Diffuse Lyman Alpha Haloes around Lyman Alpha Emitters at z=3: Do Dark Matter Distributions Determine the Lyman Alpha Spatial Extents?

TL;DR

This study analyzes the surface brightness profiles of Lyman Alpha haloes around high-redshift galaxies, revealing their dependence on environment and dark matter distributions, and suggesting multiple possible sources for Ly-a photon illumination.

Contribution

It demonstrates that Ly-a halo extents correlate strongly with large-scale environment and dark matter, providing new insights into the origins and structure of Ly-a haloes at z=3.

Findings

Ly-a halo profile slopes flatten with increasing LAE surface density

Ly-a halo scale lengths are proportional to the square of LAE surface density

Maximum Ly-a equivalent width approaches 200 Å in dense regions

Abstract

Using stacks of Ly-a images of 2128 Ly-a emitters (LAEs) and 24 protocluster UV-selected galaxies (LBGs) at z=3.1, we examine the surface brightness profiles of Ly-a haloes around high-z galaxies as a function of environment and UV luminosity. We find that the slopes of the Ly-a radial profiles become flatter as the Mpc-scale LAE surface densities increase, but they are almost independent of the central UV luminosities. The characteristic exponential scale lengths of the Ly-a haloes appear to be proportional to the square of the LAE surface densities (r(Lya) \propto Sigma(LAE)^2). Including the diffuse, extended Ly-a haloes, the rest-frame Ly-a equivalent width of the LAEs in the densest regions approaches EW_0(Lya) ~ 200 A, the maximum value expected for young (< 10^7 yr) galaxies. This suggests that Ly-a photons formed via shock compression by gas outflows or cooling radiation by gravitational gas inflows may partly contribute to illuminate the Ly-a haloes; however, most of their Ly-a luminosity can be explained by photo-ionisation by ionising photons or scattering of Ly-a photons produced in HII regions in and around the central galaxies. Regardless of the source of Ly-a photons, if the Ly-a haloes trace the overall gaseous structure following the dark matter distributions, it is not surprising that the Ly-a spatial extents depend more strongly on the surrounding Mpc-scale environment than on the activities of the central galaxies.