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Large-scale structure in absorption: gas within and around galaxy voids

Tejos, Nicolas; Morris, Simon L.; Crighton, Neil H.M.; Theuns, Tom; Altay, Gabriel; Finn, Charles W.

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Authors

Nicolas Tejos

Neil H.M. Crighton

Gabriel Altay

Charles W. Finn



Abstract

We investigate the properties of the H I Lyα absorption systems (Lyα forest) within and around galaxy voids at z ≲ 0.1. We find a significant excess (>99 per cent confidence level, c.l.) of Lyα systems at the edges of galaxy voids with respect to a random distribution, on ∼5 h−1 Mpc scales. We find no significant difference in the number of systems inside voids with respect to the random expectation. We report differences between both column density (Graphic) and Doppler parameter (Graphic) distributions of Lyα systems found inside and at the edge of galaxy voids at the ≳98 and ≳90 per cent c.l., respectively. Low-density environments (voids) have smaller values for both Graphic and Graphic than higher density ones (edges of voids). These trends are theoretically expected and also found in Galaxies-Intergalactic Medium Interaction Calculation (GIMIC), a state-of-the-art hydrodynamical simulation. Our findings are consistent with a scenario of at least three types of Lyα systems: (1) containing embedded galaxies and so directly correlated with galaxies (referred to as ‘halo-like’), (2) correlated with galaxies only because they lie in the same overdense large-scale structure (LSS) and (3) associated with underdense LSS with a very low autocorrelation amplitude (≈random) that are not correlated with luminous galaxies. We argue that the latter arise in structures still growing linearly from the primordial density fluctuations inside galaxy voids that have not formed galaxies because of their low densities. We estimate that these underdense LSS absorbers account for 25–30 ± 6 per cent of the current Lyα population (Graphic cm−2), while the other two types account for the remaining 70–75 ± 12 per cent. Assuming that only Graphic cm−2 systems have embedded galaxies nearby, we have estimated the contribution of the ‘halo-like’ Lyα population to be ≈12–15 ± 4 per cent and consequently ≈55–60 ± 13 per cent of the Lyα systems to be associated with the overdense LSS.

Citation

Tejos, N., Morris, S. L., Crighton, N. H., Theuns, T., Altay, G., & Finn, C. W. (2012). Large-scale structure in absorption: gas within and around galaxy voids. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 425(1), 245-260. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2966.2012.21448.x

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Jun 5, 2012
Online Publication Date Sep 1, 2012
Publication Date Sep 1, 2012
Deposit Date Mar 6, 2013
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Print ISSN 0035-8711
Electronic ISSN 1365-2966
Publisher Royal Astronomical Society
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 425
Issue 1
Pages 245-260
DOI https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2966.2012.21448.x

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Copyright Statement
This article has been accepted for publication in Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society ©: 2012 The Authors Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society © 2012 RAS Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.





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