The relationship between gas and galaxies at z < 1 using the Q0107 quasar triplet
Abstract
We study the distribution and dynamics of the circumgalactic and intergalactic medium using a dense galaxy survey covering the field around the Q0107 system, a unique z ≈ 1 projected quasar triplet. With full Ly α coverage along all three lines-of-sight from z = 0.18 to z = 0.73, more than 1200 galaxy spectra, and two MUSE fields, we examine the structure of the gas around galaxies on 100-1000 kpc scales. We search for H I absorption systems occurring at the same redshift (within 500 km s-1) in multiple sightlines, finding with >99.9 per cent significance that these systems are more frequent in the observed quasar spectra than in a randomly distributed population of absorbers. This is driven primarily by absorption with column densities N(H I) > 1014 cm-2, whilst multi-sightline absorbers with lower column densities are consistent with a random distribution. Star-forming galaxies are more likely to be associated with multi-sightline absorption than quiescent galaxies. HST imaging provides inclinations and position angles for a subset of these galaxies. We observe a bimodality in the position angle of detected galaxy-absorber pairs, again driven mostly by high-column-density absorbers, with absorption preferentially along the major and minor axes of galaxies out to impact parameters of several hundred kpc. We find some evidence supporting a disc/outflow dichotomy, as H I absorbers near the projected major axis of a galaxy show line-of-sight velocities that tend to align with the rotation of that galaxy, whilst minor-axis absorbers are twice as likely to exhibit O VI at the same redshift.
- Publication:
-
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Pub Date:
- September 2021
- DOI:
- 10.1093/mnras/stab1630
- arXiv:
- arXiv:2106.06416
- Bibcode:
- 2021MNRAS.506.2574B
- Keywords:
-
- galaxies: formation;
- intergalactic medium;
- quasars: absorption lines;
- large-scale structure of Universe;
- Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies
- E-Print:
- 30 pages, 22 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS