Lyman-alpha Research Articles

How transient effects can change the inferred plasma temperatures when using K-shell sulfur line ratios in a time dependent iron sulfide plasma

This paper describes how the steady state atomic kinetics approximation can underestimate the electron temperature determined from K-shell lines in ps-time-scale transient plasmas. In particular, we model the temperature determination of solid FeS targets used in opacity experiments at the Orion laser facility from the ratio of sulfur He-α to Ly-α lines. Such experiments use short-pulse lasers to heat a thin microdot of FeS buried in a plastic target to temperatures of more than 1 keV and densities of approximately 1–2 g/cm3. Using atomic kinetics calculations based on a temperature history from a radiation hydrodynamic simulation of the target evolution, the peak temperature inferred from the sulfur line ratios is 1.29 keV at 3.1 ps as compared with the input peak temperature of 1.41 keV at 2.0 ps. There is a time lag of 1.2 ps at the peak, and an overall 0.5 ps time lag in the temporal history of the temperature as the plasma cools over the next 10 ps.

AGN-driven outflows and the formation of Lyα nebulae around high-z quasars

ABSTRACT The detection of Lyα nebulae around z ≳ 6 quasars reveals extended gas reservoirs around the first rapidly growing supermassive black holes. Observations of z > 6 quasars can be explained by cosmological models provided that the black holes by which they are powered evolve in rare, massive dark matter haloes. Whether these models also explain the observed extended Lyα emission remains an open question. We post-process a suite of cosmological, radiation-hydrodynamic simulations, targeting a quasar host halo at z > 6 with the Lyα radiative transfer code Rascas. A combination of recombination radiation from photo-ionized hydrogen and emission from collisionally excited gas powers Lyα nebulae with a surface brightness profile in a close agreement with observations. We also find that, even on its own, resonant scattering of the Lyα line associated to the quasar’s broad-line region can also generate Lyα emission on $\sim 100 \, \rm kpc$ scales, resulting in comparable agreement with observed surface brightness profiles. Even if powered by a broad quasar Lyα line, Lyα nebulae have narrow line-widths $\lesssim 1000 \, \rm km \, s^{-1}$, consistent with observational constraints. Even if there is no quasar, we find that halo gas cooling produces a faint, extended Lyα glow. However, to explain the brightest Lyα nebulae, our simulations unambiguously require quasar-powered outflows to clear out the galactic nucleus and allow the Lyα flux to escape and still remain resonant with halo gas. The close match between observations and simulations with quasar outflows suggest that AGN feedback already operates before $z \, = \, 6$ and confirms that high-z quasars reside in massive haloes tracing overdensities.

The physical origin for spatially large scatter of IGM opacity at the end of reionization: The IGM Lyα opacity-galaxy density relation

ABSTRACT The large opacity fluctuations in the z > 5.5 Lyα forest may indicate inhomogeneous progress of reionization. To explain the observed large scatter of the effective Lyα optical depth (τeff) of the intergalactic medium (IGM), fluctuation of UV background (Γ model), or the IGM gas temperature (T model) have been proposed, which predict opposite correlations between τeff and galaxy density. In order to address which model can explain the large scatter of τeff, we search for Lyα emitters (LAEs) around two (J1137+3549 and J1602+4228) quasar sightlines with τeff ∼ 3 and J1630+4012 sightline with τeff ∼ 5.5. Using a narrow-band imaging with Subaru/Hyper Suprime-Cam, we draw LAE density maps to explore their spatial distributions. Overdensities are found within 20 h−1 Mpc of the quasar sightlines in the low-τeff regions, while a deficit of LAEs is found in the high τeff region. Although the τeff of the three quasar sightlines are neither high nor low enough to clearly distinguish the two models, these observed τeff-galaxy density relations all consistently support the Γ model rather than the T model in the three fields, along with the previous studies. The observed overdensities near the low-τeff sightlines may suggest that the relic temperature fluctuation does not affect reionization that much. Otherwise, these overdensities could be attributed to other factors besides the reionization process, such as the nature of LAEs as poor tracers of underlying large-scale structures.

Photometric IGM tomography: Efficiently mapping quasar light echoes with deep narrow-band imaging

ABSTRACT In the standard picture, episodes of luminous quasar activity are directly related to supermassive black hole (SMBH) growth. The ionizing radiation emitted over a quasar’s lifetime alters the ionization state of the surrounding intergalactic medium (IGM), enhancing the Lyα forest transmission – so-called proximity effect – which can be observed in absorption spectra of background sources. Owing to the finite speed of light, the transverse direction of the proximity effect is sensitive to the quasar’s radiative history, resulting in ‘light echoes’ that encode the growth history of the SMBH on Myr time-scales. In this paper, we introduce a new technique to photometrically map this quasar light echoes using Lyα forest tomography by using a carefully selected pair of narrow-band filters. A foreground narrow-band filter is used to measure Lyα forest transmission along background galaxies selected as Lyα emitters by a background narrow-band filter. This novel double narrow-band tomographic technique utilizes the higher throughput and wider field of view of imaging over spectroscopy to efficiently reconstruct a two-dimensional map of Lyα forest transmission around a quasar. We present a fully Bayesian framework to measure the luminous quasar lifetime of a SMBH from photometric IGM tomography, and examine the observational requirements. This new technique provides an efficient strategy to map a large area of the sky with a modest observing time and to identify interesting regions to be examined by further deep 3D follow-up spectroscopic Lyα forest tomography.

Galactic Winds across the Gas-rich Merger Sequence. II. Lyα Emission and Highly Ionized O vi and N v Outflows in Ultraluminous Infrared Galaxies

This paper is the second in a series aimed at examining the gaseous environments of z ≤ 0.3 quasars and ultraluminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs) as a function of AGN/host galaxy properties across the merger sequence. This second paper focuses on the Lyα emission and O vi 1032, 1038 and N v 1238, 1243 absorption features, tracers of highly ionized gas outflows, in ULIRGs observed with HST/COS. Lyα emission is detected in 15 out of 19 ULIRGs, and 12 of the 14 clear Lyα detections show emission with blueshifted velocity centroids and/or wings. The equivalent widths of the Lyα emission increase with increasing AGN luminosities and AGN bolometric fractions. The blueshifts of the Lyα emission correlate positively with those of the [O iii] λ5007 emission, where the latter traces the ionized gas outflows. The Lyα escape fractions tend to be slightly larger in objects with stronger AGN and larger outflow velocities, but they do not correlate with nebular line reddening. Among the 12 ULIRGs with good continuum signal-to-noise ratios, O vi and/or N v absorption features are robustly detected in six of them, all of which are blueshifted, indicative of outflows. In the combined ULIRG + quasar sample, the outflows are more frequently detected in the X-ray weak or absorbed sources. The absorption equivalent widths, velocities, and velocity dispersions of the outflows are also higher in the X-ray weak sources. No other strong correlations are visible between the properties of the outflows and those of the AGN or host galaxies.

A double-peaked Lyman-α emitter with a stronger blue peak multiply imaged by the galaxy cluster RXC J0018.5+1626

ABSTRACT We report the discovery of a double-peaked Lyman-α (Ly α) emitter (LAE) at z = 3.2177 ± 0.0001 in VLT/MUSE data. The galaxy is strongly lensed by the galaxy cluster RXC J0018.5+1626 recently observed in the RELICS survey, and the double-peaked Ly α emission is clearly detected in the two counter images in the MUSE field of view. We measure a relatively high Ly α rest-frame equivalent width (EW) of EWLy α, 0 = (63 ± 2) Å. Additional spectroscopy with Gemini/GNIRS in the near-infrared (NIR) allows us to measure the H β, [O iii] λ4959 Å, and [O iii] λ5007 Å emission lines, which show moderate rest-frame EWs of the order of a few ∼10–100 Å, an [O iii] λ5007 Å/H β ratio of 4.8 ± 0.7, and a lower limit on the [O iii]/[O ii] ratio of >9.3. The galaxy has very blue UV-continuum slopes of βFUV = −2.23 ± 0.06 and βNUV = −3.0 ± 0.2, and is magnified by factors μ ∼ 7–10 in each of the two images, thus enabling a view into a low-mass ($M_{\star }\simeq 10^{7.5}\, \mathrm{M}_{\odot }$) high-redshift galaxy analogue. Notably, the blue peak of the Ly α profile is significantly stronger than the red peak, which suggests an inflow of matter and possibly very low H i column densities in its circumgalactic gas. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first detection of such a Ly α profile. Combined with the high lensing magnification and image multiplicity, these properties make this galaxy a prime candidate for follow-up observations to search for LyC emission and constrain the LyC photon escape fraction.

New Spectroscopic Confirmations of Lyα Emitters at Z ∼ 7 from the LAGER Survey

We report spectroscopic confirmations of 15 Lyα galaxies at z ∼ 7, implying a spectroscopic confirmation rate of ∼80% on candidates selected from the Lyα Galaxies in the Epoch of Reionization (LAGER), which is the largest (24 deg2) survey aimed at finding Lyα emitters (LAEs) at z ∼ 7 and uses deep narrowband imaging from the Dark Energy Camera at CTIO. LAEs at high redshifts are sensitive probes of cosmic reionization, and narrowband imaging is a robust and effective method for selecting a large number of LAEs. In this work, we present results from the spectroscopic follow-up of LAE candidates in two LAGER fields, COSMOS and WIDE-12, using observations from Keck/LRIS. We report the successful detection of Lyα emission in 15 candidates. Three of these in COSMOS have matching confirmations from a previous spectroscopic follow-up and are part of the overdense region, LAGER-z7OD1. Two other candidates that were not detected with LRIS have prior spectroscopic confirmations from Magellan. Including these, we obtain a spectroscopic confirmation success rate of ∼80% for LAGER LAE candidates. Thorough checks were performed to reject the possibility of these detections being foreground emission resulting with a probability of, at most, one contaminant. We do not detect any other UV nebular lines in our LRIS spectra, apart from Lyα. We estimate a 2σ upper limit for the ratio of N v/Lyα, f NV/f Lyα ≲ 0.27. Including confirmations from this work, a total of 33 LAE sources from LAGER are now spectroscopically confirmed. LAGER has more than doubled the sample of spectroscopically confirmed LAE sources at z ∼ 7.

Revealing the Nature of a Lyα Halo in a Strongly Lensed Interacting System at z = 2.92

Spatially extended halos of H i Lyα emission are now ubiquitously found around high-redshift star-forming galaxies. But our understanding of the nature and powering mechanisms of these halos is still hampered by the complex radiative transfer effects of the Lyα line and limited angular resolution. In this paper, we present resolved Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) observations of SGAS J122651.3+215220, a strongly lensed pair of L* galaxies at z = 2.92 embedded in a Lyα halo of L Lyα = (6.2 ± 1.3) × 1042 erg s−1. Globally, the system shows a line profile that is markedly asymmetric and redshifted, but its width and peak shift vary significantly across the halo. By fitting the spatially binned Lyα spectra with a collection of radiative transfer galactic wind models, we infer a mean outflow expansion velocity of ≈211 km s−1, with higher values preferentially found on both sides of the system’s major axis. The velocity of the outflow is validated with the blueshift of low-ionization metal absorption lines in the spectra of the central galaxies. We also identify a faint (M 1500 ≈ −16.7) companion detected in both Lyα and the continuum, whose properties are in agreement with a predicted population of satellite galaxies that contribute to the extended Lyα emission. Finally, we briefly discuss the impact of the interaction between the central galaxies on the properties of the halo and the possibility of in situ fluorescent Lyα production.

Lyα Halos around [O iii]-selected Galaxies in HETDEX

We present extended Lyα emission out to 800 kpc of 1034 [O iii]-selected galaxies at redshifts 1.9 < z < 2.35 using the Hobby–Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment. The locations and redshifts of the galaxies are taken from the 3D-HST survey. The median-stacked surface brightness profile of the Lyα emission of the [O iii]-selected galaxies agrees well with that of 968 bright Lyα-emitting galaxies (LAEs) at r > 40 kpc from the galaxy centers. The surface brightness in the inner parts (r < 10 kpc) around the [O iii]-selected galaxies, however, is 10 times fainter than that of the LAEs. Our results are consistent with the notion that photons dominating the outer regions of the Lyα halos are not produced in the central galaxies but originate outside of them.

A tentative ∼1000 km s−1 offset between the [CII] 158 m and Lyα line emission in a star-forming galaxy at z = 7.2

GN-108036 is a star-forming galaxy at z = 7.21, and one of the most distant known sources in the Northern hemisphere. Based on observations from the NOrthern Extended Millimeter Array (NOEMA), here we report the tentative detection of the [C II] line at ≈4σ significance. The integrated [C II] line emission is spatially offset about ∼4 kpc from the rest-frame ultraviolet (UV) emission. The total [C II] luminosity (L[CII] = 2.7 × 108 L⊙) is consistent with the relation between [C II] luminosity and star formation rate (SFR) observed in nearby and high-z star forming galaxies. More interestingly, the [C II] line is blueshifted with respect to the Lyα line by 980 ± 10 km s−1. If confirmed, this corresponds to the largest velocity offset reported to date between the Lyα line and a non-resonant line at z ≳ 6. According to trends observed in other high redshift galaxies, the large Lyα velocity offset in GN-108036 is consistent with its low Lyα equivalent width and high UV absolute magnitude. Based on Lyα radiative transfer models of expanding shells, the large Lyα velocity offset in GN-108036 could be interpreted as the presence of a large column density of hydrogen gas, and/or an outflow with a velocity of vout ∼ ΔvLyα/2 ∼ 500 km s−1. We also report the 3σ detection of a potential galaxy companion located ∼30 kpc east of GN-108036, at a similar systemic velocity, and with no counterpart rest-frame UV emission.

The Evolution of Lyα Emitter Line Widths from z = 5.7 to z = 6.6

Recent evidence suggests that high-redshift Lyα emitting galaxies (LAEs) with , referred to as ultraluminous LAEs (ULLAEs), may show less evolution than lower-luminosity LAEs in the redshift range z = 5.7–6.6. Here we explore the redshift evolution of the velocity widths of the Lyα emission lines in LAEs over this redshift interval. We use new wide-field, narrowband observations from Subaru/Hyper Suprime-Cam to provide a sample of 24 z = 6.6 and 12 z = 5.7 LAEs with , all of which have follow-up spectroscopy from Keck/DEIMOS. Combining with archival lower-luminosity data, we find a significant narrowing of the Lyα lines in LAEs at —somewhat lower than the usual ULLAE definition—at z = 6.6 relative to those at z = 5.7, but we do not see this in higher-luminosity LAEs. As we move to higher redshifts, the increasing neutrality of the intergalactic medium should increase the scattering of the Lyα lines, making them narrower. The absence of this effect in the higher-luminosity LAEs suggests they may lie in more highly ionized regions, self-shielding from the scattering effects of the intergalactic medium.

The Active Galactic Nuclei in the Hobby–Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment Survey (HETDEX). II. Luminosity Function

We present the Lyα emission line luminosity function (LF) of the active galactic nuclei (AGN) in the first release of the Hobby–Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment Survey (HETDEX) AGN catalog. The AGN are selected either by emission line pairs characteristic of AGN or by a single broad emission line, free of any photometric preselections (magnitude/color/morphology). The sample consists of 2346 AGN spanning 1.88 < z < 3.53, covering an effective area of 30.61 deg2. Approximately 2.6% of the HETDEX AGN are not detected at >5σ confidence at r ∼ 26 in the deepest r-band images we have searched. The Lyα line luminosity ranges from ∼1042.3 to 1045.9 erg s−1. Our Lyα LF shows a turnover luminosity with opposite slopes on the bright end and the faint end: The space density is highest at erg s−1. We explore the evolution of the AGN LF over a broader redshift range (0.8 < z < 3); constructing the rest-frame ultraviolet (UV) LF with the 1450 Å monochromatic luminosity of the power-law component of the continuum (M1450) from M 1450 ∼ −18 to −27.5. We divide the sample into three redshift bins (z ∼ 1.5, 2.1, and 2.6). In all three redshift bins, our UV LFs indicate that the space density of AGN is highest at the turnover luminosity with opposite slopes on the bright end and the faint end. The M 1450 LFs in the three redshift bins can be well fit with a luminosity evolution and density evolution model: the turnover luminosity () increases, and the turnover density (Φ*) decreases with increasing redshift.

Lyman alpha and Lyman continuum emission of Mg ii-selected star-forming galaxies

ABSTRACT We present observations with the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph onboard the Hubble Space Telescope of seven compact low-mass star-forming galaxies at redshifts, z, in the range 0.3161–0.4276, with various O3Mg2 = [O iii] λ5007/Mg ii λ2796+2803 and Mg2 = Mg ii λ2796/Mg ii λ2803 emission-line ratios. We aim to study the dependence of leaking Lyman continuum (LyC) emission on the characteristics of Mg ii emission together with the dependencies on other indirect indicators of escaping ionizing radiation. LyC emission with escape fractions fesc(LyC) = 3.1–4.6 per cent is detected in four galaxies, whereas only 1σ upper limits of fesc(LyC) in the remaining three galaxies were derived. A strong narrow Lyα emission line with two peaks separated by $V_{\rm sep}\, \sim$ 298–592 km s−1 was observed in four galaxies with detected LyC emission and very weak Lyα emission is observed in galaxies with LyC non-detections. Our new data confirm the tight anticorrelation between fesc(LyC) and Vsep found for previous low-redshift galaxy samples. Vsep remains the best indirect indicator of LyC leakage among all considered indicators. It is found that escaping LyC emission is detected predominantly in galaxies with Mg$_2\, \gtrsim$ 1.3. A tendency of an increase of fesc(LyC) with increasing of both the O3Mg2 and Mg2 is possibly present. However, there is substantial scatter in these relations not allowing their use for reliable prediction of fesc(LyC).

LARS XIII: High Angular Resolution 21 cm H i Observations of Lyα Emitting Galaxies

The Lyα emission line is one of the main observables of galaxies at high redshift, but its output depends strongly on the neutral gas distribution and kinematics around the star-forming regions where UV photons are produced. We present observations of Lyα and 21 cm H i emission at comparable scales with the goal to qualitatively investigate how the neutral interstellar medium (ISM) properties impact Lyα transfer in galaxies. We have observed 21 cm H i at the highest possible angular resolution (≈3″ beam) with the Very Large Array in two local galaxies from the Lyman Alpha Reference Sample. We compare these data with Hubble Space Telescope Lyα imaging and spectroscopy, and Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer and Potsdam MultiAperture Spectrophotometer ionized gas observations. In LARS08, high-intensity Lyα emission is cospatial with high column density H i where the dust content is the lowest. The Lyα line is strongly redshifted, consistent with a velocity redistribution that allows Lyα escape from a high column density neutral medium with a low dust content. In eLARS01, high-intensity Lyα emission is located in regions of low column density H i, below the H i data sensitivity limit ( < 2 × 1020 cm−2). The perturbed ISM distribution with low column density gas in front of the Lyα emission region plays an important role in the escape. In both galaxies, the faint Lyα emission (∼1×10−16 erg s−1cm−2 arcsec−2) traces intermediate Hα emission regions where H i is found, regardless of the dust content. Dust seems to modulate, but not prevent, the formation of a faint Lyα halo. This study suggests the existence of scaling relations between dust, Hα, H i, and Lyα emission in galaxies.

Predicting Lyman-continuum emission of galaxies using their physical and Lyman-alpha emission properties

Aims.The primary difficulty in understanding the sources and processes that powered cosmic reionization is that it is not possible to directly probe the ionizing Lyman-continuum (LyC) radiation at that epoch as those photons have been absorbed by the intervening neutral hydrogen. It is therefore imperative to build a model to accurately predict LyC emission using other properties of galaxies in the reionization era.Methods.In recent years, studies have shown that the LyC emission from galaxies may be correlated to their Lyman-alpha (Lyα) emission. In this paper we study this correlation by analyzing thousands of simulated galaxies at high redshift in the SPHINX cosmological simulation. We post-process these galaxies with the Lyαradiative transfer code RASCAS and analyze the Lyα– LyC connection.Results.We find that the Lyαand LyC luminosities are strongly correlated with each other, although with dispersion. There is a positive correlation between the escape fractions of Lyαand LyC radiations in the brightest Lyman-alpha emitters (LAEs; escaping LyαluminosityLescLyα&gt; 1041erg s−1), similar to that reported by recent observational studies. However, when we also include fainter LAEs, the correlation disappears, which suggests that the observed relation may be driven by selection effects. We also find that the brighter LAEs are dominant contributors to reionization, withLescLyα&gt; 1040erg s−1galaxies accounting for &gt; 90% of the total amount of LyC radiation escaping into the intergalactic medium in the simulation. Finally, we build predictive models using multivariate linear regression, where we use the physical and Lyαproperties of simulated reionization era galaxies to predict their LyC emission. We build a set of models using different sets of galaxy properties as input parameters and predict their intrinsic and escaping LyC luminosity with a high degree of accuracy (the adjustedR2of these predictions in our fiducial model are 0.89 and 0.85, respectively, whereR2is a measure of how much of the response variance is explained by the model). We find that the most important galaxy properties for predicting the escaping LyC luminosity of a galaxy are itsLescLyα, gas mass, gas metallicity, and star formation rate.Conclusions.These results and the predictive models can be useful for predicting the LyC emission from galaxies using their physical and Lyαproperties and can thus help us identify the sources of reionization.

CLEAR: Boosted Lyα Transmission of the Intergalactic Medium in UV-bright Galaxies

Reionization is an inhomogeneous process, thought to begin in small ionized bubbles of the intergalactic medium (IGM) around overdense regions of galaxies. Recent Lyα studies during the epoch of reionization show evidence that ionized bubbles formed earlier around brighter galaxies, suggesting higher IGM transmission of Lyα from these galaxies. We investigate this problem using IR slitless spectroscopy from the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Wide-Field Camera 3 (WFC3) G102 grism observations of 148 galaxies selected via photometric redshifts at 6.0 < z < 8.2. These galaxies have spectra extracted from the CANDELS Lyα Emission at Reionization (CLEAR) survey. We combine the CLEAR data for 275 galaxies with the Keck Deep Imaging Multi-Object Spectrograph and MOSFIRE data set from the Texas Spectroscopic Search for Lyα Emission at the End of Reionization Survey. We constrain the Lyα equivalent width (EW) distribution at 6.0 < z < 8.2, which is described by an exponential form, , with the characteristic e-folding scale width (W 0). We confirm a significant drop in the Lyα strength (i.e., W 0) at z > 6. Furthermore, we compare the redshift evolution of W 0 between galaxies at different UV luminosities. UV-bright (M UV < −21 [i.e., L UV > L*]) galaxies show weaker evolution with a decrease of 0.4 ( ± 0.2) dex in W 0 at z > 6, while UV-faint (M UV > −21 [L UV < L*]) galaxies exhibit a significant drop of 0.7–0.8 (±0.2) dex in W 0 from z < 6 to z > 6. If the change in W 0 is proportional to the change in the IGM transmission for Lyα photons, then this is evidence that the transmission is “boosted” around UV-brighter galaxies, suggesting that reionization proceeds faster in regions around such galaxies.

Mapping Discrete Galaxies at Cosmic Dawn with 21 cm Observations

At cosmic dawn, the 21 cm signal from intergalactic hydrogen was driven by Ly-α photons from some of the earliest stars, producing a spatial pattern that reflected the distribution of galaxies at that time. Due to the large foreground, it is thought that at around redshift 20 it is only observationally feasible to detect 21 cm fluctuations statistically, yielding a limited indirect probe of early galaxies. Here, we show that 21 cm images at cosmic dawn should actually be dominated by large (tens of comoving megaparsecs) high-contrast bubbles surrounding individual galaxies. We demonstrate this using a substantially upgraded seminumerical simulation code that realistically captures the formation and 21 cm effects of the small galaxies expected during this era. Small number statistics associated with the rarity of early galaxies, combined with the multiple scattering of photons in the blue wing of the Ly-α line, create the large bubbles, and also enhance the 21 cm power spectrum by a factor of 2–7 and add to it a feature that measures the typical brightness of galaxies. These various signatures of discrete early galaxies are potentially detectable with planned experiments, such as the Square Kilometer Array and the Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array, even if the early stars prove to be formed in dark matter halos with masses as low as 108 M ⊙, 10,000 times smaller than the Milky Way halo.

The MOSDEF-LRIS survey: connection between galactic-scale outflows and the properties of z ∼ 2 star-forming galaxies

ABSTRACT We investigate the conditions that facilitate galactic-scale outflows using a sample of 155 typical star-forming galaxies at z ∼ 2 drawn from the MOSFIRE Deep Evolution Field (MOSDEF) survey. The sample includes deep rest-frame UV spectroscopy from the Keck Low-Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (LRIS), which provides spectral coverage of several low-ionization interstellar (LIS) metal absorption lines and Lyα emission. Outflow velocities are calculated from the centroids of the LIS absorption and/or Lyα emission, as well as the highest velocity component of the outflow from the blue wings of the LIS absorption lines. Outflow velocities are found to be marginally correlated or independent of galaxy properties, such as star-formation rate (SFR) and star-formation rate surface density (ΣSFR). Outflow velocity scales with SFR as a power-law with index 0.24, which suggests that the outflows may be primarily driven by mechanical energy generated by supernovae explosions, as opposed to radiation pressure acting on dusty material. On the other hand, outflow velocity and ΣSFR are not significantly correlated, which may be due to the limited dynamic range of ΣSFR probed by our sample. The relationship between outflow velocity and ΣSFR normalized by stellar mass (ΣsSFR), as a proxy for gravitational potential, suggests that strong outflows (e.g. &amp;gt; 200 km s−1) become common above a threshold of log(ΣsSFR/$\rm {yr}^{-1}\ \rm {kpc}^{-2}$) ∼ −11.3, and that above this threshold, outflow velocity uncouples from ΣsSFR. These results highlight the need for higher resolution spectroscopic data and spatially resolved imaging to test the driving mechanisms of outflows predicted by theory.

A Green Pea Starburst Arising from a Galaxy–Galaxy Merger

Green Pea galaxies are low-redshift starburst dwarf galaxies, with properties similar to those of the high-redshift galaxies that reionized the universe. We report the first mapping of the spatial distribution of atomic hydrogen (Hi) in and around a Green Pea, GP J0213+0056 at z = 0.0399, using the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT). Like many Green Peas, GP J0213+0056 shows strong Hi 21 cm emission in single-dish spectroscopy, strong Lyα emission, and a high [Oiii]λ5007 Å/[Oii]λ3727 Å luminosity ratio, O32 ≈ 8.8, consistent with a high leakage of Lyman-continuum radiation. Our GMRT Hi 21 cm images show that the Hi 21 cm emission in the field of GP J0213+0056 arises from an extended broken-ring structure around the Green Pea, with the strongest emission coming from a region between GP J0213+0056 and a companion galaxy lying ≈4.7 kpc away, and little Hi 21 cm emission coming from the Green Pea itself. We find that the merger between GP J0213+0056 and its companion is likely to have triggered the starburst, and led to a disturbed Hi spatial and velocity distribution, which in turn allowed Lyα (and, possibly, Lyman-continuum) emission to escape the Green Pea. Our results suggest that such mergers, and the resulting holes in the Hi distribution, are a natural way to explain the tension between the requirements of cold gas to fuel the starburst and the observed leakage of Lyα and Lyman-continuum emission in Green Pea galaxies and their high-redshift counterparts.

Experiments on the Electron Impact Excitation of the 2s and 2p States of Hydrogen Atoms Confirm the Presence of Their Second Flavor as the Candidate for Dark Matter

For the excitation of the n = 2 states of hydrogen atoms due to electron impact, we compared the experimental and theoretical ratios of the cross-sections σ2s/σ2p. We found this theoretical ratio to be systematically higher than the corresponding experimental ratio by about 20%—far beyond the experimental error margins. We suggest that this discrepancy can be explained by the presence of the Second Flavor of Hydrogen Atoms (SFHA) in the experimental hydrogen gas. The explanation is based on the fact that, in the experiments, the cross-section σ2s was determined by using the quenching technique—by applying an electric field that mixed the 2s and 2p states, followed by the emission of the Lyman-alpha line from the 2p state. However, the SFHA only had the s-states, so the quenching technique would not count the excitation of the SFHA in the 2s state and, thus, lead to the underestimation of the cross-section σ2s. We estimates the share of the SFHA in the experimental hydrogen gas required for eliminating the above discrepancy and found this share to be about the same as the share of the usual hydrogen atoms. Thus, our results constitute the third proof from atomic experiments that the SFHA does exist, the first proof being related to the experimental distribution of the linear momentum in the ground state of hydrogen atoms, and the second proof being related to the experimental cross-section of charge exchange between hydrogen atoms and low-energy protons.