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Peer-reviewedCC BY 4.0The Astrophysical Journal

Diversity in Lyman Continuum Escape at z ∼ 0.3 Revealed by WISE Infrared Observations

  • Fang-Ting Yuan1
  • Zhen-Ya Zheng1
  • Chunyan Jiang1
  • Shuairu Zhu1,2
  1. 1Chinese Academy of Sciences
  2. 2University of Chinese Academy of Sciences
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Abstract

The escape of Lyman continuum (LyC) radiation from star-forming galaxies plays a key role in cosmic reionization. While strong LyC leakers are commonly identified through ultraviolet (UV) and optical diagnostics, their infrared (IR) emission remains poorly explored. We use data from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) to investigate a sample of local star-forming galaxies, which contains 20 strong LyC leakers (S/N LyC > 3 and f esc > 5%) and 69 nonleakers. Among the strong leakers, 8 are classified with mid-IR detections. Comparing the IR-detected and IR-undetected subsamples, we find that the IR-undetected strong leakers exhibit higher [O iii ]5007/[O ii ]3726,3729 (O32) ratios, bluer UV slopes, and lower metallicities than the other subsamples. In contrast, the IR-detected strong leakers show O32 ratios, UV slopes, and metallicities comparable to those of nonleakers, while maintaining a median escape fraction of f esc ∼ 12%. These results indicate that significant LyC escape is not limited to galaxies with the most extreme UV and optical properties and can coexist with substantial IR emission. The Ly α profiles and the morphology of the IR-detected and IR-undetected strong leakers imply that LyC photon escape in these two classes may be driven by different mechanisms. Our results highlight the diversity of LyC leakers and suggest that dusty star-forming galaxies may contribute a considerable amount to the ionizing photon budget during cosmic reionization.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{yuan2026diversity,
  title = {{Diversity in Lyman Continuum Escape at z ∼ 0.3 Revealed by WISE Infrared Observations}},
  author = {Fang-Ting Yuan and Zhen-Ya Zheng and Chunyan Jiang and Shuairu Zhu},
  journal = {The Astrophysical Journal},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.3847/1538-4357/aea6b0},
  url = {https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/aea6b0},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Diversity in Lyman Continuum Escape at z ∼ 0.3 Revealed by WISE Infrared Observations
AU  - Fang-Ting Yuan
AU  - Zhen-Ya Zheng
AU  - Chunyan Jiang
AU  - Shuairu Zhu
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/21
JO  - The Astrophysical Journal
DO  - 10.3847/1538-4357/aea6b0
UR  - https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/aea6b0
AB  - The escape of Lyman continuum (LyC) radiation from star-forming galaxies plays a key role in cosmic reionization. While strong LyC leakers are commonly identified through ultraviolet (UV) and optical diagnostics, their infrared (IR) emission remains poorly explored. We use data from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) to investigate a sample of local star-forming galaxies, which contains 20 strong LyC leakers (S/N LyC > 3 and f esc > 5%) and 69 nonleakers. Among the strong leakers, 8 are classified with mid-IR detections. Comparing the IR-detected and IR-undetected subsamples, we find that the IR-undetected strong leakers exhibit higher [O iii ]5007/[O ii ]3726,3729 (O32) ratios, bluer UV slopes, and lower metallicities than the other subsamples. In contrast, the IR-detected strong leakers show O32 ratios, UV slopes, and metallicities comparable to those of nonleakers, while maintaining a median escape fraction of f esc ∼ 12%. These results indicate that significant LyC escape is not limited to galaxies with the most extreme UV and optical properties and can coexist with substantial IR emission. The Ly α profiles and the morphology of the IR-detected and IR-undetected strong leakers imply that LyC photon escape in these two classes may be driven by different mechanisms. Our results highlight the diversity of LyC leakers and suggest that dusty star-forming galaxies may contribute a considerable amount to the ionizing photon budget during cosmic reionization.
SN  - 0004-637X
SN  - 1538-4357
ER  -