X-RAY CONSTRAINTS ON THE Ly{alpha} ESCAPE FRACTION
- Department of Astronomy, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026 (China)
- School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287 (United States)
- George P. and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Texas A and M University, College Station, TX 77843 (United States)
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rutgers University, 136 Frelinghuysen Rd., Piscataway, NJ 08854 (United States)
- Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Penn State University, State College, PA 16802 (United States)
- Department of Astronomy, Oscar Klein Center, Stockholm University, AlbaNova, Stockholm SE-10691 (Sweden)
We have co-added the X-ray flux of all known Ly{alpha} emitters (LAEs) in the 4 Ms Chandra Deep Field South (CDF-S) region, achieving the tightest upper limits yet on the X-ray to Ly{alpha} ratio. We use the X-ray data to place sensitive upper limits on the average unobscured star formation rate (SFR{sub X}) in these galaxies. A very small fraction of Ly{alpha} galaxies in the field are individually detected in the X-rays, implying a low fraction of active galactic nucleus activity. After excluding the few X-ray-detected LAEs, we stack the undetected LAEs located in the 4 Ms CDF-S data and 250 ks Extended CDF-S (ECDF-S) data, and compute a 1{sigma} upper limit on SFR{sub X} < 1.6, 14, 28, 28, 140, 440, 880 M{sub Sun} yr{sup -1} for LAEs located at z {approx} 0.3 and z = 2.1, 3.1, 3.2, 4.5, 5.7, and 6.5, respectively. The upper limit of SFR{sub X} in LAEs can be then compared to SFR{sub Ly{alpha}} derived from Ly{alpha} line and thus can constrain on the Ly{alpha} escape fraction (f{sup Esc}{sub Ly{alpha}}). The f{sup Esc}{sub Ly{alpha}} from X-ray at z {approx} 0.3 is substantially larger than that from UV or H{alpha}. Three X-ray-detected LAE galaxies at z {approx} 0.3 show f{sup Esc}{sub Ly{alpha}} {approx} 3%-22%, and the average Ly{alpha} escape fraction from stacking the X-ray-undetected LAEs show f{sup Esc}{sub Ly{alpha}} > 28% at 3{sigma} significance level at the same redshift. We derive a lower limit on f{sup Esc}{sub Ly{alpha}} > 14% (84% confidence level, 1{sigma} lower limit) for LAEs at redshift z {approx} 2.1 and z {approx} 3.1-3.2. At z > 4, the current LAE samples are not of sufficient size to constrain SFR{sub X} well. By averaging all the LAEs at z > 2, the X-ray non-detection constrains f{sup Esc}{sub Ly{alpha}} > 17% (84% confidence level, 1{sigma} lower limit), and rejects f{sup Esc}{sub Ly{alpha}} < 5.7% at the 99.87% confidence level from 2.1 < z < 6.5.
- OSTI ID:
- 22011821
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 746, Issue 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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