Strong Lyman continuum emitting galaxies show intense CIV 1550 emission

TL;DR

This study reveals that low-redshift Lyman continuum emitting galaxies exhibit intense CIV 1550 emission, with potential new criteria for identifying strong LyC leakers based on UV emission line ratios.

Contribution

It introduces a novel UV emission line ratio criterion (CIV 1550 / CIII] 1909 > 0.75) to identify galaxies with high LyC escape fractions, supported by spectroscopic observations.

Findings

CIV 1550 emission detected in 6 of 8 galaxies with high significance.

All strong LyC leakers show HeII 1640 emission with high equivalent widths.

CIV 1550 / CIII] 1909 ratio correlates with LyC escape fraction.

Abstract

Using the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph, we have obtained ultraviolet (UV) spectra from $\sim 1200$ to 2000 \AA\ of known Lyman continuum (LyC) emitting galaxies at low redshift ($z \sim 0.3-0.4$) with varying absolute LyC escape fractions (fesc $\sim 0.01 - 0.72$). Our observations include in particular the galaxy J1243+4646, which has the highest known LyC escape fraction at low redshift. While all galaxies are known Lyman alpha emitters, we consistently detect an inventory of additional emission lines, including CIV 1550, HeII 1640, OIII] 1666, and CIII] 1909, whose origin is presumably essentially nebular. CIV 1550 emission is detected above 4 $\sigma$ in six out of eight galaxies, with equivalent widths of EW(CIV)$=12-15$ Ang for two galaxies, which exceeds the previously reported maximum emission in low-$z$ star-forming galaxies. We detect CIV 1550 emission in all LyC emitters with escape fractions fesc $> 0.1$ and find a tentative increase in the flux ratio CIV 1550/ CIII] 1909 with fesc. Based on the data, we propose a new criterion to select and classify strong leakers (galaxies with fesc $> 0.1$): CIV 1550/ CIII] 1909 $> 0.75$. Finally, we also find HeII 1640 emission in all the strong leakers with equivalent widths from 3 to 8 Ang rest frame. These are among the highest values observed in star-forming galaxies and are primarily due to a high rate of ionizing photon production. The nebular HeII 1640 emission of the strong LyC emitters does not require harder ionizing spectra at $>54$ eV compared to those of typical star-forming galaxies at similarly low metallicity.