We present integral field, far-infrared (FIR) spectroscopy of Mrk 54, a local Lyman continuum emitter, obtained with FIFI-LS on the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy. This is only the second time, after Haro 11, that [C ii] 158 mu m and [O iii] 88 mu m spectroscopy of the known LCEs have been obtained. We find that Mrk 54 has a strong [C ii] emission that accounts for similar to 1% of the total FIR luminosity, whereas it has only moderate [O iii] emission, resulting in the low [O iii]/[C ii] luminosity ratio of 0.22 +/- 0.06. In order to investigate whether [O iii]/[C ii] is a useful tracer of f (esc) (LyC escape fraction), we examine the correlations of [O iii]/[C ii] and (i) the optical line ratio of O-32 equivalent to [O iii] 5007 angstrom/[O ii] 3727 angstrom, (ii) specific star formation rate, (iii) [O iii] 88 mu m/[O i] 63 mu m ratio, (iv) gas-phase metallicity, and (v) dust temperature based on a combined sample of Mrk 54 and the literature data from the Herschel Dwarf Galaxy Survey and the LITTLE THINGS Survey. We find that galaxies with high [O iii]/[C ii] luminosity ratios could be the result of high ionization (traced by O-32), bursty star formation, high ionized-to-neutral gas volume filling factors (traced by [O iii] 88 mu m/[O i] 63 mu m), and low gas-phase metallicities, which is in agreement with theoretical predictions. We present an empirical relation between the [O iii]/[C ii] ratio and f (esc) based on the combination of the [O iii]/[C ii] and O-32 correlation, and the known relation between O-32 and f (esc). The relation implies that high-redshift galaxies with high [O iii]/[C ii] ratios revealed by the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array may have f (esc) greater than or similar to 0.1, significantly contributing to the cosmic reionization.

Using new high-resolution data of CO (2–1), Hα and Hβ obtained with the Northern Extended Millimeter Array (NOEMA) and the Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) at the Very Large Telescope, we have performed a Toomre Q disc stability analysis and studied star formation, gas depletion times and other environmental parameters on sub-kpc scales within the z ∼ 0 galaxy SDSS J125013.84+073444.5 (LARS 8). The galaxy hosts a massive, clumpy disc and is a proto-typical analogue of main-sequence galaxies at z ∼ 1 − 2. We show that the massive (molecular) clumps in LARS 8 are the result of an extremely gravitationally unstable gas disc, with large scale instabilities found across the whole extent of the rotating disc, with only the innermost 500 pc being stabilized by its bulge-like structure. The radial profiles further reveal that – contrary to typical disc galaxies – the molecular gas depletion time decreases from more than 1 Gyr in the centre to less than ∼100 Myr in the outskirts of the disc, supporting the findings of a Toomre-unstable disc. We further identified and analysed 12 individual massive molecular clumps. They are virialized and follow the mass–size relation, indicating that on local (cloud/clump) scales the stars form with efficiencies comparable to those in Milky Way clouds. The observed high star formation rate must thus be the result of triggering of cloud/clump formation over large scales due to disc instability. Our study provides evidence that ‘in-situ’ massive clump formation (as also observed at high redshifts) is very efficiently induced by large-scale instabilities.

The Lyα emission line is one of the main observables of galaxies at high redshift, but its output depends strongly on the neutral gas distribution and kinematics around the star-forming regions where UV photons are produced. We present observations of Lyα and 21 cm H ı emission at comparable scales with the goal to qualitatively investigate how the neutral interstellar medium (ISM) properties impact Lyα transfer in galaxies. We have observed 21 cm H ı at the highest possible angular resolution (≈3'' beam) with the Very Large Array in two local galaxies from the Lyman Alpha Reference Sample. We compare these data with Hubble Space Telescope Lyα imaging and spectroscopy, and Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer and Potsdam MultiAperture Spectrophotometer ionized gas observations. In LARS08, high-intensity Lyα emission is cospatial with high column density H ı where the dust content is the lowest. The Lyα line is strongly redshifted, consistent with a velocity redistribution that allows Lyα escape from a high column density neutral medium with a low dust content. In eLARS01, high-intensity Lyα emission is located in regions of low column density H ı, below the H ı data sensitivity limit ( < 2 × 10²⁰ cm⁻²). The perturbed ISM distribution with low column density gas in front of the Lyα emission region plays an important role in the escape. In both galaxies, the faint Lyα emission (∼1×10⁻¹⁶ erg s⁻¹cm⁻² arcsec⁻²) traces intermediate Hα emission regions where H ı is found, regardless of the dust content. Dust seems to modulate, but not prevent, the formation of a faint Lyα halo. This study suggests the existence of scaling relations between dust, Hα, H ı, and Lyα emission in galaxies.

In cosmic history, some of the major changes such as reionization were driven by baryons (i.e. the stars and gas in galaxies), despite the fact that they contribute only few percent to the total mass-energy budget in the Universe. This thesis is about the interplay between gas and stars in highly star-forming galaxies and aims to explore the physics that dictates transformation processes that took place at various stages in cosmic history.

Using panchromatic observations ranging from the 21cm H I line in the radio regime to the extreme ultraviolet (UV), we studied ionizing radiation from massive stars (direct and through hydrogen recombination lines) as well as the atomic and molecular gas content in 15 highly star-forming local galaxies. The results are brought into cosmological context, taking a step forward towards finding answers to the following open questions in galaxy evolution: Which physical conditions enable galaxies to leak ionizing radiation (and power reionization)? What drives the high Lyman-alpha escape fractions observed in the early Universe? How did the massive stellar clumps found in high redshift galaxies have possibly formed?

One of the galaxies we studied is Tololo 1247-232. Our results show that ionizing photons (i.e. Lyman continuum) escape from the region around two central massive stellar clusters. From UV absorption lines we further conclude that bulk of the gas in the galaxy must be ionized and clumpy. Moreover, the 21cm H I data reveal a low upper limit neutral gas fraction. We thus argue that the Lyman continuum escape in Tololo 1247-232 is facilitated by the large amount of ionizing radiation that is produced in the central region and then escapes from clumpy, density bounded regions. This scenario may also explain how early galaxies at z>6 have powered cosmic reionization.

Additionally, we performed infrared and molecular gas (traced by CO) observations of galaxies drawn from the "Lyman Alpha Reference Sample'' (LARS). The galaxies were selected as analogues of high-redshift galaxies. Our main discovery is a roughly linear trend between the Lyman-alpha escape fraction and the total gas depletion time. This finding is counter-intuitive, because given the resonant scattering nature of Lyman-alpha photons, an increase in atomic gas should result in longer path lengths out of the galaxy, making photons more prone to absorption. Some other process seems to facilitate Lyman-alpha escape. We speculate that gas accretion enhances the turbulence of the cold gas and shifts the Lyman-alpha photons out of resonance. This scenario would naturally explain elevated Lyman-alpha escape fractions during the phases in cosmic history when galaxies were still accretion-dominated (at high-z) rather than defined by gas depletion.

Finally, we present high-resolution interferometric observations of a single galaxy, LARS 8. The galaxy is a proto-typical analogue of normal star-forming galaxies at z~1-2, i.e. it is massive, has a large gas fraction, is rotationally supported and its morphology is dominated by massive clumps. We show that these clumps are the result of an extremely gravitationally unstable gas disc. Large scale instabilities are found across the whole extent of the rotating disc, with only the innermost 500pc being stabilized by its bulgelike structure. Our findings prove that gravitational instabilities may play a significant role in galaxy evolution, in particular at z≃1-3, when galaxies are characterized by massive clumps.

Context. Lyman-alpha (Ly alpha) is the brightest emission line in star-forming galaxies. However, its interpretation in terms of physical properties is hampered by the resonant nature of Ly alpha photons. In order to remedy this complicated situation, the Lyman Alpha Reference Sample (LARS) was defined, enabling the study of Ly alpha production and escape mechanisms in 14 local star-forming galaxies.Aims. With this paper, we complement our efforts and study the global dust and (molecular) gas content as well as the properties of gas associated with photon-dominated regions. We aim to characterize the interstellar medium of LARS galaxies, allowing us to relate these newly derived properties to quantities relevant for Ly alpha escape.Methods. We observed LARS galaxies with Herschel, SOFIA, the IRAM 30m telescope, and APEX, targeting far-infrared (FIR) continuum and emission lines of [C II]158 mu m, [O I]63 mu m, [O III]88 mu m, and low-J CO lines. Using Bayesian methods we derived dust model parameters and estimated the total gas masses for all LARS galaxies, taking into account a metallicity-dependent gas-to-dust ratio. Star formation rates were estimated from FIR, [C II]158 mu m, and [O I]63 mu m luminosities.Results. LARS covers a wide dynamic range in the derived properties, with FIR-based star formation rates from similar to 0.5-100 M-circle dot yr(-1), gas fractions between similar to 15-80%, and gas depletion times ranging from a few hundred megayears up to more than ten gigayears. The distribution of LARS galaxies in the Sigma(gas) versus Sigma(SFR) (Kennicutt-Schmidt plane) is thus quite heterogeneous. However, we find that LARS galaxies with the longest gas depletion times, that is, relatively high gas surface densities (Sigma(gas)) and low star formation rate densities (Sigma(SFR)), have by far the highest Ly alpha escape fraction. A strong approximately linear relation is found between the Ly alpha escape fraction and the total gas (HI+H-2) depletion time. We argue that the Ly alpha escape in those galaxies is driven by turbulence in the star-forming gas that shifts the Ly alpha photons out of resonance close to the places where they originate. We further report on an extreme [C II]158 mu m excess in LARS 5, corresponding to similar to 14 +/- 3% of the FIR luminosity, which probably is the most extreme [C II]-to-FIR ratio observed in a galaxy (without active nucleus) to date.

We investigate the relation between gas and star formation in subgalactic regions, similar to 360. pc to similar to 1.5. kpc in size, within the nearby starburst dwarf NGC 4449, in order to separate the underlying relation from the effects of sampling at varying spatial scales. Dust and gas mass surface densities are derived by combining new observations at 1.1. mm, obtained with the AzTEC instrument on the Large Millimeter Telescope, with archival infrared images in the range 8-500 mu m from the Spitzer Space Telescope and the Herschel Space Observatory. We extend the dynamic range of our millimeter (and dust) maps at the faint end, using a correlation between the far-infrared/millimeter colors F(70)/F(1100) (and F(160)/F(1100)) and the mid-infrared color F(8)/F(24) that we establish for the first time for this and other galaxies. Supplementing our data with maps of the extinction-corrected star formation rate (SFR) surface density, we measure both the SFR-molecular gas and the SFR-total. gas relations in NGC 4449. We find that the SFR-molecular. gas relation is described by a power law with an exponent that decreases from similar to 1.5 to similar to 1.2 for increasing region size, while the exponent of the SFR-total. gas relation remains constant with a value of similar to 1.5 independent of region size. We attribute the molecular law behavior to the increasingly better sampling of the molecular cloud mass function at larger region sizes; conversely, the total gas law behavior likely results from the balance between the atomic and molecular gas phases achieved in regions of active star formation. Our results indicate a nonlinear relation between SFR and gas surface density in NGC 4449, similar to what is observed for galaxy samples.

Star-forming galaxies are believed to be a major source of Lyman continuum (LyC) radiation responsible for reionizing the early universe. Direct observations of escaping ionizing radiation have however been sparse and with low escape fractions. In the local universe, only 10 emitters have been observed, with typical escape fractions of a few percent. The mechanisms regulating this escape need to be strongly evolving with redshift in order to account for the epoch of reionization. Gas content and star formation feedback are among the main suspects, known to both regulate neutral gas coverage and evolve with cosmic time. In this paper, we reanalyze Hubble Space Telescope (HST)-Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS) spectrocopy of the first detected local LyC leaker, Haro 11. We examine the connection between LyC leakage and Ly alpha line shape, and feedback-influenced neutral interstellar medium (ISM) properties like kinematics and gas distribution. We discuss the two extremes of an optically thin, density bounded ISM and a riddled, optically thick, ionization bounded ISM, and how Haro 11 fits into theoretical predictions. We find that the most likely ISM model is a clumpy neutral medium embedded in a highly ionized medium with a combined covering fraction of unity and a residual neutral gas column density in the ionized medium high enough to be optically thick to Ly alpha, but low enough to be at least partly transparent to LyC and undetected in Si II. This suggests that star formation feedback and galaxy-scale interaction events play a major role in opening passageways for ionizing radiation through the neutral medium.

Low- and intermediate-mass galaxies are widely discussed as cause of reionization at redshift z similar to 10-6. However, observational proof of galaxies that are leaking ionizing radiation (Lyman continuum; LyC) is a currently ongoing challenge and the list of LyC emitting candidates is still short. Tololo 1247-232 is among those very few galaxies with recently reported leakage. We performed intermediate resolution ultraviolet spectroscopy with the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph onboard the Hubble Space Telescope and confirm ionizing radiation emerging from Tololo 1247-232. Adopting an improved data reduction procedure, we find that LyC escapes from the central stellar clusters, with an escape fraction of 1.5 +/- 0.5 per cent only, i.e. the lowest value reported for the galaxy so far. We further make use of far-ultraviolet absorption lines of Si II and Si IV as a probe of the neutral and ionized interstellar medium ( ISM). We find that most of the ISM gas is ionized, likely facilitating LyC escape from density bounded regions. Neutral gas covering as a function of line-of-sight velocity is derived using the apparent optical depth method. The ISM is found to be sufficiently clumpy, supporting the direct escape of LyC photons. We further report on broad-band UV and optical continuum imaging as well as narrow-band imaging of Lya, Ha and H beta. Using stellar population synthesis, an Lya escape fraction of 8 per cent was derived. We also performed Very Large Array 21cm imaging. The hydrogen hyperfine transition was not detected, but a deep upper limit atomic gas mass of less than or similar to 10(9) M-circle dot could be derived. The upper limit gas fraction defined as M-HI/M-* is only 20 per cent. Evidence is found that the HI gas halo is relatively small compared to the Lyman Alpha Reference Sample (Hayes et al. 2013, 2014; Ostlin et al. 2014).

The thesis introduces physical processes that are at work in astrophysical plasmas and reviews the current state of research related to the emission of ionizing photons, i.e. Lyman continuum (LyC). Star forming galaxies and active galactic nuclei are discussed as sources of LyC. Observations of LyC leakage at all redshifts are summarized and escape fractions are brought into a cosmological context, i.e. its implications for the reionization of the Universe, one of the major gas phase changes that was completed already after ∼1Gyr after the Big Bang at redshift z∼6.The main work focuses on observations of the local LyC leaking galaxy Tololo 1247-232. Physical properties of the interstellar medium, its porosity and neutral medium column density, could be derived using newly obtained Hubble Space Telescope (HST) data. The work is based on spectroscopy obtained with the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS), as well as optical and ultraviolet multi-band imaging with the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3). An improved COS data reduction procedure was adopted. The recent detection of ionizing radiation emerging from Tololo 1247-232 could be confirmed. A LyC escape fraction of 6.6% was derived, in agreement with previous results. We used FUV absorption lines of Si II and Si IV as a probe of the neutral and ionized interstellar medium and find that most of the ISM gas is ionized, likely facilitating LyC escape from density bounded regions. Neutral gas covering as a function of line-of-sight velocity is derived using the apparent optical depth method. The ISM is found to be sufficiently clumpy, supporting the direct escape of LyC photons. We further report on broadband UV and optical continuum imaging as well as narrowband imaging of Lyα, Hα and Hβ. We also performed VLA 21cm imaging. The hydrogen hyperfine transition was not detected, but a deep upper limit atomic gas mass of 10^9 Mo could be derived. The upper limit gas fraction is only 20 percent. Evidence is found that the H I gas halo is relatively small compared to other Lyman Alpha emitters.

We present integral field spectroscopic observations with the Potsdam Multi-Aperture Spectrophotometer of all 14 galaxies in the z similar to 0.1 Lyman Alpha Reference Sample (LARS). We produce 2D line-of-sight velocity maps and velocity dispersion maps from the Balmer alpha (H alpha) emission in our data cubes. These maps trace the spectral and spatial properties of the LARS galaxies' intrinsic Ly alpha radiation field. We show our kinematic maps that are spatially registered onto the Hubble Space Telescope H alpha and Lyman alpha (Ly alpha) images. We can conjecture a causal connection between spatially resolved H alpha kinematics and Ly alpha photometry for individual galaxies, however, no general trend can be established for the whole sample. Furthermore, we compute the intrinsic velocity dispersion sigma(0), the shearing velocity v(shear), and the v(shear)/sigma(0) ratio from our kinematic maps. In general LARS galaxies are characterised by high intrinsic velocity dispersions (54 km s(-1) median) and low shearing velocities (65 km s(-1) median). The v(shear/sigma 0) values range from 0.5 to 3.2 with an average of 1.5. It is noteworthy that five galaxies of the sample are dispersion-dominated systems with v(shear)/sigma(0) < 1, and are thus kinematically similar to turbulent star-forming galaxies seen at high redshift. When linking our kinematical statistics to the global LARS Ly alpha properties, we find that dispersion-dominated systems show higher Ly alpha equivalent widths and higher Ly alpha escape fractions than systems with v(shear)/sigma(0) > 1. Our result indicates that turbulence in actively star-forming systems is causally connected to interstellar medium conditions that favour an escape of Ly alpha radiation.