16245

Understanding cosmic reionization comma and how galaxies contributed to it comma is a very active field in extragalactic research. Since directly detecting the ionizing Lyman continuum (LyC) from galaxies in the epoch of reionization (EoR) is impossible comma much attention has been given to the study of the conditions for LyC escape in low redshift (z) analogs with properties akin to those expected for galaxies in the EoR. Recently many LyC leaking galaxies have been identified in the low-z universe with HST-COS comma and the strategy of selecting emission line galaxies with high ionization comma as revealed by their CORCHETE_OPENOIIICORCHETE_CLOSE-CORCHETE_OPENOIICORCHETE_CLOSE ratios comma has been particularly successful. The Lyman alpha (Lya) emission line from hydrogen is another vital probe of the high-z universe and is extensively used to find galaxies and determine their redshifts. Being a resonant line comma the observability of Lya is very sensitive to the amount of neutral hydrogen in the interstellar medium (ISM) and it has been found that Lya emission is often dominated by large halos comma likely formed by resonant scattering. Here we propose an imaging study of the Lya and ionized gas emission in three low-z galaxies with the highest (38-72%) known LyC escape fractions. We will investigate the existence of Lya halos comma and map the ionization structure of the ISM comma to investigate conditions for LyC escape and how isotropic it is. In addition comma for the source with highest escape fraction comma its slightly higher redshift makes direct imaging of the LyC feasible. This rare opportunity means that the spatial distribution of the ionizing radiation and its escape fraction can be mapped and related to the local ionization level and dust content.