QSO MUSEUM III: the circumgalactic medium in Ly$\alpha$ emission around 120 $z\sim3$ quasars covering the SDSS parameter space. Witnessing the instantaneous AGN feedback on halo scales

TL;DR

This study uses VLT/MUSE observations of 120 quasars at z~3 to analyze how quasar luminosity influences the circumgalactic medium's Lyα emission, revealing evidence of instantaneous AGN feedback affecting halo gas properties.

Contribution

It provides the first large statistical analysis linking quasar luminosity to CGM Lyα emission and feedback effects, expanding understanding of AGN influence on halo gas at high redshift.

Findings

Lyα surface brightness increases with quasar luminosity

Lyα linewidth broadens near brighter quasars

Extended Lyα emission detected in 110 out of 120 quasars

Abstract

Recent surveys show that $z>2$ quasars are surrounded by Hydrogen Lyman-$\alpha$ (Ly$\alpha$) glows with diverse emission levels and extents. These seem to depend on the activity of embedded quasars, the number of active galactic nucleus (AGN) photons able to reach the halo gas or circumgalactic medium (CGM) and the physical properties of the CGM. In this framework, we present VLT/MUSE snapshot observations (45 min/source) of 59 $z\sim3$ quasars extending the long-term QSO MUSEUM campaign to fainter SDSS sources. The whole survey now targets 120 quasars with a median redshift of $z$=3.13, and bolometric luminosities, black hole masses and Eddington ratios of $45.1<\log(L_{\rm bol}/[{\rm erg\,s^{-1}]})<48.7$, $7.9<\log(M_{\rm BH}/[{\rm M_{\odot}]})<10.3 $ and $0.01<\lambda_{\rm Edd}<1.8$, respectively. We detect extended Ly$\alpha$ emission in 110/120 systems, with all non-detections in the new fainter sample. Stacking non-detections unveils emission below our individual detection limit. The Ly$\alpha$ surface brightness (SB$_{\rm Ly\alpha}$) of the CGM increases with quasar luminosity. Moreover, the Ly$\alpha$ linewidth increases in the central regions (projected radius $R<40$ kpc or $\sim$40% $R_{\rm vir}$) of the CGM around brighter quasars. These trends indicate that we are witnessing the instantaneous AGN feedback in action on CGM scales. Assuming that all targeted quasars sit in halos of $M_{\rm DM}\sim10^{12.5}\,M_\odot$, as found in clustering studies, the trend in SB$_{\rm Ly\alpha}$ can be explained by larger fractions of cool gas mass illuminated, implying that brighter quasars have larger ionization cone opening angles. Similarly, brighter AGNs seem to perturb the cool ($T\sim10^4$ K) gas more strongly. We show that QSO MUSEUM now has enough statistics to study the instantaneous AGN feedback while controlling for black hole properties, which are key to constraining AGN models.