Lyman continuum leaking AGN in the SSA22 field

Abstract

Subaru/SuprimeCam narrow-band photometry of the SSA22 field reveals the presence of four Lyman continuum (LyC) candidates among a sample of 14 active galactic nuclei (AGNs). Two show offsets and likely have stellar LyCin nature or are foreground contaminants. The remaining two LyC candidates are type I AGN. We argue that the average LyC escape fraction of high-redshift, low-luminosity AGN is not likely to be unity, as often assumed in the literature. From direct measurement we obtain the average LyC-to-UV flux density ratio and ionizing emissivity for a number of AGN classes and find it at least a factor of 2 lower than values obtained assuming f_esc = 1. Comparing to recent Ly α forest measurements, AGNs at redshift z ∼ 3 make up at most ∼12 per cent and as little as ∼5 per cent of the total ionizing budget. Our results suggest that AGNs are unlikely to dominate the ionization budget of the Universe at high redshifts.