Revisiting the gas kinematics in SSA22 Lyman-α Blob 1 with radiative transfer modelling in a multiphase, clumpy medium. Issue 2 (23rd October 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Li, Zhihui; Steidel, Charles C; Gronke, Max; Chen, Yuguang
• Is Part Of: Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. Volume 502:Issue 2(2021)
• Page Start: 2389
• Page End: 2408
• Publication Date: 2020-10-23
• Subjects: galaxies: evolution -- galaxies: high-redshift -- intergalactic medium -- galaxies: kinematics and dynamics; Astronomy -- Periodicals; Periodicals; 520.5
• DOI: 10.1093/mnras/staa3951
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0035-8711

Abstract

ABSTRACT: We present new observations of Lyman-α (Lyα) Blob 1 (LAB1) in the SSA22 protocluster region ( z = 3.09) using the Keck Cosmic Web Imager and Keck Multi-object Spectrometer for Infrared Exploration. We have created a narrow-band Lyα image and identified several prominent features. By comparing the spatial distributions and intensities of Lyα and Hβ, we find that recombination of photo-ionized H i gas followed by resonant scattering is sufficient to explain all the observed Lyα/Hβ ratios. We further decode the spatially resolved Lyα profiles using both moment maps and radiative transfer modelling. By fitting a set of multiphase, 'clumpy' models to the observed Lyα profiles, we manage to reasonably constrain many parameters, namely the H i number density in the interclump medium (ICM), the cloud volume filling factor, the random velocity and outflow velocity of the clumps, the H i outflow velocity of the ICM, and the local systemic redshift. Our model has successfully reproduced the diverse Lyα morphologies, and the main results are: (1) the observed Lyα spectra require relatively few clumps per line of sight as they have significant fluxes at the line centre; (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 H i in the ICM is optically thick; (4) and the H i in the ICM is responsible for the absorption feature close to the Lyα line centre.