2020MNRAS.494.1560M -
Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc., 494, 1560-1578 (2020/May-2)
The role of galaxies and AGN in reionizing the IGM - III. IGM-galaxy cross-correlations at z ∼ 6 from eight quasar fields with DEIMOS and MUSE.
MEYER R.A., KAKIICHI K., BOSMAN S.E.I., ELLIS R.S., LAPORTE N., ROBERTSON B.E., RYAN-WEBER E.V., MAWATARI K. and ZITRIN A.
Abstract (from CDS):
We present improved results of the measurement of the correlation between galaxies and the intergalactic medium transmission at the end of reionization. We have gathered a sample of 13 spectroscopically confirmed Lyman-break galaxies (LBGs) and 21 Lyman-α emitters (LAEs) at angular separations 20 arcsec <= θ <= 10 arcmin (∼0.1-4 pMpc at z ∼ 6) from the sightlines to eight background z >= 6 quasars. We report for the first time the detection of an excess of Lyman-α transmission spikes at ∼10-60 cMpc from LAEs (3.2σ) and LBGs (1.9σ). We interpret the data with an improved model of the galaxy-Lyman-α transmission and two-point cross-correlations, which includes the enhanced photoionization due to clustered faint sources, enhanced gas densities around the central bright objects and spatial variations of the mean free path. The observed LAE(LBG)-Lyman-α transmission spike two-point cross-correlation function (2PCCF) constrains the luminosity-averaged escape fraction of all galaxies contributing to reionization to <fesc >MUV_< -12_ = 0.14–0.05+0.28 (0.23–0.12+0.46). We investigate if the 2PCCF measurement can determine whether bright or faint galaxies are the dominant contributors to reionization. Our results show that a contribution from faint galaxies (MUV > -20 (2σ)) is necessary to reproduce the observed 2PCCF and that reionization might be driven by different sub-populations around LBGs and LAEs at z ∼ 6.
Abstract Copyright:
© 2020 The Author(s) Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society
Journal keyword(s):
galaxies: evolution - galaxies: high-redshift - intergalactic medium - quasars: absorption lines - dark ages, reionization, first stars
Nomenclature:
Table A1: [MKB2020] JDDD.ddddd+DD.ddddd N=9. Table B1: [MKB2020] JHHMM NBNNNNa N=21.
Simbad objects:
39
View the references in ADS