BlastBerries: How Supernovae Affect Lyman Continuum Escape Fractions and Ionizing Photon Production in Local Analogs of High-Redshift Galaxies

TL;DR

This study investigates how supernovae influence the escape of ionizing photons in local galaxy analogs of high-redshift galaxies, providing insights into mechanisms of cosmic reionization.

Contribution

It presents observational evidence linking supernova activity to properties affecting ionizing photon escape in low-redshift galaxy analogs.

Findings

SN-hosting Blueberry galaxies have higher star formation rates.

SN hosts exhibit bluer UV slopes than non-hosts.

SN hosts show lower ionizing photon production efficiency.

Abstract

While compact, star-forming galaxies are believed to play a key role in cosmic reionization, the physical mechanisms enabling the escape of ionizing photons through the galactic interstellar medium remain unclear. Supernova (SN) feedback is one possible mechanism for clearing neutral gas channels to allow the escape of Lyman continuum photons. Here, we use SN discoveries in low-redshift analogs of high-redshift star-forming galaxies -- Green Pea galaxies and their even lower-redshift counterparts, Blueberry (BB) galaxies -- to understand how SNe shape the properties of their host galaxies at high redshifts. We cross-match 1242 BB galaxies with transient discovery reports and identify 11 SNe, ten of which are likely core-collapse SNe, and compare their hosts to the larger BB population. We find that SN-hosting BBs exhibit elevated star formation rates, burstier star formation histories within the last $\sim$50 Myr, and higher stellar masses. We estimate the occurrence rates of SNe in BB galaxies, finding that the SN rate may be slightly suppressed in BBs compared to field galaxies of similar mass, but we are unable to fully control for observational uncertainties. Finally, SN hosts show bluer UV slopes than non-host BB galaxies at 2.1$\sigma$ significance and lower ionizing photon production efficiency at 7.9$\sigma$ significance; the former result offers modest support for the hypothesis that SN-driven feedback plays a role in facilitating the escape of ionizing photons, while the latter may imply that SN-driven quenching decreases the rate of ionizing photon production in compact star-forming galaxies during the epoch of reionization.