The Great Escape: Understanding the Connection Between Ly$\alpha$ Emission and LyC Escape in Simulated JWST Analogues

Abstract

Constraining the escape fraction of Lyman Continuum (LyC) photons from high-redshift galaxies is crucial to understanding reionization. Recent observations have demonstrated that various characteristics of the Ly$\alpha$ emission line correlate with the inferred LyC escape fraction ($f_{\rm esc}^{\rm LyC}$) of low-redshift galaxies. Using a data-set of 9,600 mock Ly$\alpha$ spectra of star-forming galaxies at $4.64 \leq z \leq 6$ from the SPHINX$^{20}$ cosmological radiation hydrodynamical simulation, we study the escape of Ly$\alpha$ and LyC photons. We find that our mock Ly$\alpha$ observations are representative of high-redshift observations and that typical observational methods tend to over-predict the Ly$\alpha$ escape fraction ($f_{\rm esc}^{\rm Ly\alpha}$) by as much as two dex. We investigate the correlations between $f_{\rm esc}^{\rm LyC}$ and $f_{\rm esc}^{\rm Ly\alpha}$, Ly$\alpha$ equivalent width ($W_{\lambda}({\rm Ly\alpha})$), peak separation ($v_{\rm sep}$), central escape fraction ($f_{\rm cen}$), and red peak asymmetry ($A_f^{\rm red}$). We find that $f_{\rm esc}^{\rm Ly\alpha}$ and $f_{\rm cen}$ are good diagnostics for LyC leakage, selecting for galaxies with lower neutral gas densities and less UV attenuation that have recently experienced supernova feedback. In contrast, $W_{\lambda}({\rm Ly\alpha})$ and $v_{\rm sep}$ are found to be necessary but insufficient diagnostics, while $A_f^{\rm red}$ carries little information. Finally, we use stacks of Ly$\alpha$, H$\alpha$, and F150W mock surface brightness profiles to find that galaxies with high $f_{\rm esc}^{\rm LyC}$ have less extended Ly$\alpha$ and F150W but larger H$\alpha$ haloes than their non-leaking counterparts. This confirms that Ly$\alpha$ spectral profiles and surface brightness morphology can be used to better understand the escape of LyC photons from galaxies during the Epoch of Reionization.