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| Paper: |
Evolution of the Ionizing Photon Luminosity Function |
| Monograph: |
10, HWO25 Proceedings Part I: Community Science Case Development Documents |
| Page: |
199 |
| Authors: |
Stephan R. McCandliss; Swara Ravindranath; Sangeeta Malhotra; Chris Packham; Sophia Flury; Alexandra Le Reste; Allison Strom; Marc Postman; John O’Meara |
| DOI: |
10.26624/ZIZC3386 |
| Abstract: |
Counting the number and brightness of ionizing radiation sources out to a redshift of z∼1.2 will
revolutionize our understanding of how the ionizing background is created and sustained by the embedded
growth of meta-galactic structures. The sheer number of sparsely separated targets required to efficiently
construct redshift binned luminosity functions is industrial in scale, driving the need for low spectral
resolution multi-object spectroscopy (MOS) with a short wavelength cut-off ∼1000 Å, a sensitivity in
the far-UV to better than 30 AB mag, and an instantaneous field-of-view∼(2′)2. A MOS on Habitable
Worlds Observatory is the only instrument that could conceivably carry out such an ambitious observing
program. This program will quantify how much of the ionizing radiation produced by galaxies is attenuated
by intervening neutral H, He and dust, and how much escapes to maintain the universe in a mostly ionized state. |
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