The Ionised- and Cool-Gas Content of The BR1202-0725 System as seen by MUSE and ALMA

TL;DR

This study combines MUSE and ALMA observations to analyze the ionised and cool gas in the high-redshift BR1202-0725 system, revealing differences in Lyα halos and gas kinematics among its components.

Contribution

It provides the first spatially resolved comparison of ionised and cool gas in this overdense, merging system at z~4.7, including discovery of a new companion galaxy.

Findings

QSO exhibits a large Lyα halo (~55 pkpc) with high velocity widths (~1000 km/s).

The SMG lacks a Lyα halo despite similar star formation rates.

Discovery of a new companion galaxy LAE3 with star-formation-driven Lyα emission.

Abstract

We present MUSE observations of the gas-rich major-merger BR1202-0725 at z~4.7, which constitutes one of the most overdense fields known in the early Universe. We utilise these data in conjunction with existing ALMA observations to compare and contrast the spatially resolved ionised- and cool-gas content of this system which hosts a quasar (QSO), a sub-millimeter galaxy (SMG), the two known optical companions ("LAE1", "LAE2"), and an additional companion discovered in this work "LAE3" just 5 arcsec to the North of the QSO. We find that QSO BR1202-0725 exhibits a large Ly$\alpha$ halo, covering $\approx55$ pkpc on-sky at surface brightness levels of SB$\geq$1E-17 erg/s/cm$^2$/arcsec$^2$. In contrast, the SMG, of similar far-infrared luminosity and star formation rate (SFR), does not exhibit such a Ly$\alpha$ halo. The QSO's halo exhibits high velocity widths ($\sim1000$ km/s) but the gas motion is to some extent kinematically coupled with the previously observed [CII] bridge between the QSO and the SMG. We note that the object known in the literature as LAE2 shows no local peak of Ly$\alpha$ emission, rather, its profile is more consistent with being part of the QSO's extended Ly$\alpha$ halo. The properties of LAE3 are typical of high-redshift LAEs; we measure F$_{\rm{Ly\alpha}}$(LAE3) = $0.24\pm$0.03E-16 erg/s/cm$^2$, corresponding to SFR$_{\rm{Ly\alpha}}\approx\ $5.0$\pm$0.5 M${_\odot}$/yr. The velocity width is $\Delta v$(LAE3) $\approx 400$ km/s, and equivalent width EW$_0$(Ly$\alpha_{\,5\sigma}^{\,lim})\geq 34.05$ $\\A$, consistent with star formation being the primary driver of Ly$\alpha$ emission. We also note a coherent absorption feature at $\sim -400$km/s in spectra from at least three objects; the QSO, LAE1 and "LAE2" which could imply the presence of an expanding neutral gas shell with an extent of at least $24$ pkpc.