Speaker
Description
Stellar feedback creates channels facilitating Lyman photon escape from starburst galaxies into the galactic halo. Although leakage from low-metallicity (low-Z) galaxies is a prime candidate for explaining cosmic reionization, it remains poorly understood. High-mass X-ray binaries and superbubbles can dominate over massive stars and super star clusters as the main contributors of ionizing emission within a galaxy. Therefore, multiwavelength studies utilizing deep X-ray data alongside Optical, UV, and IR observations are essential in understanding the origins of the ionizing power. I will use the blue compact dwarf galaxy ESO 338-4 , a nearby analogue of high redshift starbursts, as an example to demonstrate the necessity of X-ray observations in determining the primary production sites of ionizing radiation in low-Z galaxies and understanding the feedback processes therein. Using our new Chandra and XMM-Newton observations I will explore the spectra of the galaxy’s X-ray population as well as the galactic halo’s diffuse emission. These results combined with existing HST and VLT MUSE data link the different scales of galactic feedback from X-ray binaries to galactic winds and allow the mapping of chimneys transporting hot gas into the corona and intergalactic medium. Therefore, X-ray observations are necessary in furthering our understanding of stellar feedback processes at the epoch of cosmic reionization.
