arXiv subjects

Eros Vanzella

Publications and source records attributed to Eros Vanzella.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

arXiv2022

The Low-Redshift Lyman Continuum Survey I: New, Diverse Local Lyman-Continuum Emitters

The origins of Lyman continuum (LyC) photons responsible for the reionization of the universe are as of yet unknown and highly contested. Detecting LyC photons from the epoch of reionization is not possible due to absorption by the intergalactic medium, which has prompted the development of several indirect diagnostics to infer the rate at which galaxies contribute LyC photons to reionize the universe by studying lower-redshift analogs. We present the Low-redshift Lyman Continuum Survey (LzLCS) comprising measurements made with HST/COS for a z=0.2-0.4 sample of 66 galaxies. After careful processing of the FUV spectra, we obtain a total of 35 Lyman continuum emitters (LCEs) detected with 97.725% confidence, nearly tripling the number of known local LCEs. We estimate escape fractions from the detected LyC flux and upper limits on the undetected LyC flux, finding a range of LyC escape fractions up to 50%. Of the 35 LzLCS LCEs, 12 have LyC escape fractions greater than 5%, more than doubling the number of known local LCEs with cosmologically relevant LyC escape.

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arXiv2021

VLT/MUSE observations of SDSS J1029+2623: towards a high-precision strong lensing model

We present a strong lensing analysis of the galaxy cluster SDSS J1029+2623 at $z=0.588$, one of the few currently known lens clusters with multiple images of a background ($z=2.1992$) quasar with a measured time delay. We use archival Hubble Space Telescope multi-band imaging and new Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer follow-up spectroscopy to build an accurate lens mass model, a crucial step towards future cosmological applications. The spectroscopic data enable the secure identification of 57 cluster members and of two nearby perturbers along the line-of-sight. We estimate the inner kinematics of a sub-set of 20 cluster galaxies to calibrate the scaling relations parametrizing the sub-halo mass component. We also reliably determine the redshift of 4 multiply imaged sources, provide a tentative measurement for one system, and report the discovery of a new four-image system. The final catalog comprises 26 multiple images from 7 background sources, spanning a wide redshift range, from 1.02 to 5.06. We present two parametric lens models, with slightly different cluster mass parametrizations. The observed positions of the multiple images are accurately reproduced within approximately $0''.2$, the three image positions of the quasar within only $\sim0''.1$. We estimate a cluster projected total mass of $M(<300~ {\rm kpc}) \sim 2.1 \times 10^{14}~ M_{\odot}$, with a statistical uncertainty of a few percent. Both models, that include a small galaxy close to one of the quasar images, predict magnitude differences and time delays between the quasar images that are consistent with the observations.

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arXiv2021

MAORY: A Multi-conjugate Adaptive Optics RelaY for ELT

MAORY is the adaptive optics module for ELT providing two gravity invariant ports with the same optical quality for two different client instruments. It enable high angular resolution observations in the near infrared over a large field of view (~1 arcmin2 ) by real time compensation of the wavefront distortions due to atmospheric turbulence. Wavefront sensing is performed by laser and natural guide stars while the wavefront sensor compensation is performed by an adaptive deformable mirror in MAORY which works together with the telescope's adaptive and tip tilt mirrors M4 and M5 respectively.

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arXiv2021

Systematic search for lensed X-ray sources in the CLASH fields

We search for unresolved X-ray emission from lensed sources in the FOV of 11 CLASH clusters with Chandra data. We consider the solid angle in the lens plane corresponding to a magnification $μ>1.5$, that amounts to a total of ~100 arcmin$^2$. Our main goal is to assess the efficiency of massive clusters as cosmic telescopes to explore the faint end of X-ray extragalactic source population. We search for X-ray emission from strongly lensed sources identified in the optical, and perform an untargeted detection of lensed X-ray sources. We detect X-ray emission only in 9 out of 849 lensed/background optical sources. The stacked emission of the sources without detection does not reveal any signal in any band. Based on the untargeted detection, we find 66 additional X-ray sources that are consistent with being lensed sources. After accounting for completeness and sky coverage, we measure for the first time the soft- and hard-band number counts of lensed X-ray sources. The results are consistent with current modelization of the AGN population distribution. The distribution of de-lensed fluxes of the sources identified in moderately deep CLASH fields reaches a flux limit of ~$10^{-16}$ and ~$10^{-15}$ erg/s/cm$^{2}$ in the soft and hard bands, respectively. We conclude that, in order to match the depth of the CDFS exploiting massive clusters as cosmic telescopes, the required number of cluster fields is about two orders of magnitude larger than that offered by the 20 years Chandra archive. A significant step forward will be made when future X-ray facilities, with ~1' angular resolution and large effective area, will allow the serendipitous discovery of rare, strongly lensed high-$z$ X-ray sources, enabling the study of faint AGN activity in early Universe and the measurement of gravitational time delays in the X-ray variability of multiply imaged AGN.

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arXiv2020

A new high-precision strong lensing model of the galaxy cluster MACS J0416.1-2403

We present a new high-precision parametric strong lensing model of the galaxy cluster MACS J0416.1-2403, at z=0.396, which takes advantage of the MUSE Deep Lensed Field (MDLF), with 17.1h integration in the northeast region of the cluster, and Hubble Frontier Fields data. We spectroscopically identify 182 multiple images from 48 background sources at 0.9<z<6.2, and 171 cluster member galaxies. Several multiple images are associated to individual clumps in multiply lensed resolved sources. By defining a new metric, which is sensitive to the gradients of the deflection field, we show that we can accurately reproduce the positions of these star-forming knots despite their vicinity to the model critical lines. The high signal-to-noise ratio of the MDLF spectra enables the measurement of the internal velocity dispersion of 64 cluster galaxies, down to m(F160W)=22. This allowed us to independently estimate the contribution of the subhalo mass component of the lens model from the measured Faber-Jackson scaling relation. Our best reference model, which represents a significant step forward compared to our previous analyses, was selected from a comparative study of different mass parametrizations. The root-mean-square displacement between the observed and model-predicted image positions is only 0.40", which is 33% smaller than in all previous models. The mass model appears to be particularly well constrained in the MDLF region. We characterize the robustness of the magnification map at varying distances from the model critical lines and the total projected mass profile of the cluster.

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arXiv2020

Phase A Science Case for MAVIS -- The Multi-conjugate Adaptive-optics Visible Imager-Spectrograph for the VLT Adaptive Optics Facility

We present the Phase A Science Case for the Multi-conjugate Adaptive-optics Visible Imager-Spectrograph (MAVIS), planned for the Adaptive Optics Facility (AOF) of the Very Large Telescope (VLT). MAVIS is a general-purpose instrument for exploiting the highest possible angular resolution of any single optical telescope available in the next decade, either on Earth or in space, and with sensitivity comparable to (or better than) larger aperture facilities. MAVIS uses two deformable mirrors in addition to the deformable secondary mirror of the AOF, providing a mean V-band Strehl ratio of >10% (goal >15%) across a relatively large (30 arc second) science field. This equates to a resolution of <20mas at 550nm - comparable to the K-band diffraction limit of the next generation of extremely large telescopes, making MAVIS a genuine optical counterpart to future IR-optimised facilities like JWST and the ELT. Moreover, MAVIS will have unprecedented sky coverage for a high-order AO system, accessing at least 50% of the sky at the Galactic Pole, making MAVIS a truly general purpose facility instrument. As such, MAVIS will have both a Nyquist-sampled imager (30x30 arcsec field), and a powerful integral field spectrograph with multiple spatial and spectral modes spanning 370-1000nm. This science case presents a distilled set of thematically linked science cases drawn from the MAVIS White Papers (www.mavis-ao.org/whitepapers), selected to illustrate the driving requirements of the instrument resulting from the recent MAVIS Phase A study.

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arXiv2020

An excess of small-scale gravitational lenses observed in galaxy clusters

Cold dark matter (CDM) constitutes most of the matter in the Universe. The interplay between dark and luminous matter in dense cosmic environments like galaxy clusters is studied theoretically using cosmological simulations. Observed gravitational lensing is used to test and characterize the properties of substructures - the small-scale distribution of dark matter - in clusters. An apt metric, the probability of strong lensing events produced by dark matter substructure, is devised and computed for 11 galaxy clusters. We report that observed cluster substructures are more efficient lenses than predicted by CDM simulations, by more than an order of magnitude. We suggest that hitherto undiagnosed systematic issues with simulations or incorrect assumptions about the properties of dark matter could explain our results.

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arXiv2020

The web of the Giant: spectroscopic confirmation of a Large Scale Structure around the z=6.31 quasar SDSS J1030+0524

We report on the spectroscopic confirmation of a large scale structure around the luminous, z=6.31 QSO SDSS~J1030+0524, that is powered by a billion solar mass black hole. The structure is populated by at least six members, four Lyman Break Galaxies (LBGs) and two Lyman Alpha Emitters (LAEs). The four LBGs have been identified among a sample of 21 i-band dropouts with z{AB}<25.5 selected up to projected separations of 5 physical Mpc (15 arcmin) from the QSO. Their redshifts have been determined through up to 8hr-long multi-object spectroscopic observations at 8-10m class telescopes. The two LAEs have been identified in a 6hr VLT/MUSE observation centered on the QSO. The redshifts of the six galaxies cover the range 6.129-6.355. Assuming that peculiar velocities are negligible, this range corresponds to radial separations of +/-5 physical Mpc from the QSO, that is comparable to the projected scale of the observed LBG distribution on the sky. We conservatively estimate that this structure is significant at >3.5 sigma level, and that the level of the galaxy overdensity is at least 1.5-2 within the large volume sampled (~780 physical Mpc^3). The spectral properties of the six member galaxies (Lyalpha strength and UV luminosity) are similar to those of field galaxies at similar redshifts. This is the first spectroscopic identification of a galaxy overdensity around a super-massive black hole in the first billion years of the Universe. Our finding lends support to the idea that the most distant and massive black holes form and grow within massive (>10^{12} Msun) dark matter halos in large scale structures, and that the absence of earlier detections of such systems was likely due to observational limitations.

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arXiv2020

Faint LAEs near z>4.7 CIV absorbers revealed by MUSE

We present the results from the search for Lyman Alpha emitters (LAEs) in the proximity of 11 CIV absorption systems at $z > 4.7$ in the spectrum of the QSO J1030+0524, using data from MUSE. We have found multiple LAE candidates close to four CIV systems at $z_{CIV} = 4.94$-5.74 with log$_{10}$(N CIV[cm$^{-2}$])$ > 13.5.$ At z = 5-6, CIV systems with W0(CIV) $> 0.2$ Å seem more likely to have galaxies with Ly$α$ emission within $ρ< 200$ proper kpc (4/5 cases), than the CIV systems with W0(CIV)$ < 0.2$ Å (0/6 cases). The impact parameter of LAE-CIV systems with equivalent widths W0(CIV)$ > 0.5 $ Å is in the range 11 $ < ρ<$ 200 proper kpc (pkpc). Furthermore, all candidates are in the luminosity range 0.18-1.15 L*$(Ly{ α}, z = 5.7)$ indicating that the environment of CIV systems within 200 pkpc is populated by the faint end of the Ly$α$ luminosity function. We report a 0.28 L*$(Lyα)$ galaxy at a separation of $ρ= 10$ pkpc from a strong CIV absorption (log10(NCIV[cm$^{-2}$]) = 14.52) at $z_{CIV} = 5.72419$. The prevalence of sub-L*(Ly$α$) galaxies in the proximity of z $> 4.9$ CIV systems suggest that the absorbing material is rather young, likely ejected in the recent past of the galaxies at these redshifts. The connection between faint LAEs and high-ionization absorption systems reported in this work, is potentially a consequence of the role of low mass galaxies in the early evolution of the circum-galactic and intergalactic media.

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arXiv2019

HST Imaging of the Ionizing Radiation from a Star-forming Galaxy at z = 3.794

We report on the HST detection of the Lyman-continuum (LyC) radiation emitted by a galaxy at redshift z=3.794, dubbed Ion1 (Vanzella et al. 2012). The LyC from Ion1 is detected at rest-frame wavelength 820$\sim$890 Åwith HST WFC3/UVIS in the F410M band ($m_{410}=27.60\pm0.36$ magnitude (AB), peak SNR = 4.17 in a circular aperture with radius r = 0.12'') and at 700$\sim$830 Åwith the VLT/VIMOS in the U-band ($m_U = 27.84\pm0.19$ magnitude (AB), peak SNR = 6.7 with a r = 0.6'' aperture). A 20-hr VLT/VIMOS spectrum shows low- and high-ionization interstellar metal absorption lines, the P-Cygni profile of CIV and Ly$α$ in absorption. The latter spectral feature differs from what observed in known LyC emitters, which show strong Ly$α$ emission. An HST far-UV color map reveals that the LyC emission escapes from a region of the galaxy that is bluer than the rest, presumably because of lower dust obscuration. The F410M image shows that the centroid of the LyC emission is offset from the centroid of the non-ionizing UV emission by 0.12''$\pm$0.03'', corresponding to 0.85$\pm$0.21 kpc (physical), and that its morphology is likely moderately resolved. These morphological characteristics favor a scenario where the LyC photons produced by massive stars escape from low HI column-density "cavities" in the ISM, possibly carved by stellar winds and/or supernova. We also collect the VIMOS U-band images of a sample of 107 Lyman-break galaxies with spectroscopic redshifts at $3.40<z<3.95$, i.e. sampling the LyC, and stack them with inverse-variance weights. No LyC emission is detected in the stacked image, resulting in a 32.5 magnitude (AB) flux limit (1$σ$) and an upper limit of absolute LyC escape fraction $f_{esc}^{abs} < 0.63\%$. LyC emitters like Ion1 are very likely at the bright-end of the LyC luminosity function.

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arXiv2019

Testing the paradigm: First spectroscopic evidence of a quasar-galaxy Mpc-scale association at cosmic dawn

State-of-the-art models of massive black hole formation postulate that quasars at $z>6$ reside in extreme peaks of the cosmic density structure in the early universe. Even so, direct observational evidence of these overdensities is elusive, especially on large scales ($\gg$1 Mpc) as the spectroscopic follow-up of $z>6$ galaxies is observationally expensive. Here we present Keck / DEIMOS optical and IRAM / NOEMA millimeter spectroscopy of a $z\sim6$ Lyman-break galaxy candidate originally discovered via broadband selection, at a projected separation of 4.65 physical Mpc (13.94 arcmin) from the luminous $z$=6.308 quasar J1030+0524. This well-studied field presents the strongest indication to date of a large-scale overdensity around a $z>6$ quasar. The Keck observations suggest a $z\sim6.3$ dropout identification of the galaxy. The NOEMA 1.2mm spectrum shows a 3.5$σ$ line that, if interpreted as [CII], would place the galaxy at $z$=6.318 (i.e., at a line-of-sight separation of 3.9 comoving Mpc assuming that relative proper motion is negligible). The measured [CII] luminosity is $3\times10^8$ L$_\odot$, in line with expectations for a galaxy with a star formation rate $\sim15$ M$_\odot$ yr$^{-1}$, as inferred from the rest-frame UV photometry. Our combined observations place the galaxy at the same redshift as the quasar, thus strengthening the overdensity scenario for this $z>6$ quasar. This pilot experiment demonstrates the power of millimeter-wavelength observations in the characterization of the environment of early quasars.

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arXiv2019

Lyman continuum observations across cosmic time: recent developments, future requirements

Quantifying the physical conditions that allow radiation emitted shortward of the hydrogen ionization edge at 911.7 Å to escape the first collapsed objects and ultimately reionize the universe is a compelling problem for astrophysics. The escape of LyC emission from star-forming galaxies and AGN is intimately tied to the emergence and sustenance of the metagalactic ionizing background that pervades the universe to the present day and in turn is tied to the emergence of structure at all epochs. JWST was built in part to search for the source(s) responsible for reionization, but it cannot observe LyC escape directly, because of the progressive increase in the mean transmission of the intergalactic medium towards the epoch of reionization. Remarkable progress has been made to date in directly detecting LyC leaking from star-forming galaxies using space-based and the ground-based observatories, but there remain significant gaps in our redshift coverage of the phenomenon. Ongoing projects to measure LyC escape at low- and intermediate-z will provide guidance to JWST investigations by analyzing the robustness of a set of proposed LyC escape proxies, and also provide a closeup examination of the physical conditions that favor LyC escape. However, currently available facilities are inadequate for deeply probing LyC escape at the faint end of the galaxy luminosity function. Doing so will require facilities that can detect LyC emission in the restframe to limiting magnitudes approaching 28 $< m^*_{(1+z)900} <$ 32 for $M^*_{(1+z)1500}$ galaxies. The goal of acquiring statistically robust samples for determining LyC luminosity functions across cosmic time will require multi-object spectroscopy from spacebased flagship class and groundbased ELT class telescopes along with ancillary panchromatic imaging and spectroscopy spanning the far-UV to the mid-IR.

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arXiv2019

Inferences on the Timeline of Reionization at z~8 From the KMOS Lens-Amplified Spectroscopic Survey

Detections and non-detections of Lyman alpha (Ly$α$) emission from $z>6$ galaxies ($<1$ Gyr after the Big Bang) can be used to measure the timeline of cosmic reionization. Of key interest to measuring reionization's mid-stages, but also increasing observational challenge, are observations at z > 7, where Ly$α$ redshifts to near infra-red wavelengths. Here we present a search for z > 7.2 Ly$α$ emission in 53 intrinsically faint Lyman Break Galaxy candidates, gravitationally lensed by massive galaxy clusters, in the KMOS Lens-Amplified Spectroscopic Survey (KLASS). With integration times of ~7-10 hours, we detect no Ly$α$ emission with S/N>5 in our sample. We determine our observations to be 80% complete for 5$σ$ spatially and spectrally unresolved emission lines with integrated line flux $>5.7\times10^{-18}$ erg s$^{-1}$ cm$^{-2}$. We define a photometrically selected sub-sample of 29 targets at $z=7.9\pm0.6$, with a median 5$σ$ Ly$α$ EW limit of 58A. We perform a Bayesian inference of the average intergalactic medium (IGM) neutral hydrogen fraction using their spectra. Our inference accounts for the wavelength sensitivity and incomplete redshift coverage of our observations, and the photometric redshift probability distribution of each target. These observations, combined with samples from the literature, enable us to place a lower limit on the average IGM neutral hydrogen fraction of $> 0.76 \; (68\%), \; > 0.46 \; (95\%)$ at z ~ 8, providing further evidence of rapid reionization at z~6-8. We show that this is consistent with reionization history models extending the galaxy luminosity function to $M_\textrm{UV} \lesssim -12$, with low ionizing photon escape fractions, $f_\textrm{esc} \lesssim 15\%$.

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arXiv2018

Data Analysis for Precision Spectroscopy: the ESPRESSO Case

ESPRESSO is an extremely stable high-resolution spectrograph which is currently being developed for the ESO VLT. With its groundbreaking characteristics it is aimed to be a "science machine", i.e. a fully-integrated instrument to directly extract science information from the observations. In particular, ESPRESSO will be the first ESO instrument to be equipped with a dedicated tool for the analysis of data, the Data Analysis Software (DAS), consisting in a number of recipes to analyze both stellar and quasar spectra. Through the new ESO Reflex GUI, the DAS (which will implement new algorithms to analyze quasar spectra) is aimed to get over the shortcomings of the existing software providing multiple iteration modes and full interactivity with the data.

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arXiv2018

Beacons into the Cosmic Dark Ages: Boosted transmission of Ly$α$ from UV bright galaxies at $z \gtrsim 7$

Recent detections of Lyman alpha (Ly$α$) emission from $z>7.5$ galaxies were somewhat unexpected given a dearth of previous non-detections in this era when the intergalactic medium (IGM) is still highly neutral. But these detections were from UV bright galaxies, which preferentially live in overdensities which reionize early, and have significantly Doppler-shifted Ly$α$ line profiles emerging from their interstellar media (ISM), making them less affected by the global IGM state. Using a combination of reionization simulations and empirical ISM models we show, as a result of these two effects, UV bright galaxies in overdensities have $>2\times$ higher transmission through the $z\sim7$ IGM than typical field galaxies, and this boosted transmission is enhanced as the neutral fraction increases. The boosted transmission is not sufficient to explain the observed high Ly$α$ fraction of $M_\mathrm{UV} \lesssim -22$ galaxies (Stark et al. 2017), suggesting Ly$α$ emitted by these galaxies must be stronger than expected due to enhanced production and/or selection effects. Despite the bias of UV bright galaxies to reside in overdensities we show Ly$α$ observations of such galaxies can accurately measure the global neutral hydrogen fraction, particularly when Ly$α$ from UV faint galaxies is extinguished, making them ideal candidates for spectroscopic follow-up into the cosmic Dark Ages.

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arXiv2018

The Universe is Reionizing at z~7: Bayesian Inference of the IGM Neutral Fraction Using Ly$α$ Emission from Galaxies

We present a new flexible Bayesian framework for directly inferring the fraction of neutral hydrogen in the intergalactic medium (IGM) during the Epoch of Reionization (EoR, z~6-10) from detections and non-detections of Lyman Alpha (Ly$α$) emission from Lyman break galaxies (LBGs). Our framework combines sophisticated reionization simulations with empirical models of the interstellar medium (ISM) radiative transfer effects on Ly$α$. We assert that the Ly$α$ line profile emerging from the ISM has an important impact on the resulting transmission of photons through the IGM, and that these line profiles depend on galaxy properties. We model this effect by considering the peak velocity offset of Ly$α$ lines from host galaxies' systemic redshifts, which are empirically correlated with UV luminosity and redshift (or halo mass at fixed redshift). We use our framework on the sample of LBGs presented in Pentericci et al. (2014) and infer a global neutral fraction at z~7 of $\overline{x}_\mathrm{HI} = 0.59_{-0.15}^{+0.11}$, consistent with other robust probes of the EoR and confirming reionization is on-going ~700 Myr after the Big Bang. We show that using the full distribution of Ly$α$ equivalent width detections and upper limits from LBGs places tighter constraints on the evolving IGM than the standard Ly$α$ emitter fraction, and that larger samples are within reach of deep spectroscopic surveys of gravitationally lensed fields and JWST NIRSpec.

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arXiv2017

Morphology Dependence Of Stellar Age in Quenched Galaxies at Redshift ~ 1.2: Massive Compact Galaxies Are Older Than More Extended Ones

We report the detection of morphology dependent stellar age in massive quenched galaxies (QGs) at z~1.2. The sense of the dependence is that compact QGs are 0.5-2 Gyr older than normal-sized ones. The evidence comes from three different age indicators, Dn4000, Hdelta and fits to spectral synthesis models, applied to their stacked optical spectra. All age indicators consistently show that the stellar populations of compact QGs are older than their normally-sized counterparts. We detect weak [OII] emission in a fraction of QGs, and the strength of the line, when present, is similar between the two samples; however, compact galaxies exhibit significantly lower frequency of [OII] emission than normal ones. A fraction of both samples are individually detected in 7 Ms Chandra X-ray images (luminosities$\sim10^{40}$-$10^{41}$ erg/sec). 7 Ms stacks of non-detected galaxies show similarly low luminosities in the soft band only, consistent with a hot gas origin for the X-ray emission. While both [OII] emitters and non-emitters are also X-ray sources among normal galaxies, no compact galaxy with [OII] emission is an X-ray source, arguing against an AGN powering the line in compact galaxies. We interpret the [OII] properties as further evidence that compact galaxies are older and further along into the process of quenching star-formation and suppressing gas accretion. Finally, we argue that the older age of compact QGs is evidence of progenitor bias: compact QGs simply reflect the smaller sizes of galaxies at their earlier quenching epoch, with stellar density most likely having nothing directly to do with cessation of star-formation.

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arXiv2016

The Spectral Slope and Escape Fraction of Bright Quasars at $z \sim 3.8$: the Contribution to the Cosmic UV Background

We use a sample of 1669 QSOs ($r<20.15$, $3.6<z<4.0$) from the BOSS survey to study the intrinsic shape of their continuum and the Lyman continuum photon escape fraction (f$_{esc}$), estimated as the ratio between the observed flux and the expected intrinsic flux (corrected for the intergalactic medium absorption) in the wavelength range 865-885 Å rest-frame. Modelling the intrinsic QSO continuum shape with a power-law, $F_λ\proptoλ^{-γ}$, we find a median $γ=1.30$ (with a dispersion of $0.38$, no dependence on the redshift and a mild intrinsic luminosity dependence) and a mean f$_{esc}=0.75$ (independent of the QSO luminosity and/or redshift). The f$_{esc}$ distribution shows a peak around zero and a long tail of higher values, with a resulting dispersion of $0.7$. If we assume for the QSO continuum a double power-law shape (also compatible with the data) with a break located at $λ_{\rm br}=1000$ Å and a softening $Δγ=0.72 $ at wavelengths shorter than $λ_{\rm br}$, the mean f$_{esc}$ rises to $=0.82$. Combining our $γ$ and f$_{esc}$ estimates with the observed evolution of the AGN luminosity function (LF) we compute the AGN contribution to the UV ionizing background (UVB) as a function of redshift. AGN brighter than one tenth of the characteristic luminosity of the LF are able to produce most of it up $z\sim 3$, if the present sample is representative of their properties. At higher redshifts a contribution of the galaxy population is required. Assuming an escape fraction of Lyman continuum photons from galaxies between $5.5$ and $7.6\%$, independent of the galaxy luminosity and/or redshift, a remarkably good fit to the observational UVB data up to $z\sim 6$ is obtained. At lower redshift the extrapolation of our empirical estimate agrees well with recent UVB observations, dispelling the so-called Photon Underproduction Crisis.

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