H1 Ly$\alpha$ Emission from a Metal-Poor Cool Stream Fueling an Early Dusty Starburst

Kevin Hall; Hai Fu

doi:10.48550/arxiv.2405.00795

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$H1 Ly$\alpha$ Emission from a Metal-Poor Cool Stream Fueling an Early Dusty Starburst$

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H1 Ly$\alpha$ Emission from a Metal-Poor Cool Stream Fueling an Early Dusty Starburst

Kevin Hall and Hai Fu

ArXiv.org

Cornell University

05/01/2024

DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2405.00795

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Preprint (Author's original)This preprint has not been evaluated by subject experts through peer review. Preprints may undergo extensive changes and/or become peer-reviewed journal articles. Open Access

Abstract

The GAMA J0913−0107 system is a rare conjunction of a submillimeter galaxy (SMG) at z≈2.7 and two background QSOs with projected separations <200 kpc. Previous high-resolution QSO absorption-line spectroscopy has revealed high H I column density, extremely metal-poor (∼1% solar) gas streams in the circumgalactic medium of the SMG. Here we present deep optical integral-field spectroscopy of the system with the Keck Cosmic Web Imager (KCWI). Reaching a 2σ surface brightness (SB) limit ≈10−19 erg s−1 cm−2 arcsec−2 with ∼2 hours of integration time, we detect a filamentary Lyα nebula stretching ∼180 kpc from the SMG intercepting both QSO sightlines. This Lyα filament may correspond to the same cool gas stream penetrating through the hot halo seen in the absorption. In contrast to Lyα nebulae around QSOs, there is no obvious local source for photoionization due to the massive dust content. While uncertain, we consider the possibility that the nebula is ionized by shocks induced by the infall, obscured star formation, and/or a boosted UV background. The SMG-QSOs conjunction multiplied the efficiency of the KCWI observations, allowing a direct comparison of Lyα nebulae in two distinct environments. We find that the nebula around the QSOs are much brighter and show steeper surface brightness profiles than the SMG nebula. This is consistent with the additional photoionization and Lyα scattering provided by the QSOs. While illustrating the challenges of detecting Lyα nebulae around SMGs, our work also demonstrates that important insights can be gained from comparative studies of high-z Lyα nebulae.

Physics - Astrophysics of Galaxies

Details

Title: Subtitle: H1 Ly$\alpha$ Emission from a Metal-Poor Cool Stream Fueling an Early Dusty Starburst
Creators: Kevin Hall
Hai Fu
Resource Type: Preprint
Publication Details: ArXiv.org
DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2405.00795
ISSN: 2331-8422
Publisher: Cornell University; Ithaca, New York
Language: English
Date posted: 05/01/2024
Academic Unit: Physics and Astronomy
Record Identifier: 9984622888502771

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