The Subaru Ly-alpha blob survey: A sample of 100 kpc Ly-alpha blobs at z=3

TL;DR

This survey identified 14 giant Ly-alpha nebulae at z=3 over 2.1 square degrees, revealing their morphology-environment relation and potential links to galaxy formation processes.

Contribution

The survey tripled the known number of giant Ly-alpha blobs over 100 kpc and provided insights into their environmental dependence and possible formation mechanisms.

Findings

14 LAB candidates identified, including 5 known blobs and 2 quasars.

Filamentary LABs are found in average density environments.

Circular LABs are found in both average and overdense environments.

Abstract

We present results of a survey for giant Ly-alpha nebulae (LABs) at z=3 with Subaru/Suprime-Cam. We obtained Ly-alpha imaging at z=3.09+-0.03 around the SSA22 protocluster and in several blank fields. The total survey area is 2.1 square degrees, corresponding to a comoving volume of 1.6 x 10^6 Mpc^3. Using a uniform detection threshold of 1.4 x 10^{-18} erg s^{-1} cm^{-2} arcsec^{-2} for the Ly-alpha images, we construct a sample of 14 LAB candidates with major-axis diameters larger than 100 kpc, including five previously known blobs and two known quasars. This survey triples the number of known LABs over 100 kpc. The giant LAB sample shows a possible "morphology-density relation": filamentary LABs reside in average density environments as derived from compact Ly-alpha emitters, while circular LABs reside in both average density and overdense environments. Although it is hard to examine the formation mechanisms of LABs only from the Ly-alpha morphologies, more filamentary LABs may relate to cold gas accretion from the surrounding inter-galactic medium (IGM) and more circular LABs may relate to large-scale gas outflows, which are driven by intense starbursts and/or by AGN activities. Our survey highlights the potential usefulness of giant LABs to investigate the interactions between galaxies and the surrounding IGM from the field to overdense environments at high-redshift.