English

A Deep Search for a Strong Diffuse Interstellar Band in the Circumgalactic Medium

Astrophysics of Galaxies 2025-10-01 v1

Abstract

We investigate the absorption signals of a strong diffuse interstellar band, DIBλ4430\lambda4430, in the circumgalactic medium (CGM) traced by MgII absorption lines. To this end, we make use of approximately 60,000 MgII absorption line spectra within 0.4<z<1.00.4<z<1.0 compiled from the Sloan Digital Sky Surveys and obtain composite spectra with uncertainties for absorption line measurements being a few mA˚\r{A}. By using MgII absorption strength and dust reddening relation from the literature, we measure the DIBλ4430\lambda4430 absorption strength as a function of E(BV)\rm E(B-V) in the CGM, and compare the Milky Way DIBλ4430\lambda4430 - E(BV)\rm E(B-V) relation extrapolated down to the CGM E(BV)\rm E(B-V) region. Our results show no detectable signals of DIBλ4430\lambda4430 across the entire E(BV)\rm E(B-V) range in the CGM traced by MgII absorption lines. This lack of detection of DIBλ4430\lambda4430 in the CGM is inconsistent with the Milky Way signals by 5σ\sim 5 \, \sigma, indicating that the factors associated with different environments affect the abundance of the DIBλ4430\lambda4430 carrier.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2501.07082,
  title  = {A Deep Search for a Strong Diffuse Interstellar Band in the Circumgalactic Medium},
  author = {Chih-Yuan Chang and Ting-Wen Lan},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2501.07082},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

7 pages, 2 figures, comments and suggestions are welcome

R2 v1 2026-06-28T21:04:17.180Z