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1. Near-Field Cosmology with Low-Mass Galaxies: Constraining the Escape of Radiation from the UV-slopes of Local Galaxies

   Venkatesan, Aparna; Rosenberg, Jessica L.; Salzer, John Joseph; Gronke, Max; Cannon, John M.; Miller, Christopher J.; Dijkstra, Mark (June 2018, American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting)

   Low-mass galaxies are thought to play a large role in reionizing the Universe at redshifts, z > 6. However, due to limited UV data on low-mass galaxies, the models used to estimate the escape of radiation are poorly constrained. Using theoretical models of radiation transport in dusty galaxies with clumpy gas media, we translate measurements of the UV slopes of a sample of low-mass low-z KISSR galaxies to their escape fraction values in Ly-alpha radiation, fesc (LyA), and in the Ly-continuum, fesc (LyC). These low-mass starforming systems have potentially steep UV slopes, and could provide a much-needed relation between easily measured spectral properties such as UV slope or LyA line properties, and the escape of LyA/LyC radiation. Such a relation could advance studies of primordial star clusters and the underlying physical conditions characterizing early galaxies, one of the target observation goals of the soon to-be-launched James Webb Space Telescope. This work was supported by the University of San Francisco Faculty Development Fund, and NSF grant AST-1637339. We thank the Aspen Center for Physics, where some of this work was conducted, and which is supported by National Science Foundation grant PHY-1607611. 

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2. Near Field Cosmology: Characterizing the Properties Leading to Radiation Leakage in Local Low- and Intermediate-Mass Galaxies

   Pilon, Andrew; Olivieri Villalvazo, Mario A.; Venkatesan, Aparna; Rosenberg, Jessica; Salzer, John; Gronke, Max; Cannon, John M.; Janowiecki, Steven (January 2019, American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting)

   The escape of radiation from galaxies is a frontier cosmology problem with wide-ranging implications for reionization, galaxy evolution and detection strategies for high-redshift systems. Low- and intermediate-mass galaxies may have played a crucial role in reionization at early times, and by studying their analogues in the local universe, we can test models of radiation escape in galaxies that are more observationally accessible. We present here our cross-sectional analyses of the characteristics of low-redshift galaxies from surveys including KISSR, LARS, and two Green Pea galaxy samples through various computational and visualization techniques. Local systems with measured high (> 0.1) Lyman-alpha escape fractions tend to have high equivalent widths in H-alpha (EWHA) and low Lyman-alpha red-peak velocity. The KISSR systems contain a population, in appearance resembling "purple peas", with potentially steep UV slopes and high EWHA (please see accompanying poster by Olivieri Villalvazo et al. at this meeting). These might represent a population of local starforming galaxies that are more common than, e.g., Green Pea galaxies, that also have potentially high Lyman-alpha, and likely Lyman-continuum, escape. These galaxies could potentially test theoretical models and advance studies of the "first-light" galaxies anticipated from the James Webb Space Telescope through characterizing the underlying physical properties that contribute to radiation leakage. This work was supported by the University of San Francisco (USF) Faculty Development Fund, the USF Student Travel Fund, and by the Undergraduate ALFALFA Team through NSF grant AST-1637339. 

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3. The Escape of Ly-alpha and Ly-continuum Radiation from Low- and Intermediate-Mass Galaxies

   Conneely, F.; Pilon, A.; Venkatesan, A.; Benson, A. (January 2020, American Astronomical Society meeting)

   We present our results on calculations of the escape of Ly-alpha and Ly-continuum radiation from low- and intermediate-mass galaxies. Such systems may have played a crucial role in reionization at early times. We use simple analytic models for the underlying galaxy profiles and compare them with semi-analytic and numerical computations of escaping radiation from such systems. We comment on the possible range of values for the critical spectral index of the source radiation at which H and He ionization start to compete, under a variety of physical conditions. Last, we examine data of low- and intermediate-mass galaxy populations in the local volume, including strong-emission line systems like green pea galaxies and Ly-alpha emitting systems, that closely resemble the earliest halos that hosted the first stars. We share a set of observable galaxy properties that could characterize the "leakers", whose high-redshift counterparts would have had significant escape of Ly-alpha and Ly-continuum radiation. This work was supported by the University of San Francisco (USF) Faculty Development Fund, the USF Student Travel Fund, and by the Undergraduate ALFALFA Team through NSF grant AST-1637339. 

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4. Lyman continuum escape fraction in Ly α emitters at z ≃ 3.1

   https://doi.org/10.1093/mnrasl/slaa007  

   Bian, Fuyan; Fan, Xiaohui (March 2020, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters)

   ABSTRACT We measure the Lyman continuum (LyC) escape fraction in 54 faint Lyman-alpha emitters (LAEs) at $$z$$ ≃ 3.1 in the GOODS-South field. With the average magnitude of R = 26.7 AB (MUV = −18.8 and L ≃ 0.1L*), these galaxies represent a population of compact young dwarf galaxies. Their properties are likely to resemble those in the galaxies responsible for reionizing the Universe at $$z$$ > 6. We do not detect LyC emission in any individual LAEs in the deep HST F336W images, which covers the rest-frame 820 Å. We do not detect the LyC emission of these LAEs in the stacked F336W images either. The 3σ upper limit of LyC escape fractions is $$f_{\rm esc}\lt 14\!-\!32{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$$. However, the high Ly α rest-frame equivalent width (EW), low stellar mass, and UV luminosity of these LAEs suggest that they should have $$f_{\rm esc}\gt 50{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$$. The low LyC escape fraction from this work and other stacking analyses suggests that the LyC-leaking galaxies with $$f_{\rm esc}\gt 50{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$$ at $$z$$ = 2–3 do not follow the relation between fesc and UV luminosity and Ly α EW derived from typical galaxies at similar redshifts. Therefore, the UV luminosity and Ly α EW are not the best indicators for the LyC escape fraction. 

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5. An empirical reionization history model inferred from the low-redshift Lyman continuum survey and the star-forming galaxies at z > 8

   https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stad3483  

   Lin, Yu-Heng; Scarlata, Claudia; Williams, Hayley; Chen, Wenlei; Kelly, Patrick; Langeroodi, Danial; Hjorth, Jens; Chisholm, John; Koekemoer, Anton M.; Zitrin, Adi; et al (November 2023, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society)

   ABSTRACT We present a new analysis of the rest-frame ultraviolet (UV) and optical spectra of a sample of three z > 8 galaxies discovered behind the gravitational lensing cluster RX J2129.4+0009. We combine these observations with z > 7.5 galaxies from the literature, for which similar measurements are available. As already pointed out in other studies, the high [O iii]λ5007/[O ii]λ3727 ratios (O32) and steep UV continuum slopes (β) are consistent with the values observed for low-redshift Lyman continuum emitters, suggesting that such galaxies contribute to the ionizing budget of the intergalactic medium. We construct a logistic regression model to estimate the probability of a galaxy being a Lyman continuum emitter based on the measured MUV, β, and O32. Using this probability and the UV luminosity function, we construct an empirical model that estimates the contribution of high-redshift galaxies to reionization. The preferred scenario in our analysis shows that at z ∼ 8, the average escape fraction of the galaxy population [i.e. including both LyC emitters (LCEs) and non-emitters] varies with MUV, with intermediate UV luminosity (−19 < MUV < −16) galaxies having larger escape fraction. Galaxies with faint UV luminosity (−16 < MUV < −13.5) contribute most of the ionizing photons. The relative contribution of faint versus bright galaxies depends on redshift, with the intermediate UV galaxies becoming more important over time. UV bright galaxies, although more likely to be LCEs at a given log(O32) and β, contribute the least of the total ionizing photon budget. 

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