English

ODIN: Confirmation and 3D Reconstruction of Six Massive Protoclusters at Cosmic Noon

Astrophysics of Galaxies 2026-03-12 v2

Abstract

Protoclusters represent sites of accelerated galaxy formation and extreme astrophysical activity characteristic of dense environments. Identifying massive protoclusters and mapping their spatial structures are therefore crucial first steps in understanding how the large-scale environment influences galaxy evolution. We combine wide-field Lyα\alpha imaging from the ODIN survey with extensive DESI and ancillary spectroscopy across the extended COSMOS and XMM-LSS fields (\approx14 deg2^2) to search for massive protoclusters. We confirm six systems at z2.4z\approx 2.4 and z3.1z\approx 3.1, reconstruct their three-dimensional structures, estimate descendant halo masses, and, for one structure at z3.12z\approx 3.12, demonstrate that overlapping narrowband filters (NB497NB497 and N501N501) provide accurate redshift tomography for emission-line galaxies. One protocluster at z2.45z\approx 2.45 overlaps with one of the LATIS tomographic fields, enabling direct comparison between galaxy and H {\sc i} overdensities traced by Lyα\alpha forest absorption. Another at z3.12z\approx 3.12 hosts a massive quiescent galaxy (M1.2×1011MM_{\ast} \approx 1.2 \times 10^{11}M_\odot), indicating early quenching in a dense environment. By comparing Lyα\alpha emission properties across environments, we find that protocluster galaxies exhibit higher median line fluxes and a deficit of faint emitters relative to the field. The effect is strongest when both 2D and 3D density information are combined, indicating that galaxies in the densest protocluster cores are most affected by environmental processes. This effect is stronger at z3.1z\approx3.1 than at z2.4z\approx2.4, suggesting possible redshift evolution.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2603.09739,
  title  = {ODIN: Confirmation and 3D Reconstruction of Six Massive Protoclusters at Cosmic Noon},
  author = {Ashley Ortiz and Vandana Ramakrishnan and Kyoung-Soo Lee and Arjun Dey and Yucheng Guo and Ethan Pinarski and Anand Raichoor and Francisco Valdes and J. Aguilar and Steven Ahlen and Maria Celeste Artale and Davide Bianchi and August Bliese and David Brooks and Rebecca Canning and Maria Cerdosino and Todd Claybaugh and Andrei Cuceu and Axel de la Macorra and Peter Doel and Jaime Forero and Eric Gawiser and Enrique Gaztanaga and Satya Gontcho and Caryl Gronwall and Lucia Guaita and Gaston Gutierrez and Hiram K. Herrera-Alcantar and Ho Seong Hwang and Woong-Seob Jeong and Dick Joyce and Robert Kehoe and Theodore Kisner and Anthony Kremin and Ankit Kumar and Ofer Lahav and Martin Landriau and Jaehyun Lee and Seong-Kook Lee and Laurent Le Guillou and Marc Manera and Aaron Meisner and Ramon Miquel and Byeongha Moon and John Moustakas and Adam Myers and Seshadri Nadathur and Nathalie Palanque-Delabrouille and Changbom Park and Will Percival and Ignasi Perez-Rafols and Francisco Prada and Eshwar Puvvada and Graziano Rossi and Eusebio Sanchez and David Schlegel and Michael Schubnell and Joseph Harry Silber and Hyunmi Song and David Sprayberry and Gregory Tarle and Paulina Troncoso and Ana Sofia Uzsoy and Benjamin Weaver and Yujin Yang and Rongpu Zhou and Hu Zou},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2603.09739},
  year   = {2026}
}