(Abridged) Lyman-alpha (Lya) is a dominant probe of the galaxy population at
high-z. However, interpretation of data drawn from Lya alone hinges on the Lya
escape fraction which, due to the complex radiative transport, may vary
greatly. Here we map the Lya emission from local starburst Haro 11, a Lya
emitter and the only known candidate for low-z Lyman continuum emission (LyC).
To aid in the interpretation we perform a detailed multi-wavelength analysis
and model the stellar population, dust distribution, ionising photon budget,
and star-cluster population. We use archival X-ray observations to further
constrain properties of the starburst and estimate the HI column density.
The Lya morphology is found to be strongly decoupled from stellar and nebular
(H-alpha) morphologies. General surface photometry finds only very slight
correlation between Lya and H-halpha, E(B-V), and stellar age. Only around the
central Lya-bright cluster do we find the Lya/Ha ratio at values predicted by
recombination theory. The total Lya escape fraction is found to be just 3%. We
compute that ~90% of the Lya photons that escape do so after undergoing
multiple resonance scattering events, masking their point of origin. This leads
to a largely symmetric distribution and, by increasing the distance that
photons must travel to escape, decreases the escape probability significantly.
While dust must ultimately be responsible for the destruction of Lya, it plays
little role in governing the observed morphology, which is regulated more by
ISM kinematics and geometry. We find tentative evidence for local Lya
equivalent width in the immediate vicinity of star-clusters being a function of
cluster age, consistent with hydrodynamic studies. We estimate the ionising
photon production and further constrain the escape fraction at 900 AA to <~9% .Comment: In press for MNRAS. 18 pages, 9 figures. Version with full resolution
images to be found at
http://www.astro.su.se/~matthew/english/papers/hayes_lya_haro11_hires.pd