LATIS: Comparing Galaxy and IGM Tomography Maps as Tracers of Large-scale Structure and Protoclusters at $z\sim 2.5$

Abstract

We investigate the consistency of intergalactic medium (IGM) tomography and galaxy surveys as tracers of the cosmic web and protoclusters at $z\sim 2.5$. We use maps from the Ly$\alpha$ Tomography IMACS Survey (LATIS), which trace the distributions of Lyman-break galaxies (LBGs) and IGM Ly$\alpha$ absorption on $\simeq 4$ $h^{-1}$ cMpc scales within the same large volume. Overall, the joint distribution of IGM absorption and LBG density is well constrained and accurately described by a simple physical model. However, we identify several exceptional locations exhibiting strong IGM absorption indicative of a massive protocluster, yet no coincident overdensity of LBGs. As discussed by Newman et al., whose results we revise using the complete LATIS survey data, these are candidate ultraviolet (UV)-dim protoclusters that may harbor distinct galaxy populations missed by rest-UV spectroscopic surveys. We present follow-up observations targeting one such candidate embedded within Antu, an extended region of IGM absorption at $z=2.685$ that contains five IGM-selected protoclusters and has a total mass of $3\times 10^{15}{M}_{\odot }$. Ly$\alpha$ emitters trace the overall structure of Antu but avoid the center of the candidate UV-dim protocluster, which also appears to contain no submillimeter-selected sources. A near-infrared spectroscopic galaxy census is needed to determine whether this large region is dominated by galaxies with reduced or absent star-formation activity. This work adds to a growing and puzzling literature on discrepancies among different galaxy and IGM tracers, whose resolution promises to shed light on the early stages of environment-dependent galaxy evolution.

Published in ApJ. This is second of two related papers published today

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Cited by in corpus (2)

• LATIS: A Sample of IGM-selected Protoclusters and Protogroups at $z\sim 2.5$
• LATIS Data Release: $\sim 4200$ Spectra of $z\sim 2-3$ Galaxies, Redshifts, and Intergalactic Medium Tomography Maps