Surface Brightness Profile of Lyman-α Halos out to 320 kpc in HETDEX
Abstract
We present the median-stacked Lyman-α (Lyα) surface brightness profiles of 968 spectroscopically selected Lyα emitting galaxies (LAEs) at redshifts 1.9 z α detections with high signal-to-noise ratios observed with good seeing conditions (point-spread function FWHM α luminosities of the LAEs are 1042.4–1043 erg s−1. We detect faint emission in the median-stacked radial profiles at the level of ( 3.6 ± 1.3 ) × 10 − 20 erg s − 1 cm − 2 arcsec − 2 from the surrounding Lyα halos out to r ≃ 160 kpc (physical). The shape of the median-stacked radial profile is consistent at r z α profiles have similar shapes at redshifts 2 z α luminosity. While we agree with the results from the MUSE sample at r r > 80 kpc, our profile is flatter than the MUSE model. The measured profile agrees at most radii with that of galaxies in the Byrohl et al. cosmological radiative transfer simulation at z = 3. This suggests that the surface brightness of a Lyα halo at r ≲ 100 kpc is dominated by resonant scattering of Lyα photons from star-forming regions in the central galaxy, whereas at r > 100 kpc, it is dominated by photons from galaxies in surrounding dark matter halos.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Apr 01, 2022
- Source ID
- 10.3847/1538-4357/ac5cb8
Entities
People
- Caryl Gronwall
- Chenxu Liu
- Chris Byrohl
- Daniel J. Farrow
- Donald P. Schneider
- Donghui Jeong
- Dustin Davis
- Eiichiro Komatsu
- Eric Gawiser
- Erin Mentuch Cooper
- Gary J. Hill
- Gregory R. Zeimann
- Karl Gebhardt
- L. Wisotzki
- Maja Lujan Niemeyer
- Martin Landriau
- Masami Ōuchi
- Maximilian Fabricius
- Robin Bruce Ciardullo
- Steven L. Finkelstein
- William P. Bowman
Organizations
- German Research Foundation
- National Science Foundation
- United States Air Force