Faint LAEs near <i>z</i> &gt; 4.7 C <scp>iv</scp> absorbers revealed by MUSE
C. Díaz, Emma Ryan‐Weber, W. Karman, K. I. Caputi, Stefania Salvadori, Neil H. M. Crighton, Masami Ouchi, E. Vanzella
Abstract
ABSTRACT We present the results from the search for Lyman alpha emitters (LAEs) in the proximity of 11 C iv absorption systems at z &gt; 4.7 in the spectrum of the QSO J1030+0524, using data from Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer. We have found multiple LAE candidates close to four C iv systems at $z_{{\rm{C {\small IV}}}}=4.94$–5.74 with $\log _{10}(N_{{\rm{C {\small IV}}}}[$cm−2]) &gt; 13.5. At z = 5–6, C iv systems with W$_0({\rm{C {\small IV}}})\gt 0.2$ Å seem more likely to have galaxies with Ly α emission within ρ &lt; 200 proper kpc (4/5 cases) than the C iv systems with W$_0({\rm{C {\small IV}}})\lt 0.2$ Å (0/6 cases). The impact parameter of LAE–C iv systems with equivalent widths W0(C iv) &gt; 0.5 Å is in the range $11\, \lesssim \, \rho \, \lesssim \, 200$ proper kpc (pkpc). Furthermore, all candidates are in the luminosity range 0.18–1.15 L$^{\star }_{\rm{{Ly\alpha}}}(z=5.7)$, indicating that the environment of C iv systems within 200 pkpc is populated by the faint end of the Ly α luminosity function. We report a 0.28 L$^{\star }_{\rm{{Ly\alpha}}}$ galaxy at a separation of ρ = 11 pkpc from a strong C iv absorption ($\log _{10}(N_{{\rm{C {\small IV}}}}[$cm−2]) = 14.52) at $z_{{\rm{C {\small IV}}}}=5.72419$. The prevalence of sub-L$^{\star }_{\rm{{Ly\alpha}}}$ galaxies in the proximity of z &gt; 4.9 C iv systems suggest that the absorbing material is rather young, likely ejected in the recent past of the identified galaxies. The connection between faint LAEs and high-ionization absorption systems reported in this work is potentially a consequence of the role of low-mass galaxies in the early evolution of the circum-galactic and intergalactic media.