Related papers: Mission: Impossible (Escape from the Lyman Limit)
We have obtained deep Hubble Space Telescope far-UV images of 15 starburst galaxies at z~1.3 in the GOODS fields to search for escaping Lyman continuum photons. These are the deepest far-UV images m_{AB}=28.7, 3\sigma, 1" diameter) over…
If enough of their Lyman limit continuum escapes, star-forming galaxies could be significant contributors to the cosmic background of ionizing photons. To investigate this possibility, we obtained the first deep imaging in the far…
The fraction of ionizing photons that escape from young star-forming galaxies is one of the largest uncertainties in determining the role of galaxies in cosmic reionization. Yet traditional techniques for measuring this fraction are…
We present an investigation on escape fractions of UV photons from a unique sample of lensed low-mass emission line selected galaxies at z < 3.5 found in the SHARDS Hubble Frontier Fields medium-band survey. We have used this deep imaging…
The fraction of ionizing photons escaping from high-redshift star-forming galaxies remains a key obstacle in evaluating whether galaxies were the primary agents of cosmic reionization. We previously proposed using the covering fraction of…
A population of early star-forming galaxies is the leading candidate for the re-ionization of the universe. It is still unclear what conditions and physical processes would enable a significant fraction of the ionizing photons to escape…
The Lyman continuum (LyC) flux escaping from high-z galaxies into the IGM is a fundamental quantity to understand the physical processes involved in the reionization epoch. We have investigated a sample of star-forming galaxies at z~3.3 in…
The fraction of ionizing photons that escape high-redshift galaxies sensitively determines whether galaxies reionized the early universe. However, this escape fraction cannot be measured from high-redshift galaxies because the opacity of…
The Lyman decrement associated with the cumulative effect of HI in QSO absorption systems along the line of sight provides a distinctive feature for identifying galaxies at z>2.5. The Hubble Deep Field (HDF) observations offer the…
Low-mass galaxies can significantly contribute to reionization due to their potentially high Lyman continuum (LyC) escape fraction and relatively high space density. We present a constraint on the LyC escape fraction from low-mass galaxies…
We apply the Lyman absorption signature to search for galaxies at redshifts z \~ 6 - 17 using optical and infrared images of the Hubble Deep Field. The infrared images are sensitive to a point source 5 sigma detection threshold of…
We present the faintest spectroscopically confirmed sample of redshift four and five Lyman break galaxies to date. The sample is based on slitless grism spectra of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field region from the GRAPES (Grism ACS Program for…
Star forming galaxies have long been considered the dominant sources of the cosmic ultraviolet background radiation at early epochs. However, observing and characterizing the galaxy population with significant ionizing emission has proven…
High redshift star-forming galaxies are likely responsible for the reionization of the Universe, yet direct detection of their escaping ionizing (Lyman continuum) photons has proven to be extremely challenging. In this study, we search for…
We present the results of a systematic search for gravitationally-lensed continuum Lyman break `drop-outs' beyond a redshift 7 conducted via very deep imaging through six foreground clusters undertaken with the Hubble and Spitzer Space…
We present results from the LymAn Continuum Escape Survey (LACES), a Hubble Space Telescope (HST) program designed to characterize the ionizing radiation emerging from a sample of Lyman alpha emitting galaxies at redshift $z\simeq 3.1$. As…
The reionization of the Universe is one of the most important topics of present day astrophysical research. The most plausible candidates for the reionization process are star-forming galaxies, which according to the predictions of the…
We present the results of a search for Lyman-alpha emission galaxies at z~ 5.7 in the FORS Deep Field. The objective of this study is to improve the faint end of the luminosity function of high-redshift Lyman-alpha emitting galaxies and to…
Long exposure, long-slit spectra have been obtained in the UV/optical bands for two galaxies at z=2.96 and z=3.32 to investigate the fraction of ionizing UV photons escaping from high redshifts galaxies. The two targets are among the…
Lyman-alpha (Ly{\alpha}) photons from ionizing sources and cooling radiation undergo a complex resonant scattering process that generates unique spectral signatures in high-redshift galaxies. We present a detailed Ly{\alpha} radiative…