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  1. ABSTRACT

    We present size measurements of 78 high-redshift (z ≥ 5.5) galaxy candidates from the Reionization Lensing Cluster Survey (RELICS). These distant galaxies are well resolved due to the gravitational lensing power of foreground galaxy clusters, imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope and the Spitzer Space Telescope. We compute sizes using the forward-modelling code lenstruction and account for magnification using public lens models. The resulting size–magnitude measurements confirm the existence of many small galaxies with effective radii Reff < 200 pc in the early Universe, in agreement with previous studies. In addition, we highlight compact and highly star-forming sources with star formation rate surface densities $\Sigma _\text{SFR}\gt 10\, \mathrm{M}_\odot \, \text{yr}^{-1}\, \text{kpc}^{-2}$ as possible Lyman continuum leaking candidates that could be major contributors to the process of reionization. Future spectroscopic follow-up of these compact galaxies (e.g. with the James Webb Space Telescope) will further clarify their role in reionization and the physics of early star formation.

     
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  2. ABSTRACT

    We measure the size–luminosity relation of photometrically selected galaxies within the redshift range z ∼ 6–9, using galaxies lensed by six foreground Hubble Frontier Fields (HFF) clusters. The power afforded by strong gravitational lensing allows us to observe fainter and smaller galaxies than in blank fields. We select our sample of galaxies and obtain their properties, e.g. redshift, magnitude, from the photometrically derived ASTRODEEP catalogues. The intrinsic size is measured with the Lenstruction software, and completeness maps are created as a function of size and luminosity via the GLACiAR2 software. We perform a Bayesian analysis to estimate the intrinsic and incompleteness-corrected size–luminosity distribution, with parametrization re ∝ Lβ. We find slopes of $\beta =0.50^{+0.07}_{-0.07}$ at z ∼ 6 − 7 and $\beta =0.67^{+0.14}_{-0.15}$ at z ∼ 8.5, adopting the Bradac lens model. Our inferred slopes are consistent with other independent determinations of the size–luminosity relation from the HFF data set and steeper than that obtained from the bright galaxies in blank fields. We also investigate the systematic uncertainties associated with the choice of lens models, finding that the slopes of size–luminosity relations derived from different models are mutually consistent, i.e. modelling errors are not a significant source of discrepancy between the size–luminosity relation of blank and lensed fields.

     
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  3. null (Ed.)
    ABSTRACT We study the projected spatial offset between the ultraviolet continuum and Ly α emission for 65 lensed and unlensed galaxies in the Epoch of Reionization (5 ≤ z ≤ 7), the first such study at these redshifts, in order to understand the potential for these offsets to confuse estimates of the Ly α properties of galaxies observed in slit spectroscopy. While we find that ∼40 per cent of galaxies in our sample show significant projected spatial offsets ($|\Delta _{\rm {Ly}\alpha -\rm {UV}}|$), we find a relatively modest average projected offset of $|\widetilde{\Delta }_{\rm {Ly}\alpha -\rm {UV}}|$  = 0.61 ± 0.08 proper kpc for the entire sample. A small fraction of our sample, ∼10 per cent, exhibit offsets in excess of 2 proper kpc, with offsets seen up to ∼4 proper kpc, sizes that are considerably larger than the effective radii of typical galaxies at these redshifts. An internal comparison and a comparison to studies at lower redshift yielded no significant evidence of evolution of $|\Delta _{\rm {Ly}\alpha -\rm {UV}}|$ with redshift. In our sample, ultraviolet (UV)-bright galaxies ($\widetilde{L_{\mathrm{ UV}}}/L^{\ast }_{\mathrm{ UV}}=0.67$) showed offsets a factor of three greater than their fainter counterparts ($\widetilde{L_{\mathrm{ UV}}}/L^{\ast }_{\mathrm{ UV}}=0.10$), 0.89 ± 0.18 versus 0.27 ± 0.05 proper kpc, respectively. The presence of companion galaxies and early stage merging activity appeared to be unlikely causes of these offsets. Rather, these offsets appear consistent with a scenario in which internal anisotropic processes resulting from stellar feedback, which is stronger in UV-brighter galaxies, facilitate Ly α fluorescence and/or backscattering from nearby or outflowing gas. The reduction in the Ly α flux due to offsets was quantified. It was found that the differential loss of Ly α photons for galaxies with average offsets is not, if corrected for, a limiting factor for all but the narrowest slit widths (<0.4 arcsec). However, for the largest offsets, if they are mostly perpendicular to the slit major axis, slit losses were found to be extremely severe in cases where slit widths of ≤1 arcsec were employed, such as those planned for James Webb Space Telescope/NIRSpec observations. 
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  6. null (Ed.)
    ABSTRACT We measure the size–mass relation and its evolution between redshifts 1 < z < 3, using galaxies lensed by six foreground Hubble Frontier Fields clusters. The power afforded by strong gravitation lensing allows us to observe galaxies with higher angular resolution beyond current facilities. We select a stellar mass limited sample and divide them into star-forming or quiescent classes based on their rest-frame UVJ colours from the ASTRODEEP catalogues. Source reconstruction is carried out with the recently released lenstruction software, which is built on the multipurpose gravitational lensing software lenstronomy. We derive the empirical relation between size and mass for the late-type galaxies with $M_{*}\gt 3\times 10^{9}\, \mathrm{M}_{\odot }$ at 1 < z < 2.5 and $M_{*}\gt 5\times 10^{9}\, \mathrm{M}_{\odot }$ at 2.5 < z < 3, and at a fixed stellar mass, we find galaxy sizes evolve as $R \rm _{eff} \propto (1+z)^{-1.05\pm 0.37}$. The intrinsic scatter is <0.1 dex at z < 1.5 but increases to ∼0.3 dex at higher redshift. The results are in good agreement with those obtained in blank fields. We evaluate the uncertainties associated with the choice of lens model by comparing size measurements using five different and publicly available models, finding the choice of lens model leads to a 3.7 per cent uncertainty of the median value, and ∼25  per cent scatter for individual galaxies. Our work demonstrates the use of strong lensing magnification to boost resolution does not introduce significant uncertainties in this kind of work, and paves the way for wholesale applications of the sophisticated lens reconstruction technique to higher redshifts and larger samples. 
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  7. Abstract We constrain the distribution of spatially offset Lyman-alpha emission (Ly α) relative to rest-frame ultraviolet emission in ∼300 high redshift (3 < z < 5.5) Lyman-break galaxies (LBGs) exhibiting Ly α emission from VANDELS, a VLT/VIMOS slit-spectroscopic survey of the CANDELS Ultra Deep Survey and Chandra Deep Field South fields (≃0.2 deg2 total). Because slit spectroscopy only provides one spatial dimension, we use Bayesian inference to recover the underlying two-dimensional Ly α spatial offset distribution. We model the distribution using a two-dimensional circular Gaussian, defined by a single parameter σr,Ly α, the standard deviation expressed in polar coordinates. Over the entire redshift range of our sample (3 < z < 5.5), we find $\sigma _{r,\mathrm{Ly}\,\alpha }=1.70^{+0.09}_{-0.08}$ kpc ($68\hbox{ per cent}$ conf.), corresponding to ∼0${^{\prime\prime}_{.}}$25 at 〈z〉 = 4.5. We also find that σr,Ly α decreases significantly with redshift. Because Ly α spatial offsets can cause slit losses, the decrease in σr,Ly α with redshift can partially explain the increase in the fraction of Ly α emitters observed in the literature over this same interval, although uncertainties are still too large to reach a strong conclusion. If σr,Ly α continues to decrease into the reionization epoch, then the decrease in Ly α transmission from galaxies observed during this epoch might require an even higher neutral hydrogen fraction than what is currently inferred. Conversely, if spatial offsets increase with the increasing opacity of the intergalactic medium, slit losses may explain some of the drop in Ly α transmission observed at z > 6. Spatially resolved observations of Ly α and UV continuum at 6 < z < 8 are needed to settle the issue. 
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