Early Results from GLASS-JWST XXIII: The transmission of Lyman-alpha from UV-faint z ~ 3-6 galaxies

Abstract

Lyman-alpha (Ly$\alpha$) emission from galaxies can be used to trace neutral hydrogen in the epoch of reionization, however, there is a degeneracy between the attenuation of Ly$\alpha$ in the intergalactic medium (IGM) and the line profile emitted from the galaxy. Large shifts of Ly$\alpha$ redward of systemic due to scattering in the interstellar medium can boost Ly$\alpha$ transmission in the IGM during reionization. The relationship between Ly$\alpha$ velocity offset from systemic and other galaxy properties is not well-established at high-redshift or low luminosities, due to the difficulty of observing emission lines which trace systemic redshift. Rest-frame optical spectroscopy with JWST/NIRSpec has opened a new window into understanding of Ly$\alpha$ at z>3. We present a sample of 12 UV-faint galaxies ($-20\lesssim$ MUV $\lesssim -16$) at $3\lesssim z\lesssim 6$, with Ly$\alpha$ velocity offsets, $\Delta v_{\mathrm{Ly}\alpha }$, measured from VLT/MUSE and JWST/NIRSpec from the GLASS-JWST Early Release Program. We find median $\Delta v_{\mathrm{Ly}\alpha }$ of 205 km s${}^{-1}$ and standard deviation 75 km s${}^{-1}$, compared to 320 and 170km s${}^{-1}$ for MUV < -20 galaxies in the literature. Our new sample demonstrates the previously observed trend of decreasing Ly$\alpha$ velocity offset with decreasing UV luminosity and optical line velocity dispersion, extends to MUV $\gtrsim$ -20, consistent with a picture where the Ly$\alpha$ profile is shaped by gas close to the systemic redshift. Our results imply that during reionization Ly$\alpha$ from UV-faint galaxies will be preferentially attenuated, but that detecting Ly$\alpha$ with low $\Delta v_{\mathrm{Ly}\alpha }$ can be an indicator of large ionized bubbles.

13 pages, 4 figures

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