Dark Galaxy Candidates at Redshift ~3.5 Detected with MUSE
A MUSE survey of quasar fields at z > 3 turns up six candidates for dark galaxies, gas-rich systems with hardly any stars.
What was found
- The survey searches for gas-rich, star-poor galaxies illuminated by nearby quasars. Its uniform sensitivity and full spectral coverage allow control samples to be built from the same data.
- Lyα emitters with high equivalent width cluster near quasars. The same link does not appear for Lyα luminosity or local overdensity, which hints that at least some of these objects glow through quasar fluorescence.
- Six sources with no continuum counterpart and high equivalent-width limits are the strongest dark galaxy candidates at z > 3.5.
- Their densities, inferred gas masses and star formation efficiencies resemble those of earlier narrow-band candidates at z ≈ 2.4. If the most distant ones are lit by quasars, the quasar lifetime is at least about 60 Myr.
This summary is written for a general audience. The paper has the full details.
Cite this paper
Marino, R. A., et al. 2018, ApJ, 859, 53, doi:10.3847/1538-4357/aab6aa
@article{marino2018,
author = {Marino, R. A. and others},
title = {{Dark Galaxy Candidates at Redshift ~3.5 Detected with MUSE}},
journal = {The Astrophysical Journal},
year = {2018},
volume = {859},
pages = {53},
doi = {10.3847/1538-4357/aab6aa},
eprint = {1709.03522},
archivePrefix = {arXiv}
}Topics Galaxy evolution Quasars and AGN