JADES: The emergence and evolution of Ly α emission and constraints on the intergalactic medium neutral fraction

Gareth C. Jones; Andrew J. Bunker; Aayush Saxena; Joris Witstok; Daniel P. Stark; Santiago Arribas; William M. Baker; Rachana Bhatawdekar; Rebecca Bowler; Kristan Boyett; Alex J. Cameron; Stefano Carniani; Stephane Charlot; Jacopo Chevallard; Mirko Curti; Emma Curtis-Lake; Daniel J. Eisenstein; Kevin Hainline; Ryan Hausen; Zhiyuan Ji; Benjamin D. Johnson; Nimisha Kumari; Tobias J. Looser; Roberto Maiolino; Michael V. Maseda; Eleonora Parlanti; Hans Walter Rix; Brant E Robertson; Lester Sandles; Jan Scholtz; Renske Smit; Sandro Tacchella; Hannah Übler; Christina C. Williams; Chris Willott

doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202347099

JADES: The emergence and evolution of Ly α emission and constraints on the intergalactic medium neutral fraction

Gareth C. Jones, Andrew J. Bunker, Aayush Saxena, Joris Witstok, Daniel P. Stark, Santiago Arribas, William M. Baker, Rachana Bhatawdekar, Rebecca Bowler, Kristan Boyett, Alex J. Cameron, Stefano Carniani, Stephane Charlot, Jacopo Chevallard, Mirko Curti, Emma Curtis-Lake, Daniel J. Eisenstein, Kevin Hainline, Ryan Hausen, Zhiyuan JiBenjamin D. Johnson, Nimisha Kumari, Tobias J. Looser, Roberto Maiolino, Michael V. Maseda, Eleonora Parlanti, Hans Walter Rix, Brant E Robertson, Lester Sandles, Jan Scholtz, Renske Smit, Sandro Tacchella, Hannah Übler, Christina C. Williams, Chris Willott

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

9 Scopus citations

Abstract

The rest-frame UV recombination emission line Lyα can be powered by ionising photons from young massive stars in star-forming galaxies, but the fact that it can be resonantly scattered by neutral gas complicates its interpretation. For reionisation-era galaxies, a neutral intergalactic medium will scatter Lyα from the line of sight, making Lyα a useful probe of the neutral fraction evolution. Here, we explore Lyα in JWST/NIRSpec spectra from the ongoing JADES programme, which targets hundreds of galaxies in the well-studied GOODS-S and GOODS-N fields. These sources are UV-faint (-20.4 < MUV <-16.4) and thus represent a poorly explored class of galaxy. We fitted the low spectral resolution spectra (R ∼ 100) of a subset of 84 galaxies in GOODS-S with zspec > 5.6 (as derived with optical lines) with line and continuum models to search for significant line emission. Through exploration of the R100 data, we find evidence for Lyα in 17 sources. This sample allowed us to place observational constraints on the fraction of galaxies with Lyα emission in the redshift range 5.6 < z < 7.5, with a decrease from z = 6 to z = 7. We also find a positive correlation between the Lyα equivalent width and MUV, as seen in other samples. We used these results to estimate the neutral gas fraction at z ∼ 7, and our estimates are in agreement with previous results (XHI ∼ 0.5-0.9).

Original language	English (US)
Article number	A238
Journal	Astronomy and astrophysics
Volume	683
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202347099
State	Published - Mar 1 2024

Keywords

Dark ages
First stars
Galaxies: high-redshift
Intergalactic medium
Reionization

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Astronomy and Astrophysics
Space and Planetary Science

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10.1051/0004-6361/202347099

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Jones, G. C., Bunker, A. J., Saxena, A., Witstok, J., Stark, D. P., Arribas, S., Baker, W. M., Bhatawdekar, R., Bowler, R., Boyett, K., Cameron, A. J., Carniani, S., Charlot, S., Chevallard, J., Curti, M., Curtis-Lake, E., Eisenstein, D. J., Hainline, K., Hausen, R., ... Willott, C. (2024). JADES: The emergence and evolution of Ly α emission and constraints on the intergalactic medium neutral fraction. Astronomy and astrophysics, 683, Article A238. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202347099

Jones, GC, Bunker, AJ, Saxena, A, Witstok, J, Stark, DP, Arribas, S, Baker, WM, Bhatawdekar, R, Bowler, R, Boyett, K, Cameron, AJ, Carniani, S, Charlot, S, Chevallard, J, Curti, M, Curtis-Lake, E, Eisenstein, DJ, Hainline, K, Hausen, R, Ji, Z, Johnson, BD, Kumari, N, Looser, TJ, Maiolino, R, Maseda, MV, Parlanti, E, Rix, HW, Robertson, BE, Sandles, L, Scholtz, J, Smit, R, Tacchella, S, Übler, H, Williams, CC & Willott, C 2024, 'JADES: The emergence and evolution of Ly α emission and constraints on the intergalactic medium neutral fraction', Astronomy and astrophysics, vol. 683, A238. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202347099

@article{461ddedcccbb46fba64e90805b00238d,

title = "JADES: The emergence and evolution of Ly α emission and constraints on the intergalactic medium neutral fraction",

abstract = "The rest-frame UV recombination emission line Lyα can be powered by ionising photons from young massive stars in star-forming galaxies, but the fact that it can be resonantly scattered by neutral gas complicates its interpretation. For reionisation-era galaxies, a neutral intergalactic medium will scatter Lyα from the line of sight, making Lyα a useful probe of the neutral fraction evolution. Here, we explore Lyα in JWST/NIRSpec spectra from the ongoing JADES programme, which targets hundreds of galaxies in the well-studied GOODS-S and GOODS-N fields. These sources are UV-faint (-20.4 < MUV <-16.4) and thus represent a poorly explored class of galaxy. We fitted the low spectral resolution spectra (R ∼ 100) of a subset of 84 galaxies in GOODS-S with zspec > 5.6 (as derived with optical lines) with line and continuum models to search for significant line emission. Through exploration of the R100 data, we find evidence for Lyα in 17 sources. This sample allowed us to place observational constraints on the fraction of galaxies with Lyα emission in the redshift range 5.6 < z < 7.5, with a decrease from z = 6 to z = 7. We also find a positive correlation between the Lyα equivalent width and MUV, as seen in other samples. We used these results to estimate the neutral gas fraction at z ∼ 7, and our estimates are in agreement with previous results (XHI ∼ 0.5-0.9).",

keywords = "Dark ages, First stars, Galaxies: high-redshift, Intergalactic medium, Reionization",

author = "Jones, {Gareth C.} and Bunker, {Andrew J.} and Aayush Saxena and Joris Witstok and Stark, {Daniel P.} and Santiago Arribas and Baker, {William M.} and Rachana Bhatawdekar and Rebecca Bowler and Kristan Boyett and Cameron, {Alex J.} and Stefano Carniani and Stephane Charlot and Jacopo Chevallard and Mirko Curti and Emma Curtis-Lake and Eisenstein, {Daniel J.} and Kevin Hainline and Ryan Hausen and Zhiyuan Ji and Johnson, {Benjamin D.} and Nimisha Kumari and Looser, {Tobias J.} and Roberto Maiolino and Maseda, {Michael V.} and Eleonora Parlanti and Rix, {Hans Walter} and Robertson, {Brant E} and Lester Sandles and Jan Scholtz and Renske Smit and Sandro Tacchella and Hannah {\"U}bler and Williams, {Christina C.} and Chris Willott",

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doi = "10.1051/0004-6361/202347099",

language = "English (US)",

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journal = "Astronomy and astrophysics",

issn = "0004-6361",

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T2 - The emergence and evolution of Ly α emission and constraints on the intergalactic medium neutral fraction

AU - Jones, Gareth C.

AU - Bunker, Andrew J.

AU - Saxena, Aayush

AU - Witstok, Joris

AU - Stark, Daniel P.

AU - Arribas, Santiago

AU - Baker, William M.

AU - Bhatawdekar, Rachana

AU - Bowler, Rebecca

AU - Boyett, Kristan

AU - Cameron, Alex J.

AU - Carniani, Stefano

AU - Charlot, Stephane

AU - Chevallard, Jacopo

AU - Curti, Mirko

AU - Curtis-Lake, Emma

AU - Eisenstein, Daniel J.

AU - Hainline, Kevin

AU - Hausen, Ryan

AU - Ji, Zhiyuan

AU - Johnson, Benjamin D.

AU - Kumari, Nimisha

AU - Looser, Tobias J.

AU - Maiolino, Roberto

AU - Maseda, Michael V.

AU - Parlanti, Eleonora

AU - Rix, Hans Walter

AU - Robertson, Brant E

AU - Sandles, Lester

AU - Scholtz, Jan

AU - Smit, Renske

AU - Tacchella, Sandro

AU - Übler, Hannah

AU - Williams, Christina C.

AU - Willott, Chris

PY - 2024/3/1

Y1 - 2024/3/1

N2 - The rest-frame UV recombination emission line Lyα can be powered by ionising photons from young massive stars in star-forming galaxies, but the fact that it can be resonantly scattered by neutral gas complicates its interpretation. For reionisation-era galaxies, a neutral intergalactic medium will scatter Lyα from the line of sight, making Lyα a useful probe of the neutral fraction evolution. Here, we explore Lyα in JWST/NIRSpec spectra from the ongoing JADES programme, which targets hundreds of galaxies in the well-studied GOODS-S and GOODS-N fields. These sources are UV-faint (-20.4 < MUV <-16.4) and thus represent a poorly explored class of galaxy. We fitted the low spectral resolution spectra (R ∼ 100) of a subset of 84 galaxies in GOODS-S with zspec > 5.6 (as derived with optical lines) with line and continuum models to search for significant line emission. Through exploration of the R100 data, we find evidence for Lyα in 17 sources. This sample allowed us to place observational constraints on the fraction of galaxies with Lyα emission in the redshift range 5.6 < z < 7.5, with a decrease from z = 6 to z = 7. We also find a positive correlation between the Lyα equivalent width and MUV, as seen in other samples. We used these results to estimate the neutral gas fraction at z ∼ 7, and our estimates are in agreement with previous results (XHI ∼ 0.5-0.9).

AB - The rest-frame UV recombination emission line Lyα can be powered by ionising photons from young massive stars in star-forming galaxies, but the fact that it can be resonantly scattered by neutral gas complicates its interpretation. For reionisation-era galaxies, a neutral intergalactic medium will scatter Lyα from the line of sight, making Lyα a useful probe of the neutral fraction evolution. Here, we explore Lyα in JWST/NIRSpec spectra from the ongoing JADES programme, which targets hundreds of galaxies in the well-studied GOODS-S and GOODS-N fields. These sources are UV-faint (-20.4 < MUV <-16.4) and thus represent a poorly explored class of galaxy. We fitted the low spectral resolution spectra (R ∼ 100) of a subset of 84 galaxies in GOODS-S with zspec > 5.6 (as derived with optical lines) with line and continuum models to search for significant line emission. Through exploration of the R100 data, we find evidence for Lyα in 17 sources. This sample allowed us to place observational constraints on the fraction of galaxies with Lyα emission in the redshift range 5.6 < z < 7.5, with a decrease from z = 6 to z = 7. We also find a positive correlation between the Lyα equivalent width and MUV, as seen in other samples. We used these results to estimate the neutral gas fraction at z ∼ 7, and our estimates are in agreement with previous results (XHI ∼ 0.5-0.9).

KW - Dark ages

KW - First stars

KW - Galaxies: high-redshift

KW - Intergalactic medium

KW - Reionization

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85184843659&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85184843659&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1051/0004-6361/202347099

DO - 10.1051/0004-6361/202347099

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85184843659

SN - 0004-6361

VL - 683

JO - Astronomy and astrophysics

JF - Astronomy and astrophysics

M1 - A238

ER -

JADES: The emergence and evolution of Ly α emission and constraints on the intergalactic medium neutral fraction

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