2025ApJ...980..171B -
Astrophys. J., 980, 171 (2025/February-3)
MUSEQuBES: Connecting H I Absorption with Lyα Emitters at z ≈ 3.3.
BANERJEE E., MUZAHID S., SCHAYE J., BLAIZOT J., BOUCHE N., CANTALUPO S., JOHNSON S.D., MATTHEE J. and VERHAMME A.
Abstract (from CDS):
We present a comprehensive analysis of H I absorption around 96 Lyα emitters (LAEs) at z ≈ 3.3 (median Lyα luminosity ≈1042 erg s–1). These LAEs were identified within eight MUSE fields, each $1^{\prime} \times 1^{\prime} $ on the sky and centered on a bright background quasar, as part of the MUSEQuBES survey. Using Voigt profile fitting for all H I absorbers detected within ±500 km s–1 of these LAEs, we compiled a catalog of 800 H I absorption components. Our analysis shows that H I absorption is enhanced near the LAEs compared to the intergalactic medium. However, no trend is found between the column densities of H I absorbers and their impact parameters from the LAEs (spanning ≈54-260 pkpc). Additionally, all galaxies associated with Lyman-limit systems have impact parameters >50 pkpc from the quasar sightlines, suggesting that true absorber hosts may be too faint to detect. The LAEs show an overall H I covering fraction (fc(H I)) of ≈88% for a threshold ${{\rm{log}}}_{10}(N/{{\rm{cm}}}^{-2})$(H I) = 15. Notably, at the same threshold, the LAEs in pairs/groups exhibit a 100% H I covering fraction out to ≈250 pkpc. In contrast, isolated LAEs consistently show a lower fc(H I) of ≈80%. This environmental influence on fc(H I) is also evident up to ≈300 km s–1 in differential bins of line-of-sight velocity. We find an anticorrelation between fc(H I) and the equivalent width of rest-frame Lyα emission (EW0). Based on the Lyα shell model, this could imply that gas-rich galaxies tend to reside in gas-rich environments or that the LAEs with higher EW0 are more efficient at ionizing their surrounding medium.
Abstract Copyright:
© 2025. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society.
Journal keyword(s):
Circumgalactic medium - Galaxy evolution - Lyα galaxies - Quasar absorption line spectroscopy
Status at CDS
:
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Simbad objects:
3
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