HI Ly$\alpha$ Emission from a Metal-Poor Cool Stream Fueling an Early Dusty Starburst

TL;DR

This study presents deep observations of a Ly$ ext{alpha}$ nebula associated with a metal-poor gas stream feeding a dusty starburst galaxy at high redshift, revealing differences in nebula brightness related to environment.

Contribution

First detailed comparison of Ly$ ext{alpha}$ nebulae around a submillimeter galaxy and nearby QSOs, highlighting environmental effects on nebula brightness and structure.

Findings

Detected a 180 kpc Ly$ ext{alpha}$ filament linked to a metal-poor gas stream.

Found that QSO-associated nebulae are brighter and have steeper profiles than the galaxy's nebula.

Suggested ionization mechanisms include shocks, obscured star formation, and UV background.

Abstract

The GAMA J0913$-$0107 system is a rare conjunction of a submillimeter galaxy (SMG) at $z \approx 2.7$ and two background QSOs with projected separations $<$200 kpc. Previous high-resolution QSO absorption-line spectroscopy has revealed high H $\tiny{\rm I}$ column density, extremely metal-poor ($\sim 1\%$ solar) gas streams in the circumgalactic medium of the SMG. Here we present deep optical integral-field spectroscopy of the system with the Keck Cosmic Web Imager (KCWI). Reaching a $2\sigma$ surface brightness (SB) limit $\approx 10^{-19}$ erg s$^{-1}$ cm$^{-2}$ arcsec$^{-2}$ with $\sim$2 hours of integration time, we detect a filamentary Ly$\alpha$ nebula stretching $\sim$180 kpc from the SMG intercepting both QSO sightlines. This Ly$\alpha$ filament may correspond to the same cool gas stream penetrating through the hot halo seen in the absorption. In contrast to Ly$\alpha$ nebulae around QSOs, there is no obvious local source for photoionization due to the massive dust content. While uncertain, we consider the possibility that the nebula is ionized by shocks induced by the infall, obscured star formation, and/or a boosted UV background. The SMG-QSOs conjunction multiplied the efficiency of the KCWI observations, allowing a direct comparison of Ly$\alpha$ nebulae in two distinct environments. We find that the nebula around the QSOs are much brighter and show steeper surface brightness profiles than the SMG nebula. This is consistent with the additional photoionization and Ly$\alpha$ scattering provided by the QSOs. While illustrating the challenges of detecting Ly$\alpha$ nebulae around SMGs, our work also demonstrates that important insights can be gained from comparative studies of high-$z$ Ly$\alpha$ nebulae.