A Spectroscopic Search for Leaking Lyman Continuum at z~0.7
Carrie R. Bridge, Harry I. Teplitz, Brian Siana, Claudia Scarlata, Christopher J. Conselice, Henry C. Ferguson, Thomas M. Brown, Mara Salvato, Gwen C. Rudie, Du… 展开作者
Carrie R. Bridge, Harry I. Teplitz, Brian Siana, Claudia Scarlata, Christopher J. Conselice, Henry C. Ferguson, Thomas M. Brown, Mara Salvato, Gwen C. Rudie, Duilia F. de Mello, James Colbert, Jonathan P. Gardner, Mauro Giavalisco, Lee Armus
We present the results of rest-frame, UV slitless spectroscopic observations of a sample of 32 z~0.7 Lyman break galaxy (LBG) analogs in the COSMOS field. The spectroscopic search was performed with the Solar Blind Channel (SBC) on Hubble Space Telescope. We report the detection of leaking Lyman continuum (LyC) radiation from an AGN-starburst composite. While we find no direct detections of LyC emission in the remainder of our sample, we achieve individual lower limits (3 sigma) of the observed non-ionizing UV to LyC flux density ratios, f_{nu}(1500A)/f_{nu}(830A) of 20 to 204 (median of 73.5) and 378.7 for the stack. Assuming an intrinsic Lyman break of 3.4 and an intergalactic medium (IGM) transmission of LyC photons along the line of sight to the galaxy of 85% we report an upper limit for the relative escape fraction in individual galaxies of 0.02 - 0.19 and a stacked 3 sigma upper limit of 0.01. We find no indication of a relative escape fraction near unity as seen in some LBGs at z~3. Our UV spectra achieve the deepest limits to date at any redshift for the escape fraction in individual sources. The contrast between these z~0.7 low escape fraction LBG analogs with z~3 LBGs suggests that either the processes conducive to high escape fractions are not being selected for in the z<1 samples or the average escape fraction is decreasing from z~3 to z~1. We discuss possible mechanisms which could affect the escape of LyC photons.
Star-forming dwarf galaxies leaking Lyman-continuum (LyC) radiation may have played an important role in the reionization of the Universe. Local galaxies exhibiting LyC leakage could shed light on the escape mechanisms, but so far only two such cases have been identified. Here we want to investigate whether the lack of local LyC emitters can be caused in part by biased selection criteria (e.g. strong H-alpha emission), and we present a novel method of selecting targets with high escape fractions. By applying these criteria, we assemble a sample of observation targets to study their basic prope…
We present NICMOS J110 (rest-frame 1200-2100 A) observations of the three z=5.7 Lyman Alpha emitters discovered in the blind multislit spectroscopic survey by Martin et al. (2008). These images confirm the presence of the two sources which were previously only seen in spectroscopic observations. The third source, which is undetected in our J110 observations has been detected in narrowband imaging of the Cosmic Origins Survey (COSMOS), so our nondetection implies a rest frame equivalent width >146 Angstroms (3 sigma). The two J110-- detected sources have more modest rest frame equivalent widths…
We present deep HST near-IR and Spitzer mid-IR observations of a large sample of spectroscopically-confirmed galaxies at z >= 6. The sample consists of 51 Lyman-alpha emitters (LAEs) at z ~ 5.7, 6.5, and 7.0, and 16 Lyman-break galaxies (LBGs) at 5.9 < z < 6.5. The near-IR images were mostly obtained with WFC3 in the F125W and F160W bands, and the mid-IR images were obtained with IRAC in the 3.6um and 4.5um bands. Our galaxies also have deep optical imaging data from Subaru Suprime-Cam. We utilize the multi-band data and secure redshifts to derive their rest-frame UV properties. These galaxies…
We report the spectroscopic confirmation of two Lyman break galaxies at redshift > 7. The galaxies were observed as part of an ultra-deep spectroscopic campaign with FORS2 at the ESO/VLT for the confirmation of z~7 ``z--band dropout'' candidates selected from our VLT/Hawk-I imaging survey. Both galaxies show a prominent emission line at 9735A and 9858A respectively: the lines have fluxes of ~ 1.6-1.2 x 10^(-17) erg/s/cm2 and exhibit a sharp decline on the blue side and a tail on the red side. The asymmetry is quantitatively comparable to the observed asymmetry in z ~ 6 Ly-alpha lines, where ab…
We present a detailed structural and morphological study of a large sample of spectroscopically-confirmed galaxies at z >= 6, using deep HST near-IR broad-band images and Subaru optical narrow-band images. The galaxy sample consists of 51 Lyman-alpha emitters (LAEs) at z ~ 5.7, 6.5, and 7.0, and 16 Lyman-break galaxies (LBGs) at 5.9 < z < 6.5. These galaxies exhibit a wide range of rest-frame UV continuum morphology in the HST images, from compact features to multiple component systems. The fraction of merging/interacting galaxies reaches 40% ~ 50% at the brightest end of M_1500 <= -20.5 mag. …
We describe mock data-sets generated to simulate the high-redshift quasar sample in Data Release 11 (DR11) of the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS). The mock spectra contain Lyα forest correlations useful for studying the 3D correlation function including Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAO). They also include astrophysical effects such as quasar continuum diversity and high-density absorbers, instrumental effects such as noise and spectral resolution, as well as imperfections introduced by the SDSS pipeline treatment of the raw data. The Lyα forest BAO analysis of the BOSS…
Lya2pcf: an efficient pipeline to estimate two- and three-point correlation functions of the Lyman-$α$ forest
Depto. de Física, Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del IPN（墨西哥国立理工学院高级研究中心物理系）；Secretaría de Ciencia, Humanidades, Tecnología e Innovación（科学、人文、技术与创新秘书处）；Departamento de Física, DCI, Campus León, Universidad de Guanajuato（瓜纳华托大学莱昂校区DCI物理系）
We present the first spectroscopic measurements of the [OIII] 5007 A line in two z ~ 3.1 Lyman-alpha emitting galaxies (LAEs) using the new near-infrared instrument LUCIFER1 on the 8.4m Large Binocular Telescope (LBT). We also describe the optical imaging and spectroscopic observations used to identify these Lya emitting galaxies. Using the [OIII] line we have measured accurate systemic redshifts for these two galaxies, and discovered a velocity offset between the [OIII] and Ly-alpha lines in both, with the Lya line peaking 342 and 125 km/s redward of the systemic velocity. These velocity offs…
We study the impact of relativistic effects in the 3-dimensional cross-correlation between Lyman-$α$ forest and quasars. Apart from the relativistic effects, which are dominated by the Doppler contribution, several systematic effects are also included in our analysis (intervening metals, unidentified high column density systems, transverse proximity effect and effect of the UV fluctuations). We compute the signal-to-noise ratio for the Baryonic Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS), the extended Baryonic Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS) and the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (D…
We investigate the radiative transfer of Lyman alpha photons through simplified anisotropic gas distributions, which represent physically motivated extensions of the popular 'shell-models'. Our study is motivated by the notion that (i) shell models do not always reproduce observed Lyman alpha spectral line profiles, (ii) (typical) shell models do not allow for the escape of ionizing photons, and (iii) the observation & expectation that winds are more complex, anisotropic phenomena. We examine the influence of inclination on the Lyman alpha spectra, relative fluxes and escape fractions. We find…
We present a measurement of baryonic acoustic oscillations (BAO) from Lyman-$α$ (Ly$α$) absorption and quasars at an effective redshift $z=2.33$ using the complete extended Baryonic Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS). The sixteenth and final eBOSS data release (SDSS DR16) contains all data from eBOSS and its predecessor, the Baryonic Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS), providing $210,005$ quasars with $z_{q}>2.10$ that are used to measure Ly$α$ absorption. We measure the BAO scale both in the auto-correlation of Ly$α$ absorption and in its cross correlation with $341,468$ quasars wi…
We present deep spectroscopic observations of a Lyman-alpha emitter (LAE) candidate at z ~ 7.7 using the infrared spectrograph LUCI on the 2 x 8.4m Large Binocular Telescope (LBT). The candidate is the brightest among the four z ~ 7.7 LAE candidates found in a narrow-band imaging survey by Krug et al. 2012. Our spectroscopic data include a total of 7.5 hours of integration with LBT/LUCI and are deep enough to significantly (3.2-4.9 sigma) detect the Lyman-alpha emission line of this candidate, based on its Lyman-alpha flux 1.2 x 10^{-17} erg s^{-1} cm^{-2} estimated from the narrow-band photom…
We present the results of our ultra-deep Keck/DEIMOS spectroscopy of z-dropout galaxies in the SDF and GOODS-N. For 3 out of 11 objects, we detect an emission line at ~ 1um with a signal-to-noise ratio of ~ 10. The lines show asymmetric profiles with high weighted skewness values, consistent with being Lya, yielding redshifts of z=7.213, 6.965, and 6.844. Specifically, we confirm the z=7.213 object in two independent DEIMOS runs with different spectroscopic configurations. The z=6.965 object is a known Lya emitter, IOK-1, for which our improved spectrum at a higher resolution yields a robust s…
Following our previous spectroscopic observations of $z>7$ galaxies with Gemini/GNIRS and VLT/XSHOOTER, which targeted a total of 8 objects, we present here our results from a deeper and larger VLT/FORS2 spectroscopic sample of Wide Field Camera 3 selected $z>7$ candidate galaxies. With our FORS2 setup we cover the 737-1070nm wavelength range, enabling a search for Lyman-$α$ in the redshift range spanning 5.06 - 7.80. We target 22 $z$-band dropouts and find no evidence of Lyman-$α$ emission, with the exception of a tentative detection ($<5σ$, which is our adopted criterion for a secure detecti…
We report on observations of Lyman-break galaxies (LBGs) selected from the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey at mean redshift z~4, 5 and 6, obtained with FORS2 spectrograph at the ESO-VLT.This program has yielded spectroscopic identifications for 114 galaxies of which 51 are at z~4, 31 at z~5, and 32 at z~6. The adopted selection criteria are effective, identifying galaxies at the expected redshift with minimal foreground contamination. Once selection effects are properly accounted for, the rest-frame UV spectra of the higher-redshift LBGs appear to be similar to their counterparts at z~…
We present Keck spectroscopic observations of z>6 Lyman-break galaxy (LBG) candidates in the Subaru Deep Field (SDF). The candidates were selected as i'-dropout objects down to z'=27 AB magnitudes from an ultra-deep SDF z'-band image. With the Keck spectroscopy we identified 19 LBGs with prominent Ly_alpha emission lines at 6< z < 6.4. The median value of the Ly_alpha rest-frame equivalent widths (EWs) is ~50 A, with four EWs >100 A. This well-defined spectroscopic sample spans a UV-continuum luminosity range of -21.8< M_{UV}<-19.5 (0.6~5 L*_{UV}) and a Ly_alpha luminosity range of (0.3~3) x 1…
In this work we expand upon the Tomographic Absorption Reconstruction and Density Inference Scheme (TARDIS) in order to include multiple tracers while reconstructing matter density fields at Cosmic Noon (z ~ 2-3). In particular, we jointly reconstruct the underlying density field from simulated Lyman-Alpha forest observations at $z\sim 2.5$ and an overlapping galaxy survey. We find that these data are synergistic, with the Lyman Alpha forest providing reconstruction of low density regions and galaxy surveys tracing the density peaks. We find a more accurate power spectra reconstruction going t…
We present the characteristics of the Damped Lyman-$α$ (DLA) systems found in the data release DR16 of the extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS) of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). DLAs were identified using the convolutional neural network (CNN) of~\cite{Parks2018}. A total of 117,458 absorber candidates were found with $2 \leq \zdla \leq 5.5$ and $19.7 \leq \lognhi \leq 22$, including 57,136 DLA candidates with $\lognhi \geq 20.3$. Mock quasar spectra were used to estimate DLA detection efficiency and the purity of the resulting catalog. Restricting the quasar sample t…
We examine the effects of magnitude, colour, and Ly-alpha equivalent width (EW) on the spatial distribution of z~3 Lyman break galaxies (LBGs) and report significant differences in their auto-correlation functions (ACFs). The results are obtained using samples of ~10,000-57,000 LBGs from the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey. We find that magnitude has a larger effect on the ACF amplitude on small scales (<~1 Mpc) and that colour is more influential on large scales (>~1 Mpc). We find the most significant differences between ACFs for LBGs with dominant net Ly-alpha EW in absorption (…
One of the outstanding problems of current observational cosmology is to understand the nature of sources that produced the bulk of the ionizing radiation after the Cosmic Dark Age. Direct detection of these reionization sources is practically infeasible at high redshift due to the steep decline of intergalactic medium transmission. However, a number of low-redshift analogs emitting Lyman continuum at~900 Angstrom ~restframe are now detected at $z< 0.4$ and there are detections in the range $ 2.5< z< 3.5$ also. Here, we report the detection of Lyman continuum emission with a high escape fracti…
Using deep Keck spectroscopy of Lyman break galaxies selected from infrared imaging data taken with WFC3/IR onboard the Hubble Space Telescope, we present new evidence for a reversal in the redshift-dependent fraction of star forming galaxies with detectable Lyman alpha emission in the redshift range 6.3 < z < 8.8. Our earlier surveys with the DEIMOS spectrograph demonstrated a significant increase with redshift in the fraction of line emitting galaxies over the interval 4 < z < 6, particularly for intrinsically faint systems which dominate the luminosity density. Using the longer wavelength s…
We present spectroscopic confirmation of ten highly luminous (L >= 2L*) Lyman alpha emitters in the redshift range 6.01<z<6.49 (nine galaxies and one AGN), initially drawn from a sample of fourteen z_phot >= 6 Lyman break galaxies (LBGs) selected from an area of 0.25 square degrees within the UKIDSS Ultra-deep Survey (UDS). Overall, our high rate of spectroscopic confirmation (>= 71%) and low rate of contamination provides a strong vindication of the photometric redshift analysis used to define the original sample. By considering star-formation rate estimates based on the Ly_alpha and UV conti…
We develop an automated technique for detecting damped Lyman-$α$ absorbers (DLAs) along spectroscopic lines of sight to quasi-stellar objects (QSOs or quasars). The detection of DLAs in large-scale spectroscopic surveys such as SDSS-III sheds light on galaxy formation at high redshift, showing the nucleation of galaxies from diffuse gas. We use nearly 50 000 QSO spectra to learn a novel tailored Gaussian process model for quasar emission spectra, which we apply to the DLA detection problem via Bayesian model selection. We propose models for identifying an arbitrary number of DLAs along a given…
The Lyman-alpha (Lya) recombination line is a fundamental tool for galaxy evolution studies and modern observational cosmology. However, subsequent interpretations are still prone to a number of uncertainties. Besides numerical efforts, empirical data are urgently needed for a better understanding of Lya escape process. We empirically estimate the Lyman-alpha escape fraction fesc(Lya) in a statistically significant sample of z ~ 0 - 0.3 galaxies in order to calibrate high-redshift Lyman-alpha observations. An optical spectroscopic follow-up of a sub-sample of 24 Lyman-alpha emitters (LAEs) det…
The escape fraction of hydrogen ionizing photons (f_esc) from galaxies has been suggested to be evolving with time, but the picture is far from clear. While evidence for significant escape fractions has been found at high redshifts in several studies, the picture looks different in the more nearby universe. Here, we apply a new background subtraction routine on archival data from the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE), in order to study local galaxies in search for possible Lyman Continuum (LyC) leakage. In the process, for the first time a stacked spectrum in the LyC is produced fo…
Candidate galaxies at redshifts of $z \sim 10$ are now being found in extremely deep surveys, probing very small areas. As a consequence, candidates are very faint, making spectroscopic confirmation practically impossible. In order to overcome such limitations, we have undertaken the CF-HiZELS survey, which is a large area, medium depth near infrared narrow-band survey targeted at $z=8.8$ Lyman-$α$ (Ly$α$) emitters (LAEs) and covering 10 deg$^2$ in part of the SSA22 field with the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope. We surveyed a comoving volume of $4.7\times 10^6$ Mpc$^3$ to a Ly$α$ luminosity li…
We present results of optical spectroscopic observations of candidates of Lyman Break Galaxies (LBGs) at $z \sim 5$ in the region including the GOODS-N and the J0053+1234 region by using GMOS-N and GMOS-S, respectively. Among 25 candidates, five objects are identified to be at $z \sim 5$ (two of them were already identified by an earlier study) and one object very close to the color-selection window turned out to be a foreground galaxy. With this spectroscopically identified sample and those from previous studies, we derived the lower limits on the number density of bright ($M_{UV}<-22.0$ mag)…
We are undertaking a search for high-redshift low luminosity Lyman Alpha sources in the SHARDS survey. Among the pre-selected Lyman Alpha sources 2 candidates were spotted, located 3.19 arcsec apart, and tentatively at the same redshift. Here we report on the spectroscopic confirmation with GTC of the Lyman Alpha emission from this pair of galaxies at a confirmed spectroscopic redshifts of z=5.07. Furthermore, one of the sources is interacting/merging with another close companion that looks distorted. Based on the analysis of the spectroscopy and additional photometric data, we infer that most…
Convolutional neural network for Lyman break galaxies classification and redshift regression in DESI (Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument)
CEA（法国原子能与替代能源委员会）；ENSTA Bretagne（布列塔尼国立高等先进技术学校）；Institute of Research into the Fundamental Laws of the Universe（宇宙基本规律研究所）；French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission（法国原子能与替代能源委员会）
We report the first X-ray detection of 113 Lyman-alpha emitters at redshift z ~ 4.5. Only one source (J033127.2-274247) is detected in the Extended Chandra Deep Field South (ECDF-S) X-ray data, and has been spectroscopically confirmed as a z = 4.48 quasar with $L_X = 4.2\times 10^{44}$ erg/s. The single detection gives a Lyman-alpha quasar density consistent with the X-ray luminosity function of quasars. The coadded counts of 22 Lyman-alpha emitters (LAEs) in the central Chandra Deep Field South (CDF-S) region yields a S/N=2.4 (p=99.83%) detection at soft band, with an effective exposure time …
We present 36 spectroscopically confirmed intrinsically UV-faint Ly$α$ emitting galaxies from follow-up observations with Keck/DEIMOS of gravitationally lensed high-redshift candidates. Candidates were selected to be between $5\lesssim z \lesssim 7$ from photometric data using \textit{HST} and \textit{Spitzer} imaging surveys. We used photometric redshift information to perform an integrated photometric redshift probability cut $>1\%$ between $5<z<7$ to construct a sample of 198 high-redshift objects. Our high-redshift sample spans intrinsic UV luminosities from a few $L^*$ down to $0.001L^*$.…
We present results of a deep spectroscopic survey designed to quantify the statistics of the escape of ionizing photons from star-forming galaxies at z~3. We measure the ratio of ionizing to non-ionizing UV flux density <f900/f1500>_obs, where f900 is the mean flux density evaluated over the range [880,910] A. We quantify the emergent ratio of ionizing to non-ionizing UV flux density by analyzing high-S/N composite spectra formed from sub-samples with common observed properties and numbers sufficient to reduce the statistical uncertainty in the modeled IGM+CGM correction to obtain precise valu…
Faint Lyman-$α$ (Ly$α$) emitters become increasingly rarer towards the re-ionisation epoch (z~6-7). However, observations from a very large (~5deg$^2$) Ly$α$ survey at z=6.6 (Matthee et al. 2015) show that this is not the case for the most luminous emitters. Here we present follow-up observations of the two most luminous z~6.6 Ly$α$ candidates in the COSMOS field: `MASOSA' and `CR7'. We used X-SHOOTER, SINFONI and FORS2 (VLT), and DEIMOS (Keck), to confirm both candidates beyond any doubt. We find redshifts of z=6.541 and z=6.604 for MASOSA and CR7, respectively. MASOSA has a strong detection …
We report the discovery of Lyman-alpha emission (Ly$α$) in the bright galaxy EGSY-2008532660 (hereafter EGSY8p7) using the MOSFIRE spectrograph at the Keck Observatory. First reported by Roberts-Borsani et al. (2015), it was selected for spectroscopic observations because of its photometric redshift ($z_{phot}=8.57^{+0.22}_{-0.43}$), apparent brightness (H$_{160}=25.26\pm0.09$) and red Spitzer/IRAC [3.6]-[4.5] color indicative of contamination by strong oxygen emission in the [4.5] band. With a total integration of $\sim$4.3 hours, our data reveal an emission line at $\simeq$11776 Å which we a…
We present predictions for the abundance of Ly-$α$ emitters in hierarchical structure formation models. We use the {\tt GALFORM} semi-analytical model to explore the impact on the predicted counts of varying assumptions about the escape fraction of Ly-$α$ photons, the redshift at which the universe reionised and the cosmological density parameter. A model with a fixed escape fraction gives a remarkably good match to the observed counts over a wide redshift interval. We present predictions for the expected counts in a typical observation with the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer instrument pro…
