An Hα Impression of Lyα Galaxies at z ≃ 6 with Deep JWST/NIRCam Imaging

Abstract

We present a study of seven spectroscopically confirmed (Ly α -emitting) galaxies at redshift z ≃ 6 using the JWST/NIRCam imaging data. These galaxies, with a wide range of Ly α luminosities, were recently observed in a series of NIRCam broad and medium bands. We constrain the rest-frame UV/optical continua and measure the H α line emission of the galaxies using the combination of JWST/NIRCam and archival HST/WFC3 infrared photometry. We further estimate the escape fractions of their Ly α photons ( f esc Ly α ) and the production efficiency of ionizing photons ( ξ ion ). Among the sample, six out of seven galaxies have Ly α escape fractions of ≲10%, which might be the status for most of the star-forming galaxies at z ≃ 6. One UV-faint Ly α galaxy with an extremely blue UV slope has a large value of f esc Ly α reaching ≃50%. These galaxies have a broad range of ξ ion over log 10 ξ ion,0 (Hz erg −1 ) ∼ 25.0–26.5. We find that UV-fainter galaxies with bluer UV-continuum slopes likely have higher escape fractions of Ly α photons. We also find that galaxies with higher Ly α line emission tend to produce ionizing photons more efficiently. The most Ly α -luminous galaxy in the sample has a very high ξ ion,0 of log 10 ξ ion,0  (Hz erg −1 ) > 26. Our results support the scenario that Ly α galaxies may have served as an important contributor to cosmic reionization. Blue and bright Ly α galaxies are excellent targets for JWST follow-up spectroscopic observations.