MAMMOTH-Subaru. II. Diverse Populations of Circumgalactic Lyα Nebulae at Cosmic Noon

Abstract Circumgalactic Ly α nebulae are gaseous halos around galaxies exhibiting luminous extended Ly α emission. This work investigates Ly α nebulae from deep imaging of ∼12 deg 2 sky, targeted by the MAMMOTH-Subaru survey. Utilizing the wide-field capability of Hyper Suprime-Cam, we present one of the largest blind Ly α nebula selections, including QSO nebulae, Ly α blobs, and radio galaxy nebulae down to the typical 2 σ Ly α surface brightness of <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:mo stretchy="false">(</mml:mo> <mml:mn>5</mml:mn> <mml:mo>-</mml:mo> <mml:mn>10</mml:mn> <mml:mo stretchy="false">)</mml:mo> <mml:mo>×</mml:mo> <mml:msup> <mml:mn>10</mml:mn> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>−</mml:mo> <mml:mn>18</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msup> <mml:mspace width="0.50em"/> <mml:mi>erg</mml:mi> <mml:mspace width="0.50em"/> <mml:msup> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">s</mml:mi> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>−</mml:mo> <mml:mn>1</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msup> <mml:mspace width="0.50em"/> <mml:msup> <mml:mi>cm</mml:mi> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>−</mml:mo> <mml:mn>2</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msup> <mml:mspace width="0.50em"/> <mml:msup> <mml:mi>arcsec</mml:mi> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>−</mml:mo> <mml:mn>2</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msup> </mml:math> . The sample contains 117 nebulae with Ly α sizes of 40–400 kpc, and the most gigantic one spans about 365 kpc, and is referred to as the Ivory Nebula. Combining multiwavelength data, we investigate diverse nebula populations and associated galaxies. We find a small fraction of Ly α nebulae have QSOs (∼7%), luminous infrared galaxies (LIRGs; ∼1%), and radio galaxies (∼2%). Remarkably, among the 28 enormous Ly α nebulae (ELANe) exceeding 100 kpc, about 80% are associated with UV-faint galaxies ( M UV &gt; −22), and are categorized as Type II ELANe. We underscore that Type II ELANe constitute the majority but remain largely hidden in current galaxy and QSO surveys. Dusty starburst and obscured AGN activity are proposed to explain the nature of Type II ELANe. The spectral energy distribution of stacking all Ly α nebulae also reveals signs of massive dusty star-forming galaxies with obscured AGNs. We propose a model to explain the dusty nature where the diverse populations of Ly α nebulae capture massive galaxies at different evolutionary stages undergoing violent assembly. Ly α nebulae provide critical insights into the formation and evolution of today’s massive cluster galaxies at cosmic noon.

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Journal
The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series
Published
2024-11-15
DOI
https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4365/ad812c
Citations
9
Primary Topic
Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena
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article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
2.98

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article

MAMMOTH-Subaru. II. Diverse Populations of Circumgalactic Lyα Nebulae at Cosmic Noon

Zhen-Ya Zheng, Bjorn Emonts, Yuanhang Ning, Sean D. Johnson et al.
9 citations
The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series
Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena
2.98
article

MAMMOTH-Subaru. II. Diverse Populations of Circumgalactic Lyα Nebulae at Cosmic Noon

Zhen-Ya Zheng, Bjorn Emonts, Yuanhang Ning, Sean D. Johnson, Joseph F. Hennawi, Satoshi Kikuta, Fabrizio Arrigoni Battaia, Nobunari Kashikawa, Rhythm Shimakawa, Xiaohui Fan, Yunjing Wu, Jason Xavier Prochaska, Ben Wang, Masami Ouchi, Ke Ma, Yongming Liang, Shiwu Zhang, Minghao Yue, Sebastiano Cantalupo, Zheng Cai, Xin Wang, Mingyu Li, Haibin Zhang, Qiong Li, Zheng Zheng, Weichen Wang
article en
9 citations

Abstract

Abstract Circumgalactic Ly α nebulae are gaseous halos around galaxies exhibiting luminous extended Ly α emission. This work investigates Ly α nebulae from deep imaging of ∼12 deg 2 sky, targeted by the MAMMOTH-Subaru survey. Utilizing the wide-field capability of Hyper Suprime-Cam, we present one of the largest blind Ly α nebula selections, including QSO nebulae, Ly α blobs, and radio galaxy nebulae down to the typical 2 σ Ly α surface brightness of <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:mo stretchy="false">(</mml:mo> <mml:mn>5</mml:mn> <mml:mo>-</mml:mo> <mml:mn>10</mml:mn> <mml:mo stretchy="false">)</mml:mo> <mml:mo>×</mml:mo> <mml:msup> <mml:mn>10</mml:mn> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>−</mml:mo> <mml:mn>18</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msup> <mml:mspace width="0.50em"/> <mml:mi>erg</mml:mi> <mml:mspace width="0.50em"/> <mml:msup> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">s</mml:mi> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>−</mml:mo> <mml:mn>1</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msup> <mml:mspace width="0.50em"/> <mml:msup> <mml:mi>cm</mml:mi> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>−</mml:mo> <mml:mn>2</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msup> <mml:mspace width="0.50em"/> <mml:msup> <mml:mi>arcsec</mml:mi> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>−</mml:mo> <mml:mn>2</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msup> </mml:math> . The sample contains 117 nebulae with Ly α sizes of 40–400 kpc, and the most gigantic one spans about 365 kpc, and is referred to as the Ivory Nebula. Combining multiwavelength data, we investigate diverse nebula populations and associated galaxies. We find a small fraction of Ly α nebulae have QSOs (∼7%), luminous infrared galaxies (LIRGs; ∼1%), and radio galaxies (∼2%). Remarkably, among the 28 enormous Ly α nebulae (ELANe) exceeding 100 kpc, about 80% are associated with UV-faint galaxies ( M UV &gt; −22), and are categorized as Type II ELANe. We underscore that Type II ELANe constitute the majority but remain largely hidden in current galaxy and QSO surveys. Dusty starburst and obscured AGN activity are proposed to explain the nature of Type II ELANe. The spectral energy distribution of stacking all Ly α nebulae also reveals signs of massive dusty star-forming galaxies with obscured AGNs. We propose a model to explain the dusty nature where the diverse populations of Ly α nebulae capture massive galaxies at different evolutionary stages undergoing violent assembly. Ly α nebulae provide critical insights into the formation and evolution of today’s massive cluster galaxies at cosmic noon.

The Astrophysical Journal Supplement SeriesVol. 275(2)
Leiden University (NL), University of Arizona (US), Waseda University (JP), University of California, Santa Barbara (US), Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (JP), University of California, Santa Cruz (US), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN), University of Utah (US), Beijing Normal University (CN), National Radio Astronomy Observatory (US), University of Michigan (US), Shanghai Astronomical Observatory (CN), University of Manchester (GB), Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology (US), Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics (DE), Zhejiang Lab (CN), National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (JP), National Astronomical Observatories (CN), University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN), University of Milano-Bicocca (IT), The University of Tokyo (JP), Tsinghua University (CN)
National Science Foundation, Smithsonian Institution, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Princeton University, California Institute of Technology, Johns Hopkins University, Space Telescope Science Institute, European Commission, Queen's University Belfast, Durham University, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, National Natural Science Foundation of China, Academia Sinica, Cabinet Office, Government of Japan, Queen's University, Tsinghua University, National Central University, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, High Energy Accelerator Research Organization, Eötvös Loránd Tudományegyetem, Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie, Toray Science Foundation, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, University of California, Los Angeles, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Science Mission Directorate, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Japan Science and Technology Agency, National Key Research and Development Program of China, National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars, Planetary Science Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Openalex Percentile: Top 9%
Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena
2.98
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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