The MUSE eXtremely Deep Field: Individual detections of Lyα haloes around rest-frame UV-selected galaxies at z ≃ 2.9–4.4
Very deep MUSE data reveal Lyα halos around individual UV-selected galaxies at z ≈ 2.9–4.4, including some that do not look like Lyα emitters.
What was found
- The sample is selected in the UV, so it includes galaxies that are not already bright in Lyα.
- 17 of the 21 galaxies (about 81%) show extended Lyα emission, including four that are not detected as Lyα emitters, which makes them the first individual detections of this kind.
- This halo fraction is close to the one for Lyα emitters at similar redshift, which suggests that these galaxies typically hold a lot of hydrogen in their circumgalactic medium.
- The halos extend about 40 physical kpc at z ≈ 3.6, and abundance matching suggests that the emitting gas may be the gas seen in damped Lyα and sub-damped Lyα absorption systems.
This summary is written for a general audience. The paper has the full details.
Cite this paper
Kusakabe, H., et al. 2022, A&A, 660, A44, doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202142302
@article{kusakabe2022,
author = {Kusakabe, Haruka and others},
title = {{The MUSE eXtremely Deep Field: Individual detections of Lyα haloes around rest-frame UV-selected galaxies at z ≃ 2.9–4.4}},
journal = {Astronomy & Astrophysics},
year = {2022},
volume = {660},
pages = {A44},
doi = {10.1051/0004-6361/202142302},
eprint = {2201.07257},
archivePrefix = {arXiv}
}Topics Circumgalactic and intergalactic gas Galaxy evolution