JCMT/SCUBA-2 uncovers an excess of $850\mu$m counts on megaparsec scales around high-redshift quasars. Characterization of the overdensities and their alignment with the quasars' Ly$\alpha$ nebulae

Abstract

We conducted a systematic survey of the environment of high-z quasars at submillimeter wavelengths to unveil and characterize the surrounding distribution of dusty submillimeter galaxies (SMGs). We took sensitive JCMT/SCUBA-2 observations for 3 enormous Lyman-alpha nebulae (ELANe) and 17 quasar fields in the redshift range 2<z<4.2 selected from recent Ly$\alpha$ surveys. These observations uncovered 523 and 101 sources at 850$\mu$m and 450$\mu$m, respectively, with S/N>4 or detected in both bands at S/N>3. We ran Monte Carlo simulations to construct 850$\mu$m number counts and unveil an excess of sources in 75% of the targeted fields. Overall, regions around ELANe and quasars are overabundant with respect to blank fields by a factor of $3.4\pm 0.4$ and $2.5\pm 0.2$, respectively. Therefore, the excess of SMGs is likely part of the Mpc-scale environment around these systems. By combining all fields and repeating the count analysis in radial apertures, we find a decrease in the overdensity factor from >3 within $\sim 2$ cMpc to $\sim 2$ at the edge of the surveyed field ($\sim 10$ cMpc), suggesting that the physical extent of the overdensities is larger than our maps. We computed preferred directions for the overdensities of SMGs from the positions of the sources and used them to orient and create stacked maps of source densities for the quasars' environment. This stacking unveils an elongated structure reminiscent of a large-scale filament with a scale width of $\approx 3$ cMpc. Finally, the directions of the overdensities are roughly aligned with the major axis of the Ly$\alpha$ nebulae, suggesting that the latter trace, on hundreds of kpc, the central regions of the projected large-scale structure described by the SMGs on Mpc scales. Confirming member associations of the SMGs is required to further characterize their spatial and kinematic distribution around ELANe and quasars.

37 pages, 12 figures, 8 appendix; A&A in press

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