Robin E. Mostardi, Alice E. Shapley, Daniel B. Nestor, Charles C. Steidel, Naveen A. Reddy
We present results from a survey for z~2.85 Lyman-Continuum (LyC) emission in the HS1549+1933 field and place constraints on the amount of ionizing radiation escaping from star-forming galaxies. Using a custom narrowband filter (NB3420) tuned to wavelengths just below the Lyman limit at z>=2.82$, we probe the LyC spectral region of 49 Lyman break galaxies (LBGs) and 70 Lya-emitters (LAEs) spectroscopically confirmed at z>=2.82, as well as 58 z~2.85 LAE photometric candidates. Four LBGs and 19 LAEs are detected in NB3420. Using V-band data probing the rest-frame non-ionizing UV, we observe that many NB3420-detected galaxies exhibit spatial offsets between their LyC and non-ionizing UV emission and are characterized by extremely blue NB3420-V colors, corresponding to low ratios of non-ionizing to ionizing radiation (F_UV/F_LyC) that are in tension with current stellar population synthesis models. We measure average values of (F_UV/F_LyC) for our spectroscopically confirmed LBG and LAE samples, correcting for foreground galaxy contamination and HI absorption in the IGM. We find (F_UV/F_LyC)_corr,LBG=82 +/- 45 and (F_UV/F_LyC)_corr,LAE=7.6 +/- 4.1. These flux-density ratios correspond respectively to LyC escape fractions of f_esc,LBG=1-2% and f_esc,LAE=5-14%, and imply a comoving LyC emissivity from star-forming galaxies of 8.7-14.7 x 10^24 ergs/s/Hz/Mpc^3. In order to study the differential properties of galaxies with and without LyC detections, we analyze narrowband Lya imaging and rest-frame near-infrared imaging, finding that while LAEs with LyC detections have lower Lya equivalent widths on average, there is no substantial difference in the rest-frame near-infrared colors of LBGs or LAEs with and without LyC detections. These observations are consistent with an orientation-dependent model where LyC emission escapes through cleared paths in a patchy ISM.
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http://arxiv.org/abs/1306.1535
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