Into the Ly α jungle: exploring the circumgalactic medium of galaxies at z ∼ 4−5 with MUSE

Bielby, R. M.; Fumagalli, Michele; Fossati, M.; Rafelski, Marc; Oppenheimer, Benjamin D.; Cantalupo, Sebastiano; Christensen, L.; Fynbo, J. P. U.; López, Sebastián; Morris, Simon L.; D’Odorico, V.; Péroux, Céline

doi:10.1093/mnras/staa546

Cited by 26 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 147 publications

(185 reference statements)

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“…At the lowest redshift, Cai et al (2019) used the Keck Cosmic Web Imager (KCWI) to observe a sample of z ∼ 2.3 quasars. At higher redshift, observations have been carried out with MUSE in a few individual quasar fields at z ≈ 5 (Ginolfi et al 2018;Bielby et al 2020;Drake et al 2020) and in a sample of 31 quasars at z ∼ 6.3 (Farina et al 2019). The median profiles from these surveys are shown with dashed lines in the right-hand panel of Fig.…”

Section: The Radial Profile Of the Extended Ly α Emissionmentioning

confidence: 99%

MUSE analysis of gas around galaxies (MAGG) – III. The gas and galaxy environment of z = 3–4.5 quasars

Fossati

Fumagalli

Lofthouse

et al. 2021

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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We present a study of the environment of 27 z = 3 − 4.5 bright quasars from the MUSE Analysis of Gas around Galaxies (MAGG) survey. With medium-depth MUSE observations (4 hours on target per field), we characterise the effects of quasars on their surroundings by studying simultaneously the properties of extended gas nebulae and Lyα emitters (LAEs) in the quasar host haloes. We detect extended (up to ≈100 kpc) Lyα emission around all MAGG quasars, finding a very weak redshift evolution between z = 3 and z = 6. By stacking the MUSE datacubes, we confidently detect extended emission of C iv and only marginally detect extended He ii up to ≈40 kpc, implying that the gas is metal enriched. Moreover, our observations show a significant overdensity of LAEs within 300 $\rm km~s^{-1}$ from the quasar systemic redshifts estimated from the nebular emission. The luminosity functions and equivalent width distributions of these LAEs show similar shapes with respect to LAEs away from quasars suggesting that the Lyα emission of the majority of these sources is not significantly boosted by the quasar radiation or other processes related to the quasar environment. Within this framework, the observed LAE overdensities and our kinematic measurements imply that bright quasars at z = 3 − 4.5 are hosted by haloes in the mass range $\approx 10^{12.0}-10^{12.5}~\rm M_\odot$.

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Section: The Radial Profile Of the Extended Ly α Emissionmentioning

confidence: 99%

MUSE analysis of gas around galaxies (MAGG) – III. The gas and galaxy environment of z = 3–4.5 quasars

Fossati

Fumagalli

Lofthouse

et al. 2021

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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“…forming galaxies at redshifts 3 ≤ z ≤ 6 in the Hubble Deep Field South and other regions (Wisotzki et al 2016;Leclercq et al 2017Leclercq et al , 2020Bielby et al 2020). Extended Lyα halos have also shown kinematic signs, suggesting large-scale rotation of accreting material (Prescott et al 2015) and a filamentary structure (Cantalupo et al 2014;Vernet et al 2017;Martin et al 2019;Umehata et al 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

ALMA and MUSE observations reveal a quiescent multi-phase circumgalactic medium around the z ≃ 3.6 radio galaxy 4C 19.71

Falkendal

Lehnert

Vernet

et al. 2021

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We present MUSE at VLT imaging spectroscopy of rest-frame ultraviolet emission lines and ALMA observations of the [C I] 3P1−3P0 emission line, probing both the ionized and diffuse molecular medium around the radio galaxy 4C 19.71 at z ≃ 3.6. This radio galaxy has extended Lyα emission over a region ∼100 kpc in size preferentially oriented along the axis of the radio jet. Faint Lyα emission extends beyond the radio hot spots. We also find extended C IV and He II emission over a region of ∼150 kpc in size, where the most distant emission lies ∼40 kpc beyond the north radio lobe and has narrow full width half maximum (FWHM) line widths of ∼180 km s−1 and a small relative velocity offset Δv ∼ 130 km s−1 from the systemic redshift of the radio galaxy. The [C I] is detected in the same region with FWHM ∼ 100 km s−1 and Δv ∼ 5 km s−1, while [C I] is not detected in the regions south of the radio galaxy. We interpret the coincidence in the northern line emission as evidence of relatively quiescent multi-phase gas residing within the halo at a projected distance of ∼75 kpc from the host galaxy. To test this hypothesis, we performed photoionization and photo-dissociated region (PDR) modeling, using the code Cloudy, of the three emission line regions: the radio galaxy proper and the northern and southern regions. We find that the [C I]/C IVλλ1548,1551 and C IVλλ1548,1551/He II ratios of the two halo regions are consistent with a PDR or ionization front in the circumgalactic medium likely energized by photons from the active galactic nuclei. This modeling is consistent with a relatively low metallicity, 0.03 < [Z/Z⊙] < 0.1, and diffuse ionization with an ionization parameter (proportional to the ratio of the photon number density and gas density) of log U ∼ −3 for the two circumgalactic line emission regions. Using rough mass estimates for the molecular and ionized gas, we find that the former may be tracing ≈2−4 orders of magnitude more mass. As our data are limited in signal-to-noise due to the faintness of the line, deeper [C I] observations are required to trace the full extent of this important component in the circumgalactic medium.

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“…For example, Bielby et al (2019) studied the association of O VI absorbing gas with galaxies at z < 1.4 using such a grism survey. Initial results from complete and deep galaxy surveys using IFU and grism observations around quasars with high-quality spectra have shown that neutral hydrogen and metal absorption can arise in a variety of galaxy environments (Bielby et al 2019(Bielby et al , 2020Fossati et al 2019b;Chen et al 2020a;Lofthouse et al 2020;Beckett et al 2021;Lundgren et al 2021;Muzahid et al 2021).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Metal-enriched halo gas across galaxy overdensities over the last 10 billion years

Dutta

Fumagalli

Fossati

et al. 2021

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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We present a study of metal-enriched halo gas traced by Mg ii and C iv absorption at z < 2 in the MUSE Analysis of Gas around Galaxies survey and the Quasar Sightline and Galaxy Evolution survey. Using these large and complete galaxy surveys in quasar fields, we study the dependence of the metal distribution on galaxy properties and overdensities, out to physical projected separations of 750 kpc. We find that the cool, low-ionization gas is significantly affected by the environment across the full redshift range probed, with ≈2 − 3 times more prevalent and stronger Mg ii absorption in higher overdensity group environments and in regions with greater overall stellar mass and star formation rates. Complementary to these results, we have further investigated the more highly ionized gas as traced by C iv absorption, and found that it is likely to be more extended than the Mg ii gas, with ≈2 times higher covering fraction at a given distance. We find that the strength and covering fraction of C iv absorption show less significant dependence on galaxy properties and environment than the Mg ii absorption, but more massive and star-forming galaxies nevertheless also show ≈2 times higher incidence of C iv absorption. The incidence of Mg ii and C iv absorption within the virial radius shows a tentative increase with redshift, being higher by a factor of ≈1.5 and ≈4, respectively, at z > 1. It is clear from our results that environmental processes have a significant impact on the distribution of metals around galaxies and need to be fully accounted for when analyzing correlations between gaseous haloes and galaxy properties.

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Into the Ly α jungle: exploring the circumgalactic medium of galaxies at z ∼ 4−5 with MUSE

Cited by 26 publications

References 147 publications

MUSE analysis of gas around galaxies (MAGG) – III. The gas and galaxy environment of z = 3–4.5 quasars

MUSE analysis of gas around galaxies (MAGG) – III. The gas and galaxy environment of z = 3–4.5 quasars

ALMA and MUSE observations reveal a quiescent multi-phase circumgalactic medium around the z ≃ 3.6 radio galaxy 4C 19.71

Metal-enriched halo gas across galaxy overdensities over the last 10 billion years

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