIII: The transmission of Lyman-alpha from UV-faint z ~ 3-6 galaxies
• Unveiling Luminous Ly$\alpha$ Emitters at $z\approx 6$ through JWST/NIRCam Imaging in the COSMOS Field
• The GLASS-JWST Early Release Science Program. IV. Data release of 263 spectra from 245 unique sources
• Little impact of mergers and galaxy morphology on the production and escape of ionizing photons in the early Universe
• The JWST Emission Line Survey (JELS): Extending rest-optical narrow-band emission line selection into the Epoch of Reionization
• The Lyman-alpha and Continuum Origins Survey II: the connection between the escape of ionizing radiation and Lyman-alpha halos in star-forming galaxies
• A Lyman continuum analysis for $\sim 100$ galaxies at $z_{\text{spec}}\sim 3$ in the Abell 2744 Cluster Field
• Ciii]$\lambda 1909$ emission as an alternative to Ly$\alpha$ in the reionization era: the dependence of Ciii] and Ly$\alpha$ at $3<z<4$ from the VANDELS survey
• Far-infrared observations of dust in Ly$\alpha$ emitters at z=2-6