Inspiraling streams of enriched gas observed around a massive galaxy 11 billion years ago

Abstract

Stars form in galaxies, from gas that has been accreted from the intergalactic medium. Simulations have shown that recycling of gas-the reaccretion of gas that was previously ejected from a galaxy-could sustain star formation in the early Universe. We observe the gas surrounding a massive galaxy at redshift 2.3 and detect emission lines from neutral hydrogen, helium, and ionized carbon that extend 100 kiloparsecs from the galaxy. The kinematics of this circumgalactic gas is consistent with an inspiraling stream. The carbon abundance indicates that the gas had already been enriched with elements heavier than helium, previously ejected from a galaxy. We interpret the results as evidence of gas recycling during high-redshift galaxy assembly.

Published in Science, 5 May 2023 (accepted version), Main text 20 pages, four figures in the main text, and 13 figures and 4 tables in the supplementary materials;

References in corpus (26)

• HI4PI: A full-sky HI survey based on EBHIS and GASS
• The Circumgalactic Medium
• The synthesis of the cosmic X-ray background in the Chandra and XMM-Newton era
• The MAPPINGS III Library of Fast Radiative Shock Models
• Strong Nebular Line Ratios in the Spectra of z~2-3 Star-forming Galaxies: First Results from KBSS-MOSFIRE
• Kiloparsec-scale outflows are prevalent among luminous AGN: outflows and feedback in the context of the overall AGN population
• Virial Scaling of Massive Dark Matter Halos: Why Clusters Prefer a High Normalization Cosmology
• Evidence for powerful AGN winds at high redshift: Dynamics of galactic outflows in radio galaxies during the "Quasar Era"
• Four phases of angular-momentum buildup in high-z galaxies: from cosmic-web streams through an extended ring to disc and bulge
• Quasar Quartet Embedded in Giant Nebula Reveals Rare Massive Structure in Distant Universe
• Quasars Probing Quasars VII. The Pinnacle of the Cool Circumgalactic Medium Surrounds Massive z~2 Galaxies
• Evolution of the Cool Gas in the Circumgalactic Medium (CGM) of Massive Halos -- A Keck Cosmic Web Imager (KCWI) Survey of Ly$\alpha$ Emission around QSOs at $z\approx 2$
• Inspiraling Halo Accretion Mapped in Lyman-$\alpha$ Emission around a $z\sim 3$ Quasar
• Gas accretion and galactic fountain flows in the Auriga cosmological simulations: angular momentum and metal re-distribution
• The Cosmic Evolution of the Metallicity Distribution of Ionized Gas Traced by Lyman Limit Systems
• The maximum accretion rate of hot gas in dark matter halos
• The Mass Inflow and Outflow Rates of the Milky Way
• A physically-based model of the ionizing radiation from active galaxies for photoionization modeling
• A Deep Narrowband Imaging Search for CIV and He II Emission from Ly$\alpha$ Blobs
• The Properties of Lyman Alpha Nebulae: Gas Kinematics from Non-resonant Lines
• From large-scale environment to CGM angular momentum to star forming activities -- I: star-forming galaxies
• Cool circumgalactic gas of passive galaxies from cosmological inflow
• The cold circumgalactic environment of MAMMOTH-I: dynamically cold gas in the core of an Enormous Ly-alpha Nebula
• The Origin and Evolution of Lyman-alpha Blobs in Cosmological Galaxy Formation Simulations
• Discovery of a protocluster core associated with an enormous Ly$\alpha$ Nebula at $z=2.3$
• Chandra Observations of Abell 2261 Brightest Cluster Galaxy, a Candidate Host to a Recoiling Black Hole

Cited by in corpus (15)

• Environmental dependence of the mass-metallicity relation in cosmological hydrodynamical simulations
• Entrainment of Hot Gas into Cold Streams: The Origin of Excessive Star-formation Rates at Cosmic Noon
• Revisiting the fundamental metallicity relation with observation and simulation
• Direct high-resolution observation of feedback and chemical enrichment in the circumgalactic medium at redshift z ~ 2.8
• Stability and Ly$\alpha$ emission of Cold Stream in the Circumgalactic Medium: impact of magnetic fields and thermal conduction
• Insights on Metal Enrichment and Environmental Effect at $z\approx 5-7$ with JWST ASPIRE/EIGER and Chemical Evolution Model
• Revealing the Gas Recycling in the Circumgalactic Medium (CGM) Utilizing a Luminous Ly$\alpha$ Nebula Around a Type-II Quasar at z=2.6 with the Keck Cosmic Web Imager (KCWI)
• A two-phase model of galaxy formation: III. The formation of globular clusters
• Prospects for detecting cosmic filaments in Lyman-alpha emission across redshifts $z=2-5$
• The Transition from Galaxy-wide Gas Inflow to Outflow in Quasar Host Galaxies
• Deeper detection limits in astronomical imaging using self-supervised spatiotemporal denoising
• Magnetising galaxies with cold inflows
• Constraining cosmic ray transport models using circumgalactic medium properties and observables
• Resolving circumgalactic gas flows around a z$\approx$3.6 quasar using MUSE and ALMA
• Oxyster: A Circumgalactic Low-ionization Oxygen Nebula next to a Starburst Galaxy at $z\sim 1$