2013/05/24 by Michael Rauch, George D. Becker, Martin G. Haehnelt +2 · 5 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy #Astrophysics #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Galactic halo #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Galaxy #Halo #Intergalactic travel #Physics #Quasar #Radio galaxy #Redshift #Star formation #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #astro-ph.CO
paper · pdf · doi:10.1093/mnras/stu528
published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 441(1), 73-85 (Oxford University Press) · 12 pages, 9 figures, submitted to MNRAS
arxiv created 2013/05/24 · openalex publication_date 2014/04/21 · arxiv updated 2015/06/16 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
A spectroscopically detected Lyman α emitting halo at redshift 3.216 in the GOODS-N field is found to reside at the convergence of several line-emitting filaments. Spatially extended emission apparently by He ii 1640 Å and several metal transitions is seen within several arcseconds from the position of the central galaxy. The V = 24.9 galaxy mainly responsible for the continuum emission at the centre of the halo has broad-band colours and spectral features consistent with a z = 3.216 star-forming galaxy. Hubble Space Telescope images show that some of the filaments coincide, in projection, with several, mostly blue galaxies, with pronounced head–tail structures partly aligned with each other. These objects, for which we cannot rule that they are foreground, chance projections in front of the high-redshift halo, are seen over an area with a linear extent of at least 12 arcsec. The broad-band images of some galaxies suggest the presence of ram-pressure stripping, including possible evidence for recent star formation in the stripped contrails. Spatial gradients in the appearance of several galaxies may represent a stream of galaxies passing from a colder to a hotter intergalactic medium. The release of the enriched interstellar medium from galaxies and the occurrence of star formation and stellar feedback in the galactic contrails suggest a mechanism for the metal enrichment of the high-redshift intergalactic medium that does not require long-range galactic winds. If these galaxies are at the same redshift as the Lyα halo, their very blue colours may be a consequence of the stripping of gas. A stripped stellar population and star formation in galactic contrails suggest promising sites for the escape of ionizing radiation from high-redshift galaxies.