ALMA reveals Strong [CII] emission in a galaxy embedded in a giant Lyman-alpha blob at z=3.1

TL;DR

This study uses ALMA observations to detect strong [CII] emission from a galaxy within a giant Lyman-alpha blob at z=3.1, revealing insights into its interstellar medium and potential shock heating effects.

Contribution

First detection of [CII] emission from a galaxy embedded in a giant Lyman-alpha blob at high redshift, highlighting ISM conditions and emission mechanisms.

Findings

Detected [CII] emission from one galaxy in the LAB

High [CII]/[NII] ratio suggests shock heating or low metallicity

Strong [CII] emission may relate to the galaxy's location within the LAB

Abstract

We report the result from observations conducted with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) to detect [CII] 158 um fine structure line emission from galaxies embedded in one of the most spectacular Lyman-alpha blobs (LABs) at z=3.1, SSA22-LAB1. Of three dusty star-forming galaxies previously discovered by ALMA 860 um dust continuum survey toward SSA22-LAB1, we detected the [CII] line from one, LAB1-ALMA3 at z=3.0993+/-0.0004. No line emission was detected, associated with the other ALMA continuum sources or from three rest-frame UV/optical selected z_spec~3.1 galaxies within the field of view. For LAB1-ALMA3, we find relatively bright [CII] emission compared to the infrared luminosity (L_[CII]/L_[CII]) and an extremely high [CII] 158 um and [NII] 205 um emission line ratio (L_[CII]/L_[NII]>55). The relatively strong [CII] emission may be caused by abundant photodissociation regions and sub-solar metallicity, or by shock heating. The origin of the unusually strong [CII] emission could be causally related to the location within the giant LAB, although the relationship between extended Lyman-alpha emission and ISM conditions of associated galaxies is yet to be understand.