We have obtained the first complete ultraviolet (UV) spectrum of a strong Lyman continuum(LyC) emitter at low redshift -- the compact, low-metallicity, star-forming galaxy J1154+2443 -- with a Lyman continuum escape fraction of 46% discovered recently. The Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph spectrum shows strong Lya and CIII] 1909 emission, as well as OIII] 1666. Our observations show that strong LyC emitters can have UV emission lines with a high equivalent width (e.g. EW(CIII])=11.7±2.9A˚ rest-frame), although their equivalent widths should be reduced due to the loss of ionizing photons. The intrinsic ionizing photon production efficiency of J1154+2443 is high, log(ξion0)=25.56 erg−1 Hz, comparable to that of other recently discovered z∼0.3−0.4 LyC emitters. Combining our measurements and earlier determinations from the literature, we find a trend of increasing ξion0 with increasing CIII] 1909 equivalent width, which can be understood by a combination of decreasing stellar population age and metallicity. Simple ionization and density-bounded photoionization models can explain the main observational features including the UV spectrum of J1154+2443.
@article{arxiv.1808.03059,
title = {Intense CIII] 1907,1909 emission from a strong Lyman continuum emitting galaxy},
author = {D. Schaerer and Y. Izotov and K. Nakajima and G. Worseck and J. Chisholm and A. Verhamme and T. X. Thuan and S. de Barros},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1808.03059},
year = {2018}
}
Comments
5 pages, 4 figures. Accepted for publication in A&A Letters