2025ApJ...984...40M

We report the detection of five newly identified Lyman-continuum (LyC) leaker candidates at redshifts 0.99-1.42 in the AstroSat UV Deep Field South F154W image. We derive physical properties of these galaxies using a combination of spectral-energy distribution fitting and information from publicly available spectra. The estimated escape fraction of these objects varies from 14% to 85% after accounting for the intergalactic medium attenuation. With only about a dozen known leakers at these redshifts, these detections significantly raise the fraction of LyC leakers in this redshift-range. High-resolution Hubble Space Telescope UV imaging reveals that a subset of the galaxies in our sample have blue star-forming structures that are likely associated with harder ionizing sources. We find tentative evidence that the LyC emission is spatially offset from the nonionizing UV-continuum centers of these galaxies. The integrated properties of these galaxies, such as the UV-continuum slope, dust attenuation, stellar mass, and [O III]λ5007/[O II]λ3727 ratios, make them atypical compared to known LyC leakers. The leakage of LyC photons from these systems presents a compelling challenge.