Extremely broad Lyman-alpha line emission from the molecular intra-group medium in Stephan's Quintet: evidence for a turbulent cascade in a highly clumpy multi-phase medium?

TL;DR

This study reveals extremely broad Lyman-alpha emission in Stephan's Quintet's intra-group medium, indicating resonance scattering and turbulence in a highly clumpy, multi-phase environment, with implications for understanding gas cooling at high redshifts.

Contribution

First detailed UV spectroscopic analysis of the intra-group medium in Stephan's Quintet showing resonance scattering and turbulence in a complex multi-phase medium.

Findings

Lyα emission lines are extremely broad (~2000 km/s) and complex.

Resonance scattering suggests a clumpy neutral gas with high surface coverage.

Energy radiated in Lyα, X-rays, H₂, and [CII] are comparable across a wide temperature range.

Abstract

We present Hubble Space Telescope Cosmic Origin Spectrograph (COS) UV line spectroscopy and integral-field unit (IFU) observations of the intra-group medium in Stephan's Quintet (SQ). SQ hosts a 30 kpc long shocked ridge triggered by a galaxy collision at a relative velocity of 1000 km/s, where large amounts of molecular gas coexist with a hot, X-ray emitting, plasma. COS spectroscopy at five positions sampling the diverse environments of the SQ intra-group medium reveals very broad (2000 km/s) Ly$\alpha$ line emission with complex line shapes. The Ly$\alpha$ line profiles are similar to or much broader than those of H$\beta$, [CII]$\lambda157.7\mu$m and CO~(1-0) emission. The extreme breadth of the Ly$\alpha$ emission, compared with H$\beta$, implies resonance scattering within the observed structure. Scattering indicates that the neutral gas of the intra-group medium is clumpy, with a significant surface covering factor. We observe significant variations in the Ly$\alpha$/H$\beta$ flux ratio between positions and velocity components. From the mean line ratio averaged over positions and velocities, we estimate the effective escape fraction of Ly$\alpha$ photons to be 10-30%. Remarkably, over more than four orders of magnitude in temperature, the powers radiated by X-rays, Ly$\alpha$, H$_2$, [CII] are comparable within a factor of a few, assuming that the ratio of the Ly$\alpha$ to H$_2$ fluxes over the whole shocked intra-group medium stay in line with those observed at those five positions. Both shocks and mixing layers could contribute to the energy dissipation associated with a turbulent energy cascade. Our results may be relevant for the cooling of gas at high redshifts, where the metal content is lower than in this local system, and a high amplitude of turbulence is more common.