Related papers: On the geometrical evolution of the ionized gas in…
We constructed diagnostic diagrams using emission line ratios and equivalent widths observed in several samples of HII galaxies. The diagrams are compared to predictions from new photoionization models for evolving starbursts. We find that…
A thorough analysis of well studied giant HII regions on galactic discs for which we know the ionizing stellar population, the gas metallicity and the Wolf-Rayet population, leads to photoionization models which can only match all observed…
We present some results of an on-going project aimed at studying a sample of Galactic HII regions ionized by a single massive star to test the predictions of modern generation stellar atmosphere codes in the H Lyman continuum. The…
We explore the production and escape of ionizing photons in young galaxies by investigating the ultraviolet and optical emission-line properties of models of ionization-bounded and density-bounded HII regions, active-galactic-nucleus (AGN)…
Resolution of nearby giant HII regions into their stellar and nebular constituents provides fundamental insights for interpreting more distant and powerful starburst activity. The following summarizes recent advances in our understanding of…
In the last few years, prominent high-ionization nebular emission lines (i.e., OIII], CIII], CIV, HeII) have been observed in the deep UV spectra of z~5-7 galaxies, indicating that extreme radiation fields characterize reionization-era…
We investigate the change in ionizing photons in galaxies between 0.2<z<0.6 using the F2 field of the SHELS complete galaxy redshift survey. We show, for the first time, that while the [OIII]/Hb and [OIII]/[OII] ratios rise, the…
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 demographics of the production and escape of ionizing photons from UV-faint early galaxies is a key unknown in discovering the primary drivers of reionization. With the advent of JWST it is finally possible to observe the rest-frame…
The hardness of the ionizing continuum from the first sources of UV radiation plays a crucial role in the reionization of the intergalactic medium (IGM). While usual stellar populations have soft spectra, mini-quasars or metal-free stars…
The properties that govern the production and escape of hydrogen ionizing photons (Lyman continuum, LyC; with energies >13.6 eV) in star-forming galaxies are still poorly understood, but they are key to identifying and characterizing the…
The existence of density-bounded HII regions in spiral galaxies is supported by means of a spectral indicator based on the intensity of the [OI]6300A forbidden line. A grid of photoionization models providing spectral information of…
We study the production rate of ionizing photons of a sample of 588 H$\alpha$ emitters (HAEs) and 160 Lyman-$\alpha$ emitters (LAEs) at $z=2.2$ in the COSMOS field in order to assess the implied emissivity from galaxies, based on their UV…
The possibility that star-forming galaxies may leak ionizing photons is at the heart of many present-day studies that investigate the reionization of the Universe. We test this hypothesis on local blue compact dwarf galaxies of very high…
We present numerical models of the nebular emission from H II regions around young stellar populations over a range of compositions and ages. The synthetic stellar pop- ulations include both single stars and interacting binary stars. We…
The processes allowing the escape of ionizing photons from galaxies into the intergalactic medium are poorly known. To understand how Lyman continuum (LyC) photons escape galaxies, we constrain the HI covering fractions and column densities…
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…
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…
Most of the hydrogen in the intergalactic medium (IGM) was rapidly ionized at high-redshifts. While observations have established that reionization occurred, observational constraints on the emissivity of ionizing photons at high-redshift…
Using broadband photometry from the Hubble Space Telescope in combination with Very Large Telescope narrowband Halpha observations of the nearby spiral galaxy NGC 300, we explore a method for estimating the escape fractions of…