CaltechAUTHORS
Published May 10, 2022 | Version Published + Accepted Version
Journal Article Open

The Low-redshift Lyman Continuum Survey. II. New Insights into LyC Diagnostics

Creators

  • 1. ROR icon University of Massachusetts Amherst
  • 2. ROR icon Williams College
  • 3. ROR icon Space Telescope Science Institute
  • 4. ROR icon University of Potsdam
  • 5. ROR icon The University of Texas at Austin
  • 6. ROR icon University of Geneva
  • 7. ROR icon Johns Hopkins University
  • 8. ROR icon University of Michigan–Ann Arbor
  • 9. ROR icon University of La Serena
  • 10. ROR icon Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris
  • 11. ROR icon Sorbonne University
  • 12. ROR icon Centre for Astronomical Reseach of Lyon
  • 13. ROR icon Arizona State University
  • 14. ROR icon University of Minnesota
  • 15. ROR icon Astronomical Observatory of Rome
  • 16. ROR icon NOIRLab
  • 17. ROR icon Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics
  • 18. ROR icon Trieste Astronomical Observatory
  • 19. ROR icon Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova
  • 20. ROR icon Stockholm University
  • 21. ROR icon Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam
  • 22. ROR icon Texas A&M University
  • 23. ROR icon Minnesota State University, Mankato
  • 24. ROR icon Infrared Processing and Analysis Center
  • 25. ROR icon University of Virginia
  • 26. ROR icon University of Groningen

Abstract

The Lyman continuum (LyC) cannot be observed at the epoch of reionization (z ≳ 6) owing to intergalactic H i absorption. To identify LyC emitters (LCEs) and infer the fraction of escaping LyC, astronomers have developed various indirect diagnostics of LyC escape. Using measurements of the LyC from the Low-redshift Lyman Continuum Survey (LzLCS), we present the first statistical test of these diagnostics. While optical depth indicators based on Lyα, such as peak velocity separation and equivalent width, perform well, we also find that other diagnostics, such as the [O iii]/[O ii] flux ratio and star formation rate surface density, predict whether a galaxy is an LCE. The relationship between these galaxy properties and the fraction of escaping LyC flux suggests that LyC escape depends strongly on H i column density, ionization parameter, and stellar feedback. We find that LCEs occupy a range of stellar masses, metallicities, star formation histories, and ionization parameters, which may indicate episodic and/or different physical causes of LyC escape.

Additional Information

© 2022. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society. Original content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI. Received 2021 August 5; revised 2022 March 16; accepted 2022 March 26; published 2022 May 11. Support for this work was provided by NASA through grant No. HST-GO-15626 from the Space Telescope Science Institute. Additional work was based on observations made with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, obtained from the data archive at the Space Telescope Science Institute from HST proposals 13744, 14635, 15341, and 15639. STScI is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc. under NASA contract NAS 5-26555. Funding for the Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV has been provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science, and the Participating Institutions. SDSS-IV acknowledges support and resources from the Center for High Performance Computing at the University of Utah. The SDSS website is www.sdss.org. SDSS-IV is managed by the Astrophysical Research Consortium for the Participating Institutions of the SDSS Collaboration. R.A. acknowledges support from ANID Fondecyt Regular 1202007. Software: astropy (Astropy Collaboration et al. 2013, 2018), matplotlib (Hunter 2007), numpy (van der Walt et al. 2011), scipy (Virtanen et al. 2020).

Attached Files

Published - Flury_2022_ApJ_930_126.pdf

Accepted Version - 2203.15649.pdf

Files

2203.15649.pdf

Files (5.4 MB)

Name Size
md5:8fda9830ae7b9881d5ddbb23b9c38a58
1.9 MB Preview Download
md5:c3703c2efc03c8bb60c7ec422e012497
3.5 MB Preview Download

Additional details

Identifiers

Eprint ID
114707
Resolver ID
CaltechAUTHORS:20220512-561410000

Related works

Describes
https://arxiv.org/abs/2203.15649 (URL)

Funding

NASA
HST-GO-15626
NASA
NAS 5-26555
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
Department of Energy (DOE)
Participating Institutions
Fondo Nacional de Desarrollo Científico y Tecnológico (FONDECYT)
1202007

Dates

Created
2022-05-13
Created from EPrint's datestamp field
Updated
2022-05-13
Created from EPrint's last_modified field

Caltech Custom Metadata

Caltech groups
Infrared Processing and Analysis Center (IPAC)