The nature of CR7 revealed with MUSE: a young starburst powering extended Lyman-$\alpha$ emission at z=6.6

Abstract

CR7 is among the most luminous Lyman-$\alpha$ emitters (LAEs) known at $z=6.6$ and consists of at least three UV components that are surrounded by Lyman-$\alpha$ (Ly$\alpha$) emission. Previous studies have suggested that it may host an extreme ionising source. Here, we present deep integral field spectroscopy of CR7 with VLT/MUSE. We measure extended emission with a similar halo scale length as typical LAEs at $z\approx 5$. CR7's Ly$\alpha$ halo is clearly elongated along the direction connecting the multiple components, likely tracing the underlying gas distribution. The Ly$\alpha$ emission originates almost exclusively from the brightest UV component, but we also identify a faint kinematically distinct Ly$\alpha$ emitting region nearby a fainter component. Combined with new near-infrared data, the MUSE data show that the rest-frame Ly$\alpha$ equivalent width (EW) is $\approx 100$ Å. This is a factor four higher than the EW measured in low-redshift analogues with carefully matched Ly$\alpha$ profiles (and thus arguably HI column density), but this EW can plausibly be explained by star formation. Alternative scenarios requiring AGN powering are also disfavoured by the narrower and steeper Ly$\alpha$ spectrum and much smaller IR to UV ratio compared to obscured AGN in other Ly$\alpha$ blobs. CR7's Ly$\alpha$ emission, while extremely luminous, resembles the emission in more common LAEs at lower redshifts very well and is likely powered by a young metal poor starburst.

arXiv commentMain text 16 pages, 9 figures. Accepted for publication by MNRAS

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