Gas filaments of the cosmic web located around active galaxies in a protocluster

Umehata, H.; Fumagalli, M.; Smail, I.; Matsuda, Y.; Swinbank, A.M.; Cantalupo, S.; Sykes, C.; Ivison, R.J.; Steidel, C.C.; Shapley, A.E.; Vernet, J.; Yamada, T.; Tamura, Y.; Kubo, M.; Nakanishi, K.; Kajisawa, M.; Hatsukade, B.; Kohno, K.

Abstract

Cosmological simulations predict the Universe contains a network of intergalactic gas filaments, within which galaxies form and evolve. However, the faintness of any emission from these filaments has limited tests of this prediction. We report the detection of rest-frame ultraviolet Lyman-alpha radiation from multiple filaments extending more than one megaparsec between galaxies within the SSA 22 proto-cluster at a redshift of 3.1. Intense star formation and supermassive black-hole activity is occurring within the galaxies embedded in these structures, which are the likely sources of the elevated ionizing radiation powering the observed Lyman-alpha emission. Our observations map the gas in filamentary structures of the type thought to fuel the growth of galaxies and black holes in massive proto-clusters.

Citation

Umehata, H., Fumagalli, M., Smail, I., Matsuda, Y., Swinbank, A., Cantalupo, S., …Kohno, K. (2019). Gas filaments of the cosmic web located around active galaxies in a protocluster. Science, 366(6461), 97-100. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaw5949

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Sep 2, 2019
• Online Publication Date: Oct 4, 2019
• Publication Date: Oct 4, 2019
• Deposit Date: Oct 16, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 16, 2019
• Journal: Science
• Print ISSN: 0036-8075
• Electronic ISSN: 1095-9203
• Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 366
• Issue: 6461
• Pages: 97-100
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaw5949