First light and reionisation epoch simulations (FLARES) XIII: the Lyman-continuum emission of high-redshift galaxies

The history of reionisation is highly dependent on the ionising properties of high-redshift galaxies. It is therefore important to have a solid understanding of how the ionising properties of galaxies are linked to physical and observable quantities. In this paper, we use the First Light and Reionisation Epoch Simulations (FLARES) to study the Lyman-continuum (LyC, i.e. hydrogen-ionising) emission of massive (M_∗>10⁸M_⊙) galaxies at redshifts z=5−10. We find that the specific ionising emissivity (i.e. intrinsic ionising emissivity per unit stellar mass) decreases as stellar mass increases, due to the combined effects of increasing age and metallicity. FLARES predicts a median ionising photon production efficiency (i.e. intrinsic ionising emissivity per unit intrinsic far-UV luminosity) of log₁₀(ξion/erg⁻¹Hz)=25.40+0.16−0.17, with values spanning the range log₁₀(ξion/erg⁻¹Hz)=25−25.75. This is within the range of many observational estimates, but below some of the extremes observed. We compare the production efficiency with observable properties, and find a weak negative correlation with the UV-continuum slope, and a positive correlation with the OIII equivalent width. We also consider the dust-attenuated production efficiency (i.e. intrinsic ionising emissivity per unit dust-attenuated far-UV luminosity), and find a median of log₁₀(ξion/erg⁻¹Hz)∼25.5. Within our sample of M_∗>10⁸M_⊙ galaxies, it is the stellar populations in low mass galaxies that contribute the most to the total ionising emissivity. Active galactic nuclei (AGN) emission accounts for 10−20 % of the total emissivity at a given redshift, and extends the LyC luminosity function by ∼0.5 dex.