Ionizing photons escape a lensed galaxy Young, hot stars emit ultraviolet radiation, which can ionize a neutral gas. The first generation of stars converted most of the intergalactic gas in the Universe from neutral to ionized form during the epoch of reionization less than a billion years after the Big Bang. Rivera-Thorsen et al. took advantage of a gravitational lensing system to observe 12 images of the same star-forming region in a distant galaxy and determined the fraction of ultraviolet photons that escape into the intergalactic medium. Although this galaxy is younger than the epoch of reionization, the results provide clues about how ultraviolet photons escape their host galaxies and contribute to the reionization process. Science, this issue p. 738 Viewing the same galaxy from different angles demonstrates that ultraviolet photons escape through gaps in clumpy gas. During the epoch of reionization, neutral gas in the early Universe was ionized by hard ultraviolet radiation emitted by young stars in the first galaxies. To do so, ionizing ultraviolet photons must escape from the host galaxy. We present Hubble Space Telescope observations of the gravitationally lensed post-reionization galaxy PSZ1-ARC G311.6602–18.4624 (nicknamed the “Sunburst Arc”), revealing bright, multiply imaged ionizing photon escape from a compact star-forming region through a narrow channel in an optically thick gas. The gravitational lensing magnification shows how ionizing photons escape this galaxy, contributing to the reionization of the Universe. The multiple sight lines to the source probe absorption by intergalactic neutral hydrogen on a scale of less than a few hundred parsecs.

中文翻译：

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引力透镜揭示了从遥远星系逸出的电离紫外光子

电离光子逃离透镜星系 年轻、炽热的恒星会发出紫外线辐射，可以电离中性气体。在大爆炸后不到 10 亿年的再电离时代，第一代恒星将宇宙中的大部分星系间气体从中性形式转化为电离形式。里维拉-托森等人。利用引力透镜系统观察了遥远星系中同一恒星形成区域的 12 张图像，并确定了逃逸到星系际介质中的紫外线光子的比例。尽管这个星系比再电离时代更年轻，但结果提供了关于紫外线光子如何逃离其宿主星系并促进再电离过程的线索。科学，这个问题 p。738 从不同角度观察同一个星系表明，紫外线光子通过块状气体中的间隙逃逸。在再电离时代，早期宇宙中的中性气体被第一批星系中年轻恒星发出的强紫外线辐射电离。为此，电离紫外光子必须从宿主星系逃逸。我们展示了哈勃太空望远镜对引力透镜后再电离星系 PSZ1-ARC G311.6602-18.4624（绰号“旭日弧”）的观测，揭示了明亮的、多次成像的电离光子通过狭窄的通道从致密的恒星形成区域逃逸在光学厚的气体中。引力透镜放大显示了电离光子如何逃离这个星系，从而促进了宇宙的再电离。