pith. sign in

arxiv: 2602.02322 · v2 · pith:2I2ZBA6Vnew · submitted 2026-02-02 · 🌌 astro-ph.GA

PRISMS. U37126, a very blue, ISM-naked starburst at z=10.255 with nearly 100% Lyman continuum escape fraction

classification 🌌 astro-ph.GA
keywords verystellaru37126emissionescapemsunsigmacontinuum
0
0 comments X
read the original abstract

We present very deep (~11h) JWST/MIRI low-resolution spectroscopy of the rest-frame optical emission of U37126, a UV-bright (M_UV ~ -20), mildly lensed ($\mu\simeq 2.2$) galaxy at z=10.255. The continuum emission is well detected in both NIRSpec and MIRI spectra, yet no nebular recombination or metal emission lines are observed (EW(Hbeta+[OIII])<300A and EW(Halpha)<400A, at 3sigma). Combined with the exceptionally blue UV continuum slope, beta_UV ~ -2.9, and weak/flat Balmer break, these constraints indicate a stellar population dominated by very young and massive stars with a strongly suppressed nebular contribution. Comparisons with synthetic stellar population models indicate that U37126 requires both a very high ionizing photon production efficiency, log(Xi_ion / Hz erg^-1) ~ 25.75, and a nearly unit LyC escape fraction, of fesc>86% (3sigma) based on Halpha flux limit and fesc=0.94+/-0.06 derived independently from SED fitting. The best-fit SED yields a (de-lensed) stellar mass of Mstar ~ 10^7.8 Msun and a star-formation rate of SFR~10Msun/yr (sSFR~160 Gyr^-1), that along with its very compact size, reff~61pc, yields very high stellar mass and star-formation-rate surface densities, Sigma_M ~ 3x10^3 Msun/pc^2 and Sigma_SFR ~ 400 Msun/yr/kpc^2. Together with the lack of detectable nebular emission, these properties suggest that U37126 is undergoing an ``ISM-naked'' starburst phase, possibly driven by an extremely efficient gas-to-star conversion followed by strong feedback that has cleared the remaining gas from its stellar core, allowing most LyC photons to escape. Finally, we show that even a small fraction of galaxies like U37126 (~ 3%-6%), with extreme LyC production and escape, could contribute disproportionately (~ 50%-100%) to the ionizing photon budget during cosmic reionization.

This paper has not been read by Pith yet.

discussion (0)

Sign in with ORCID, Apple, or X to comment. Anyone can read and Pith papers without signing in.

Forward citations

Cited by 3 Pith papers

Reviewed papers in the Pith corpus that reference this work. Sorted by Pith novelty score.

  1. Lyman-alpha Radiation Pressure in Dense Star Clusters: Implications for Star Formation and Winds at Cosmic Dawn

    astro-ph.GA 2026-05 conditional novelty 6.0

    Lyα radiation pressure mildly reduces gas-to-star conversion efficiency in dense high-redshift clusters while dominating the launch of rapid outflows.

  2. No Blue without Red: Evolutionary Properties of Super-Early Galaxies

    astro-ph.GA 2026-05 unverdicted novelty 5.0

    Application of the Attenuation-Free Model to JWST super-early galaxies yields massive halos with moderate efficiencies and supports an evolutionary sequence from dust-reddened to UV-clear phases driven by outflows.

  3. An Updated Characterization of Luminous Ly{\alpha} emitters at the End of Reionization

    astro-ph.GA 2026-05 unverdicted novelty 5.0

    Luminous Lyα emitters at z≈6 are low-mass ultra-young dwarf starbursts with median Lyα escape fractions above 40 percent, driven by vigorous star formation and low dust content.