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Updated: Jun 7, 2025
11:34
Scattering And Absorption of Light in Planetary Regoliths
Published on: July 1, 2019
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A MUSE source-blind survey for emission from the circumgalactic medium
Huanian Zhang1,2, Dennis Zaritsky2
1Department of Astronomy, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430074, China.
Science Advances
|November 20, 2024
Summary
This study maps the cool circumgalactic medium (CGM) around galaxies using optical emission lines. It reveals CGM structures up to 130 kiloparsecs, showing turbulent and coherent motions.
Area of Science:
- Astronomy and Astrophysics
- Cosmic Structure Formation
Background:
- The circumgalactic medium (CGM) is crucial for galaxy evolution but challenging to study.
- Previous studies relied on stacked spectra, limiting individual galaxy CGM mapping.
- Optical emission lines offer a promising avenue for probing the cool CGM.
Purpose of the Study:
- To conduct a source-blind survey for circumgalactic medium (CGM) emission using narrowband imaging.
- To map the cool (∼10^4 K) CGM in individual galaxies across a wide redshift range (z ∼ 0 to 5).
- To characterize the physical properties and dynamics of the CGM.
Main Methods:
- Utilizing archival data from the MUSE instrument on the Very Large Telescope (VLT).
- Performing a wide-field, source-blind narrowband imaging survey for emission line sources.
- Analyzing detected sources to identify CGM structures and measure their properties.
Main Results:
- Cataloged resolved emission line sources tracing CGM structures up to 130 kiloparsecs.
- Identified an Hα source associated with a low-mass galaxy's CGM (stellar mass ~10^8.78 M☉) at z=0.1723.
- Detected a Lyα structure (60 kpc) around a galaxy at z=3.9076 and an [O II] feature (130 kpc) around interacting galaxies at z=1.2480.
Conclusions:
- The CGM of a low-mass galaxy exhibits more turbulent motions than its galactic disk.
- Interacting galaxies display large-scale coherent motions within their surrounding CGM.
- This survey demonstrates the potential to map the cool CGM in individual galaxies.
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