The Intrinsic Distribution of Lyman-$\alpha$ Halos

Abstract

The emission and escape of Lyman-$\alpha$ photons from star-forming galaxies is determined through complex interactions between the emitted photons and a galaxy's interstellar and circumgalactic gas, causing Lyman-$\alpha$ emitters (LAEs) to commonly appear not as point sources but in spatially extended halos with complex spectral profiles. We develop a 3D spatial-spectral model of Lyman-$\alpha$ halos (LAHs) to replicate LAH observations in integral field spectroscopic studies, such as those made with VLT/MUSE. The profile of this model is a function of 6 key halo properties: the halo- and compact-source exponential scale lengths ($r_{sH}$ and $r_{sC}$), the halo flux fraction ($f_H$), the compact component ellipticity ($q$), the spectral line width ($\sigma$), and the spectral line skewness parameter ($\gamma$). Placing a series of model LAHs into datacubes reflecting observing conditions in the MUSE UDF-Mosaic survey, we test their detection recoverability and determine that $\sigma$, $r_{sH}$, and $f_H$ are expected to have the most significant effect on the detectability of the overall LAH at a given central wavelength and intrinsic line luminosity. We develop a general selection function model spanning a grid of these halo parameters, and with a sample of 145 UDF-Mosaic LAHs with measured halo properties, we derive completeness-corrected, intrinsic distributions of the values of $\sigma$, $r_{sH}$, and $f_H$ for $3<z<5$ LAHs. We present best-fit functional forms of the distributions, and a $\sigma$ distribution corrected for instrumental line-spread function (LSF) broadening, and thereby show the physical line spread distribution of the intrinsic population. Finally, we discuss implications of these distributions for Ly$\alpha$ emission through the circumgalactic medium, finding that observations undercount LAHs with extended halo scale lengths compared to the intrinsic population.

arXiv comment16 pages, 10 figures, accepted in A&A

References in corpus (68)

• Detailed Structural Decomposition of Galaxy Images
• Detailed Decomposition of Galaxy Images. II. Beyond Axisymmetric Models
• The Subaru/XMM-Newton Deep Survey (SXDS). IV. Evolution of Lya Emitters from z=3.1 to 5.7 in the 1 deg^2 Field: Luminosity Functions and AGN
• 3D Lyman-alpha radiation transfer. I. Understanding Lyman-alpha line profile morphologies
• Keck Spectroscopy of Faint 3<z<7 Lyman Break Galaxies: - I. New constraints on cosmic reionisation from the luminosity and redshift-dependent fraction of Lyman-alpha emission
• The MUSE Hubble Ultra Deep Field Survey: I. Survey description, data reduction and source detection
• Luminosity functions of Lyman-alpha emitters at z=6.5, and z=5.7: evidence against reionization at z=6
• Ubiquitous giant Ly $\alpha$ nebulae around the brightest quasars at $z\sim 3.5$ revealed with MUSE
• Extended Lyman alpha haloes around individual high-redshift galaxies revealed by MUSE
• Galaxy Size Evolution at High Redshift and Surface Brightness Selection Effects: Constraints from the Hubble Ultra Deep Field
• CANDELS: The Contribution of the Observed Galaxy Population to Cosmic Reionization
• Observations of the Lyman-$\alpha$ Universe
• Ly$\alpha$ profile, dust, and prediction of Ly$\alpha$ escape fraction in Green Pea Galaxies
• Intergalactic Transmission and its Impact on the Lyα Line
• The MUSE Hubble Ultra Deep Field Survey: II. Spectroscopic redshifts and comparisons to color selections of high-redshift galaxies
• QSO MUSEUM I: A sample of 61 extended Ly$\alpha$-emission nebulae surrounding $z\sim 3$ quasars
• Diffuse Lyman-alpha Halos around Galaxies at z=2.2-6.6: Implications for Galaxy Formation and Cosmic Reionization
• What is the physical origin of strong Lya emission? II. Gas Kinematics and Distribution of Lya Emitters
• An Atlas of MUSE Observations towards Twelve Massive Lensing Clusters
• Diffuse Lyman Alpha Haloes around Lyman Alpha Emitters at z=3: Do Dark Matter Distributions Determine the Lyman Alpha Spatial Extents?
• The Lyman alpha Reference Sample: II. HST imaging results, integrated properties and trends
• The Lyman-alpha Reference Sample: I. Survey outline and first results for Markarian 259
• The MUSE-Wide Survey: Survey Description and First Data Release
• Recovering the systemic redshift of galaxies from their Lyman-alpha line profile
• Slicing COSMOS with SC4K: the evolution of typical Lya emitters and the Lya escape fraction from z~2 to z~6
• The MUSE Hubble Ultra Deep Field surveys: Data release II
• The MUSE-Wide Survey: A first catalogue of 831 emission line galaxies
• A systematic study of Lyman-Alpha transfer through outflowing shells: Model parameter estimation
• The MUSE Hubble Ultra Deep Field Survey VI: The Faint-End of the Lya Luminosity Function at 2.91 < z < 6.64 and Implications for Reionisation
• The Volume Fraction of Ionized Intergalactic Gas at Redshift z=6.5
• The MUSE Hubble Ultra Deep Field Survey XIII. Spatially resolved spectral properties of Lyman alpha haloes around star-forming galaxies at z > 3
• Sizing up Lyman-alpha and Lyman Break Galaxies
• Puzzling Lyman-alpha line profiles in green pea galaxies
• Shedding Light on the Galaxy Luminosity Function
• The MUSE-Wide Survey: A determination of the Lyman $\alpha$ emitter luminosity function at $3<z<6$
• MUSEQuBES: Calibrating the redshifts of Ly α emitters using stacked circumgalactic medium absorption profiles
• LAGER Ly$\alpha$ Luminosity Function at $z\sim 7$, Implications for Reionization
• (Re)Solving Reionization with Lyα: How Bright Lyα Emitters account for the $z\approx 2-8$ Cosmic Ionizing Background
• LSDCat: Detection and cataloguing of emission-line sources in integral-field spectroscopy datacubes
• The physical origins and dominant emission mechanisms of Lyman-alpha halos: results from the TNG50 simulation in comparison to MUSE observations
• The Kinematics of Extended Lyman-alpha Emission in a Low Mass, Low Metallicity Galaxy at z = 2.3
• Simulating the diversity of shapes of the Lyman-$\alpha$ line
• MUSE Analysis of Gas around Galaxies (MAGG) -- IV: The gaseous environment of $z\sim$ 3-4 Lyman-alpha emitting galaxies
• Spectral shapes of the Lyman-alpha emission from galaxies: I. blueshifted emission and intrinsic invariance with redshift
• Spectral variations of Lyman-alpha emission within strongly lensed sources observed with MUSE
• Equivalent widths of Lyman $\alpha$ emitters in MUSE-Wide and MUSE-Deep
• MUSEQuBES: Characterizing the circumgalactic medium of redshift $\approx 3.3$ Ly$\alpha$ emitters
• The MUSE eXtremely Deep Field: Individual detections of Lyα haloes around rest-frame UV-selected galaxies at z~2.9-4.4
• The Lensed Lyman-Alpha MUSE Arcs Sample (LLAMAS) : I. Characterisation of extended Lyman-alpha haloes and spatial offsets
• The Circumgalactic Medium of Extreme Emission Line Galaxies at z ~ 2: Resolved Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer Modeling of Spatially Extended Lyman-alpha Emission in the KBSS-KCWI Survey
• MUSE Analysis of Gas around Galaxies (MAGG) -- V: Linking ionized gas traced by CIV and SiIV absorbers to Ly$\alpha$ emitting galaxies at $z\approx 3.0-4.5$
• Spectral Shapes of the Lya Emission from Galaxies. II. the influence of stellar properties and nebular conditions on the emergent Lya profiles
• Revisiting the Gas Kinematics in SSA22 Lyman-$\alpha$ Blob 1 with Radiative Transfer Modeling in a Multiphase, Clumpy Medium
• Lyman-alpha radiative transfer: Modeling spectrum and surface brightness profile of Lyman-alpha emitting galaxies at z=3-6
• Where Outflows Meet Inflows: Gas Kinematics in SSA22 Lyman-$\alpha$ Blob 2 Decoded by Advanced Radiative Transfer Modelling
• MUSEQuBES: The relation between Ly$\alpha$ emitters and C IV absorbers at $z\approx 3.3$
• Clustering dependence on Lyman-$\alpha$ luminosity from MUSE surveys at $3<z<6$
• Median Surface Brightness Profiles of Lyman-$\alpha$ Haloes in the MUSE Extremely Deep Field
• Probing the faint end Luminosity Function of Lyman Alpha Emitters at 3<z<7 behind 17 MUSE lensing clusters
• On the evolution of the size of Lyman alpha halos across cosmic time: no change in the circumgalactic gas distribution when probed by line emission
• Evolution of the Lyman-α emitting fraction and UV properties of lensed star-forming galaxies between 2.9 < z < 6.7
• Circumgalactic Ly$\alpha$ emission around submillimeter-bright galaxies with different quasar contributions
• The Lyman Alpha Reference Sample XII: Morphology of extended Lyman alpha emission in star-forming galaxies
• Crossing walls and windows: the curious escape of Lyman-$\alpha$ photons through ionised channels
• Spatially-resolved Spectroscopic Analysis of Ly$\alpha$ Haloes: Radial Evolution of the Ly$\alpha$ Line Profile out to 60 kpc
• A galactic outflow traced by its extended Mg II emission out to a $\sim 30$ kpc radius in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field with MUSE
• Revisiting the Emission Line Source Detection Problem in Integral Field Spectroscopic Data
• The contribution of faint Lyman-$\alpha$ emitters to extended Lyman-$\alpha$ halos constrained by MUSE clustering measurements

Cited by in corpus (2)

• Prospects for detecting cosmic filaments in Lyman-alpha emission across redshifts $z=2-5$
• First statistical constraints on galactic scale outflows properties traced by their extended Mg II emission with MUSE