We present the first characterization of the diffuse gas and metals in the
circumgalactic medium of 96 z = 2.9-3.8 Ly$\alpha$ emitters (LAEs) detected
with the Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) in fields centered on 8
bright background quasars as part of our MUSEQuBES survey. The LAEs have
relatively low Ly$\alpha$ luminosities (~$10^42$ erg/s) and star formation
rates ~1 $M_ødot$/yr, which for main sequence galaxies corresponds to stellar
masses of only ~$10^8.6$ $M_ødot$. The median transverse distance between
the LAEs and the quasar sightlines is 165 proper kpc (pkpc). We stacked the
high-resolution quasar spectra and measured significant excess HI and CIV
absorption near the LAEs out to 500 km/s and at least 250 pkpc (corresponding
to ~7 virial radii). At < 30 km/s from the galaxies the median HI and CIV
optical depths are enhanced by an order of magnitude. The average rest-frame
equivalent width of Ly$\alpha$ absorption is comparable to that for Lyman-break
galaxies (LBGs) at z~2.3 and ~L* galaxies at z~0.2, but considerably higher
than for sub-L*/dwarf galaxies at low redshift. The CIV equivalent width is
comparable to those measured for low-z dwarf galaxies and z~2.3 LBGs but
significantly lower than for z~2.3 quasar-host galaxies. The absorption is
significantly stronger around the ~ 1/3 of our LAEs that are part of "groups",
which we attribute to the large-scale structures in which they are embedded. We
do not detect any strong dependence of either the HI or CIV absorption on
transverse distance (over the range 50-250 pkpc), redshift, or the properties
of the Ly$\alpha$ emission line (luminosity, full width at half maximum, or
equivalent width). However, for HI, but not CIV, the absorption at < 100 km/s
from the LAE does increase with the star formation rate. This suggests that
LAEs surrounded by more neutral gas tend to have higher star formation rates.
Description
MUSEQuBES: Characterizing the circumgalactic medium of redshift $\approx3.3$ Ly$\alpha$ emitters
%0 Generic
%1 muzahid2021musequbes
%A Muzahid, Sowgat
%A Schaye, Joop
%A Cantalupo, Sebastiano
%A Marino, Raffaella Anna
%A Bouche, Nicolas F.
%A Johnson, Sean
%A Maseda, Michael
%A Wendt, Martin
%A Wisotzki, Lutz
%A Zabl, Johannes
%D 2021
%K library
%T MUSEQuBES: Characterizing the circumgalactic medium of redshift
$\approx3.3$ Ly$\alpha$ emitters
%U http://arxiv.org/abs/2105.05260
%X We present the first characterization of the diffuse gas and metals in the
circumgalactic medium of 96 z = 2.9-3.8 Ly$\alpha$ emitters (LAEs) detected
with the Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) in fields centered on 8
bright background quasars as part of our MUSEQuBES survey. The LAEs have
relatively low Ly$\alpha$ luminosities (~$10^42$ erg/s) and star formation
rates ~1 $M_ødot$/yr, which for main sequence galaxies corresponds to stellar
masses of only ~$10^8.6$ $M_ødot$. The median transverse distance between
the LAEs and the quasar sightlines is 165 proper kpc (pkpc). We stacked the
high-resolution quasar spectra and measured significant excess HI and CIV
absorption near the LAEs out to 500 km/s and at least 250 pkpc (corresponding
to ~7 virial radii). At < 30 km/s from the galaxies the median HI and CIV
optical depths are enhanced by an order of magnitude. The average rest-frame
equivalent width of Ly$\alpha$ absorption is comparable to that for Lyman-break
galaxies (LBGs) at z~2.3 and ~L* galaxies at z~0.2, but considerably higher
than for sub-L*/dwarf galaxies at low redshift. The CIV equivalent width is
comparable to those measured for low-z dwarf galaxies and z~2.3 LBGs but
significantly lower than for z~2.3 quasar-host galaxies. The absorption is
significantly stronger around the ~ 1/3 of our LAEs that are part of "groups",
which we attribute to the large-scale structures in which they are embedded. We
do not detect any strong dependence of either the HI or CIV absorption on
transverse distance (over the range 50-250 pkpc), redshift, or the properties
of the Ly$\alpha$ emission line (luminosity, full width at half maximum, or
equivalent width). However, for HI, but not CIV, the absorption at < 100 km/s
from the LAE does increase with the star formation rate. This suggests that
LAEs surrounded by more neutral gas tend to have higher star formation rates.
@misc{muzahid2021musequbes,
abstract = {We present the first characterization of the diffuse gas and metals in the
circumgalactic medium of 96 z = 2.9-3.8 Ly$\alpha$ emitters (LAEs) detected
with the Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) in fields centered on 8
bright background quasars as part of our MUSEQuBES survey. The LAEs have
relatively low Ly$\alpha$ luminosities (~$10^{42}$ erg/s) and star formation
rates ~1 $M_\odot$/yr, which for main sequence galaxies corresponds to stellar
masses of only ~$10^{8.6}$ $M_{\odot}$. The median transverse distance between
the LAEs and the quasar sightlines is 165 proper kpc (pkpc). We stacked the
high-resolution quasar spectra and measured significant excess HI and CIV
absorption near the LAEs out to 500 km/s and at least 250 pkpc (corresponding
to ~7 virial radii). At < 30 km/s from the galaxies the median HI and CIV
optical depths are enhanced by an order of magnitude. The average rest-frame
equivalent width of Ly$\alpha$ absorption is comparable to that for Lyman-break
galaxies (LBGs) at z~2.3 and ~L* galaxies at z~0.2, but considerably higher
than for sub-L*/dwarf galaxies at low redshift. The CIV equivalent width is
comparable to those measured for low-z dwarf galaxies and z~2.3 LBGs but
significantly lower than for z~2.3 quasar-host galaxies. The absorption is
significantly stronger around the ~ 1/3 of our LAEs that are part of "groups",
which we attribute to the large-scale structures in which they are embedded. We
do not detect any strong dependence of either the HI or CIV absorption on
transverse distance (over the range 50-250 pkpc), redshift, or the properties
of the Ly$\alpha$ emission line (luminosity, full width at half maximum, or
equivalent width). However, for HI, but not CIV, the absorption at < 100 km/s
from the LAE does increase with the star formation rate. This suggests that
LAEs surrounded by more neutral gas tend to have higher star formation rates.},
added-at = {2021-05-13T06:42:59.000+0200},
author = {Muzahid, Sowgat and Schaye, Joop and Cantalupo, Sebastiano and Marino, Raffaella Anna and Bouche, Nicolas F. and Johnson, Sean and Maseda, Michael and Wendt, Martin and Wisotzki, Lutz and Zabl, Johannes},
biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/2a01a65a9330a07b0dae9216c19efb7a4/gpkulkarni},
description = {MUSEQuBES: Characterizing the circumgalactic medium of redshift $\approx3.3$ Ly$\alpha$ emitters},
interhash = {6016c9d241c28e164797596d067d655e},
intrahash = {a01a65a9330a07b0dae9216c19efb7a4},
keywords = {library},
note = {cite arxiv:2105.05260Comment: Submitted to MNRAS (23 pages + appendices, 20 figures)},
timestamp = {2021-05-13T06:42:59.000+0200},
title = {MUSEQuBES: Characterizing the circumgalactic medium of redshift
$\approx3.3$ Ly$\alpha$ emitters},
url = {http://arxiv.org/abs/2105.05260},
year = 2021
}