A MUSE Source-Blind Survey for Emission from the Circumgalactic Medium

Abstract

The recent detection of optical emission lines from the circumgalactic medium (CGM) in combined, large samples of low-redshift, normal galaxy spectra hints at the potential to map the cool ($\sim$ 10${}^4$ K) CGM in individual, representative galaxies. Using archival data from a forefront instrument (MUSE) on the VLT, we present a source-blind, wide-redshift-range ($z\sim 0-5)$ narrow-band imaging survey for CGM emission. Our detected, resolved emission line sources are cataloged and include a 30 kpc wide H$\alpha$ source likely tracing the CGM of a low-mass galaxy (stellar mass $\sim$ $10^{8.78\pm 0.42}$ M${}_{\odot }$) at $z=0.1723$, a 60 kpc wide Ly $\alpha$ structure associated with a galaxy at $z=3.9076$, and a 130 kpc ($\sim r_{\mathrm{vir}}$) wide [O II] feature revealing an interaction between a galaxy pair at $z=1.2480$. The H$\alpha$ velocity field for the low-mass galaxy suggests that the CGM is more chaotic or turbulent than the galaxy disk, while that for the interacting galaxies shows large-scale ($\sim 50$ kpc) coherent motions.

Accepted for publication in Science Advances