A DEEP HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE SEARCH FOR ESCAPING LYMAN CONTINUUM FLUX AT z ∼ 1.3: EVIDENCE FOR AN EVOLVING IONIZING EMISSIVITY

We have obtained deep Hubble Space Telescope far-UV images of 15 starburst galaxies at z similar to 1.3 in the GOODS fields to search for escaping Lyman continuum (LyC) photons. These are the deepest far-UV images (m(AB) = 28.7, 3 sigma, 1 diameter) over this large an area (4.83 arcmin(2)) and provide some of the best escape fraction constraints for any galaxies at any redshift. We do not detect any individual galaxies, with 3s limits to the LyC (similar to 700 angstrom) flux 50-149 times fainter (in f(nu)) than the rest-frame UV (1500 angstrom) continuum fluxes. Correcting for the mean intergalactic medium (IGM) attenuation (factor similar to 2), as well as an intrinsic stellar Lyman break (factor similar to 3), these limits translate to relative escape fraction limits of f(esc,rel) < [0.03, 0.21]. The stacked limit is f(esc,rel)(3 sigma) < 0.02. We use a Monte Carlo simulation to properly account for the expected distribution of line-of-sight IGM opacities. When including constraints from previous surveys at z similar to 1.3 we find that, at the 95% confidence level, no more than 8% of star-forming galaxies at z similar to 1.3 can have relative escape fractions greater than 0.50. Alternatively, if the majority of galaxies have low, but non-zero, escaping LyC, the escape fraction cannot be more than 0.04. In light of some evidence for strong LyC emission from UV-faint regions of Lyman break galaxies (LBGs) at z similar to 3, we also stack sub-regions of our galaxies with different surface brightnesses and detect no significant LyC flux at the f(esc,rel) < 0.03 level. Both the stacked limits and the limits from the Monte Carlo simulation suggest that the average ionizing emissivity (relative to non-ionizing UV emissivity) at z similar to 1.3 is significantly lower than has been observed in LBGs at z similar to 3. If the ionizing emissivity of star-forming galaxies is in fact increasing with redshift, it would help to explain the high photoionization rates seen in the IGM at z > 4 and reionization of the IGM at z > 6.