2025A&A...704A.340G -
Astronomy and Astrophysics, volume 704A340 (2025/12-1)
Ly-alpha emission reveals two satellite halos around massive groups at z ∼ 3: The puzzling case of a quiescent central galaxy.
GUO S., DADDI E., GOBAT R., SILLASSEN N.B., D'EUGENIO C., RICH R.M., ELIAS G., ARAVENA M., BRUCKMANN F., CORREA C., DELVECCHIO I., ELBAZ D., GALLEGO S.G., GENTILE F., JIN S., KALITA B.S., NEILL J.D., SOLIMANO M., VALENTINO F. and WANG T.
Abstract (from CDS):
We present the discovery and characterisation of two Lyα nebulae (LANs), RO-1001-Sat and RO-0959-Sat, as satellite structures of two giant LANs at z = 2.920 and 3.092. These two satellite LANs are found neighbouring two out of four known giant LANs at z ∼ 3 in our Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) follow-up observations, reinforcing the idea that Lyα emission can be used as a tracer of massive dark matter halos at high z. This high occurrence of massive satellite halos is in agreement with simulations. With sizes of ≃80 × 160 and 80 × 100 pkpc2, the two nebulae are both ∼300 pkpc from the main LANs. With Lyα emission only shifted by ≃100 - 300 km s–1 between each of the two pairs, these two satellite structures are likely connected to their main halos by the large-scale structure. RO-1001-Sat and RO-0959-Sat are estimated to have log(Mh/M⊙)≃13.2 ± 0.3 and 12.8 ± 0.3, putting them potentially close to the regime of cold-mode accretion according to several models, which suggests that cold streams should be able to penetrate the virial radii to reach the halo centres without being shock-heated. The central brightest galaxies in the two halos are morphologically distinct despite having a similar stellar mass of ∼1011 M⊙, one being an elliptical quiescent galaxy in RO-1001-Sat and the other being a dusty star-forming spiral in RO-0959-Sat. Intriguingly, the quiescent galaxy aligns well with the peak of the LAN as well as the potential well of the host halo, making it the first clear-cut case in which the cold gas ought to be accreting onto the galaxy but with no observable star formation, either due to morphological quenching or, more likely, radio-mode feedback from an active galactic nucleus, as supported by excess yet weak radio emission. Finally, we show a tentative detection of a Lyα filament connecting RO-1001 and RO-1001-Sat. This work shows how panoramic MUSE (and in the future, BlueMUSE) observations of massive halo seeds can be used to efficiently search for additional halos, unveiling their large-scale structure and enabling the study of Lyα-selected galaxy groups.
Abstract Copyright:
© The Authors 2025
Journal keyword(s):
galaxies: clusters: intracluster medium - galaxies: evolution - galaxies: groups: general - galaxies: groups: individual: RO-1001 - large-scale structure of Universe
Status at CDS
:
All or part of tables of objects could be ingested in SIMBAD with priority 2.
Simbad objects:
4
Full paper
View the references in ADS
To bookmark this query, right click on this link: simbad:2025A&A...704A.340G and select 'bookmark this link' or equivalent in the popup menu