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Register a new userA giant Ly$alpha$ nebula in the core of an X-ray cluster at $z=1.99$: implications for early energy injection
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Francesco Valentino
Publication date
2016
fields
Physics
and research's language is
English
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We present the discovery of a giant $gtrsim$100~kpc Ly$alpha$ nebula detected in the core of the X-ray emitting cluster CL~J1449+0856 at $z=1.99$ through Keck/LRIS narrow-band imaging. This detection extends the known relation between Ly$alpha$ nebulae and overdense regions of the Universe to the dense core of a $5-7times10^{13}$ M$_{odot}$ cluster. The most plausible candidates to power the nebula are two Chandra-detected AGN host cluster members, while cooling from the X-ray phase and cosmological cold flows are disfavored primarily because of the high Ly$alpha$ to X-ray luminosity ratio ($L_{mathrm{Lyalpha}}/L_{mathrm{X}} approx0.3$, $gtrsim10-1000times$ higher than in local cool-core clusters) and by current modeling. Given the physical conditions of the Ly$alpha$-emitting gas and the possible interplay with the X-ray phase, we argue that the Ly$alpha$ nebula would be short-lived ($lesssim10$ Myr) if not continuously replenished with cold gas at a rate of $gtrsim1000$ M$_{odot}$ yr$^{-1}$. We investigate the possibility that cluster galaxies supply the required gas through outflows and we show that their total mass outflow rate matches the replenishment necessary to sustain the nebula. This scenario directly implies the extraction of energy from galaxies and its deposition in the surrounding intracluster medium, as required to explain the thermodynamic properties of local clusters. We estimate an energy injection of the order of $thickapprox2$ keV per particle in the intracluster medium over a $2$ Gyr interval. In our baseline calculation AGN provide up to $85$% of the injected energy and 2/3 of the mass, while the rest is supplied by supernovae-driven winds.
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Context. Searching for high-redshift galaxies is a field of intense activity in modern observational cosmology that will continue to grow with future ground-based and sky observatories. Over the last few years, a lot has been learned about the high-z Universe. Aims. Despite extensive Ly-alpha Blobs (LAB) surveys from low to high redshifts, giant LABs over 100 kpc have been found mostly at z~2-4. This redshift range is coincident with the transition epoch of galactic gas-circulation processes from inflows to outflows at z~2.5-3. This suggests that the formation of giant LABs may be related to a combination of gas inflows and outflows. Their extreme youth makes them interesting objects in the study of galaxy formation as they provide insight into some of the youngest known highly star forming galaxies, with only modest time investments using ground-based telescopes. Methods. Systematic narrow-band Ly-alpha nebula surveys are ongoing, but they are limited in their covered redshift range and their comoving volume. This poses a significant problem when searching for such rare sources. To address this problem, we developed a systematic searching tool, ATACAMA (A Tool for seArChing for lArge LyMan Alpha nebulae) designed to find large Ly-alpha nebulae at any redshift within deep multi-wavelength broad-band imaging. Results. We identified a Ly-alpha nebula candidate at zphot~3.3 covering an isophotal area of 29.4sq.arcsec. Its morphology shows a bright core and a faint core which coincides with the morphology of previously known Ly-alpha blobs. A first estimation of the Ly-alpha equivalent width and line flux agree with the values from the study led by several groups.
We exploit wide-field Ly$alpha$ imaging with Subaru to probe the environment around TN J1338-1942, a powerful radio galaxy with a >100 kpc Ly$alpha$ halo at z=4.11. We used a sample of Ly$alpha$ emitters (LAEs) down to $log(L_{rm Lyalpha} [erg, s^{-1}])sim 42.8$ to measure the galaxy density around TNJ1338, compared to a control sample from a blank field taken with the same instrument. We found that TNJ1338 resides in a region with a peak overdensity of $delta_{rm LAE}=2.8pm 0.5$ on scales of $8, h^{-1}rm Mpc$ (on the sky) and $112, h^{-1}rm Mpc$ (line of sight) in comoving coordinates. Adjacent to this overdensity, we found a strong underdensity where virtually no LAEs are detected. We used a semi-analytical model of LAEs derived from the Millennium Simulation to compare our results with theoretical predictions. While the theoretical density distribution is consistent with the blank field, overdense regions such as that around TNJ1338 are very rare, with a number density of $6.4times 10^{-8}rm Mpc^{-3}$ (comoving), corresponding to the densest < 0.4 percentile at $zsimeq 4.1$. We also found that the Ly$alpha$ luminosity function in the TNJ1338 field differs from that in the blank field: the number of bright LAEs ($log(L_{rm Lyalpha}[erg,s^{-1}]) gtrsim 43.3$) is enhanced, while the number of fainter LAEs is relatively suppressed. These results suggest that some powerful radio galaxies associated with Ly$alpha$ nebulae reside in extreme overdensities on $sim 3$--$6, rm Mpc$ scales, where star-formation and AGN activity may be enhanced via frequent galaxy mergers or high rates of gas accretion from the surroundings.
We study the average Ly$alpha$ emission associated with high-$z$ strong (log $N$(H I) $ge$ 21) damped Ly$alpha$ systems (DLAs). We report Ly$alpha$ luminosities ($L_{rm Lyalpha}$) for the full as well as various sub-samples based on $N$(H I), $z$, $(r-i)$ colours of QSOs and rest equivalent width of Si II$lambda$1526 line (i.e., $W_{1526}$). For the full sample, we find $L_{rm Lyalpha}$$< 10^{41} (3sigma) rm erg s^{-1}$ with a $2.8sigma$ level detection of Ly$alpha$ emission in the red part of the DLA trough. The $L_{rm Lyalpha}$ is found to be higher for systems with higher $W_{1526}$ with its peak, detected at $geq 3sigma$, redshifted by about 300-400 $rm km s^{-1}$ with respect to the systemic absorption redshift, as seen in Lyman Break Galaxies (LBGs) and Ly$alpha$ emitters. A clear signature of a double-hump Ly$alpha$ profile is seen when we consider $W_{1526} ge 0.4$ AA and $(r-i) < 0.05$. Based on the known correlation between metallicity and $W_{1526}$, we interpret our results in terms of star formation rate (SFR) being higher in high metallicity (mass) galaxies with high velocity fields that facilitates easy Ly$alpha$ escape. The measured Ly$alpha$ surface brightness requires local ionizing radiation that is 4 to 10 times stronger than the metagalactic UV background at these redshifts. The relationship between the SFR and surface mass density of atomic gas seen in DLAs is similar to that of local dwarf and metal poor galaxies. We show that the low luminosity galaxies will contribute appreciably to the stacked spectrum if the size-luminosity relation seen for H I at low-$z$ is also present at high-$z$. Alternatively, large Ly$alpha$ halos seen around LBGs could also explain our measurements.
The well-known quasar SDSS J095253.83+011421.9 (J0952+0114) at z=3.02 has one of the most peculiar spectra discovered so far, showing the presence of narrow Ly$alpha$ and broad metal emission lines. Although recent studies have suggested that a Proximate Damped Ly$alpha$ system (PDLA) causes this peculiar spectrum, the origin of the gas associated with the PDLA is unknown. Here we report the results of MUSE observations that reveal a new giant ($approx$ 100 physical kpc) Lyman $alpha$ nebula. The detailed analysis of the Ly$alpha$ velocity, velocity dispersion, and surface brightness profiles suggests that the J0952+0114 Ly$alpha$ nebula shares similar properties of other QSO nebulae previously detected with MUSE, implying that the PDLA in J0952+0144 is covering only a small fraction of the QSO emission solid angle. We also detected bright and spectrally narrow CIV$lambda$1550 and HeII$lambda$1640 extended emission around J0952+0114 with velocity centroids similar to the peak of the extended and central narrow Ly$alpha$ emission. The presence of a peculiarly bright, unresolved, and relatively broad HeII$lambda$1640 emission in the central region at exactly the same PDLA redshift hints at the possibility that the PDLA originates in a clumpy outflow with a bulk velocity of about 500 km/s. The smaller velocity dispersion of the large scale Ly$alpha$ emission suggests that the high-speed outflow is confined to the central region. Lastly, the derived spatially resolved HeII/Ly$alpha$ and CIV/Ly$alpha$ maps show a positive gradient with the distance to the QSO hinting at a non-homogeneous ionization parameter distribution.
We present evidence for a highly obscured X-ray source in one of two giant Ly-alpha emission nebulae in the z=3.09 proto-cluster region SSA22. Neither Ly-alpha nebula is associated with significant radio emission. While one has a significant submillimeter detection and is undetected in the X-ray, the other is a factor of 2-10 times less submillimeter bright and appears to contain a hard-band X-ray source. We discuss our analysis and techniques for assessing the X-ray properties of this source and suggest that we have detected an embedded AGN source in one of these nebulae which may be at least partially responsible for exciting the Ly-alpha emission through a mechanism that is essentially decoupled from the radio, submillimeter, or optical luminosities. We also present an upper limit on the mean X-ray emission from 10 other extended Ly-alpha objects in the SSA22 region.
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