English

Revisiting the Gas Kinematics in SSA22 Lyman-$\alpha$ Blob 1 with Radiative Transfer Modeling in a Multiphase, Clumpy Medium

Astrophysics of Galaxies 2021-01-21 v2

Abstract

We present new observations of Lyman-α\alpha (Lyα\alpha) Blob 1 (LAB1) in the SSA22 protocluster region (zz = 3.09) using the Keck Cosmic Web Imager (KCWI) and the Keck Multi-object Spectrometer for Infrared Exploration (MOSFIRE). By applying matched filtering to the KCWI datacube, we have created a narrow-band Lyα\alpha image and identified several prominent features. By comparing the spatial distributions and intensities of Lyα\alpha and Hβ\beta, we find that recombination of photo-ionized HI gas followed by resonant scattering is sufficient to explain all the observed Lyα\alpha/Hβ\beta ratios. We further decode the spatially-resolved Lyα\alpha profiles using both moment maps and Monte-Carlo radiative transfer (MCRT) modeling. By fitting a set of multiphase, 'clumpy' models to the observed Lyα\alpha profiles, we are able to reasonably constrain many parameters, namely the HI number density in the inter-clump medium (ICM), the cloud volume filling factor, the random velocity and outflow velocity of the clumps, the HI outflow velocity of the ICM and the local systemic redshift. Our model has successfully reproduced the diverse Lyα\alpha morphologies at different locations, and the main results are: (1) The observed Lyα\alpha spectra require relatively few clumps per line-of-sight as they have significant fluxes at the line center; (2) The velocity dispersion of the clumps yields a significant broadening of the spectra as observed; (3) The clump bulk outflow can also cause additional broadening if the HI in the ICM is optically thick; (4) The HI in the ICM is responsible for the absorption feature close to the Lyα\alpha line center.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2008.09130,
  title  = {Revisiting the Gas Kinematics in SSA22 Lyman-$\alpha$ Blob 1 with Radiative Transfer Modeling in a Multiphase, Clumpy Medium},
  author = {Zhihui Li and Charles C. Steidel and Max Gronke and Yuguang Chen},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2008.09130},
  year   = {2021}
}

Comments

v1: 25 pages, 7 figures, submitted to MNRAS. v2: revised version with a full list of posterior figures, published in MNRAS