The Challenge in Illuminating the Invisible: Constraining LyC Escape with Bayesian Modelling and Symbolic Regression
Clicks: 3
ID: 315080
2026
Article Quality & Performance Metrics
Overall Quality
Not rated
Combines reader engagement with the AI quality analysis. This
article has not been analysed, so there is no overall score —
reader engagement is measured and shown alongside.
Reader Engagement
Steady Performance
0.6
/100
3 views
2 readers
AI Quality Assessment
Not analyzed
Readership in this journal
SteadyRanked #617 of 913 articles by views in monthly notices of the royal astronomical society
Most read
Least read
Bar heights use a square-root scale. Only the 120 most-read articles are drawn; the journal has 913 in total.
Mint this article as an NFT
Not yet mintedCreate a permanent, verifiable on-chain record of this article on the Scimatic Network. The NFT is held in your Journament account, and you can withdraw it to your own wallet at any time.
5
SUSD
one-off · no wallet required
Abstract
Abstract Direct observations of Lyman continuum (LyC) radiation from galaxies during the Epoch of Reionization (EoR) are impeded by absorption in the intergalactic medium, requiring indirect methods to infer the escape fraction of ionizing photons ($f_\mathrm{esc}^{\mathrm{LyC}}$). One approach is to develop and validate such methods on local analogues of the high-redshift galaxies with directly detected LyC leakage. In this study, we constrain $f_\mathrm{esc}^\mathrm{LyC}$ using a Bayesian spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting framework built in Prospector, which incorporates a non-parametric star-formation history, a flexible dust attenuation curve, self-consistent nebular emission, and fiber aperture-loss corrections. Our methodology jointly fits broadband photometry and emission line fluxes. We apply six models to the Low-redshift LyC Survey (LzLCS), a sample of local galaxies with physical properties comparable to EoR galaxies, and evaluate them based on their ability to recover the observed flux and their relative Bayesian evidence. The best-performing model is further assessed through a parameter recovery test, demonstrating that $f_\mathrm{esc}^\mathrm{LyC}$ can be recovered within uncertainties. Building on these results, we present updated $f_\mathrm{esc}^\mathrm{LyC}$ estimates for the LzLCS sample, with a median of 4 %, and values reaching as high as 51 %, with 26 of 64 galaxies having a cosmologically relevant $f_\mathrm{esc}^\mathrm{LyC}$ ($\gtrsim 5~{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$). Additionally, we present a revised UV β-slope vs $\log _{10}(f_\mathrm{esc}^\mathrm{LyC})$ relation, derived using symbolic regression with PySR trained on a synthetic dataset generated with Prospector: $\log _{10}(f_\mathrm{esc}^\mathrm{LyC}) = (-2.30 \pm 1.28)\beta - (6.26 \pm 2.91)$, (σ = 0.43 dex). The relation successfully reproduces the $f_\mathrm{esc}^\mathrm{LyC}$ obtained from full SED fitting of the LzLCS sample within 1σ.
| Reference Key |
openalex_W7162496712
Use this key to autocite in the manuscript while using
SciMatic Manuscript Manager or Thesis Manager
|
|---|---|
| Authors | Amanda Stoffers, S Tacchella, Charlotte Simmonds, B D Johnson, Roberto Maiolino |
| Journal | monthly notices of the royal astronomical society |
| Year | 2026 |
| DOI |
10.1093/mnras/stag984
|
| URL | |
| Keywords | Keywords not found |
Citations
No citations found. To add a citation, contact the admin at info@scimatic.org
Comments
No comments yet. Be the first to comment on this article.