Quasar Quartet Embedded in Giant Nebula Reveals Rare Massive Structure in Distant Universe

Abstract

All galaxies once passed through a hyperluminous quasar phase powered by accretion onto a supermassive black hole. But because these episodes are brief, quasars are rare objects typically separated by cosmological distances. In a survey for Lyman-alpha emission at redshift z ~ 2, we discovered a physical association of four quasars embedded in a giant nebula. Located within a substantial overdensity of galaxies, this system is probably the progenitor of a massive galaxy cluster. The chance probability of finding a quadruple quasar is estimated to be ~10^-7, implying a physical connection between Lyman-alpha nebulae and the locations of rare protoclusters. Our findings imply that the most massive structures in the distant universe have a tremendous supply (~ 10^11 solar masses) of cool dense (volume density ~1 cm^-3) gas, which is in conflict with current cosmological simulations.

accepted for publication in Science. Main text: 11 pages, 4 figures; Supplementary Online Material: 52 pages, 10 figures, 6 tables

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Cited by in corpus (22)

• The WISE AGN Catalog
• Correcting CIV-Based Virial Black Hole Masses
• Inspiraling Halo Accretion Mapped in Lyman-$\alpha$ Emission around a $z\sim 3$ Quasar
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• MUSE searches for galaxies near very metal-poor gas clouds at z~3: new constraints for cold accretion models
• Characterising and Identifying Galaxy Protoclusters
• Modeling $237$ Lyman-$\alpha$ spectra of the MUSE-Wide survey
• Mapping the Lyman-Alpha Emission Around a z~6.6 QSO with MUSE: Extended Emission and a Companion at Close Separation
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• Ionised gas structure of 100 kpc in an over-dense region of the galaxy group COSMOS-Gr30 at z ~ 0.7
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• Ly$\alpha$ view around a z=2.84 hyperluminous QSO at a node of the cosmic web
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• A high baryon fraction in massive haloes at z~3
• MUSE-inspired view of the quasar Q2059-360, its Lyman alpha blob, and its neighborhood
• Discovery of a Lya emitting dark-cloud within z ~ 2.8 SMMJ02399-0136 system
• Spatially Resolved Patchy Lyman-$\alpha$ Emission Within the Central Kiloparsec of a Strongly Lensed Quasar Host Galaxy at z = 2.8
• Narrow C IV absorption doublets on quasar spectra of the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey
• Overdensity of galaxies in the environment of quasar pairs
• Resolving the Internal Structure of Circum-Galactic Medium using Gravitationally Lensed Quasars