The Lyman-α Halo of Radio Galaxy B2 0902+34: 2D Spectroscopy and Modeling

Details The Lyman-α Halo of Radio Galaxy B2 0902+34: 2D Spectroscopy and Modeling The Lyman-α Halo of Radio Galaxy B2 0902+34: 2D Spectroscopy and Modeling

Dec 2007

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2007aas...211.4402a&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #211, #44.02; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 39, p.792

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Scientific paper

We use two tools new to the subject to reveal the physical conditions of the giant Lyman-alpha halo around the radio galaxy B2 0902+34: optical integral field spectroscopy and resonant scatter modeling. Our spectra of Lyman-alpha, taken with the new Visible Integral field Replicable Unit Spectrograph Prototype (VIRUS-P) over six hours, reveal that the Lyman-alpha halo extends to a 100 kpc diameter with an average FWHM of 600 km/s and shows a spatially distinct blueshifted kinematic component with an offset of 700 km/s in the S-W quadrant. We use Monte Carlo resonant scattering modeling with the physical setup of opposing ionization cones extending nearly toward and away from the line-of-sight and globally infalling gas to reproduce the observations. As opposed to other extended Lyman-alpha halo systems such as the Lyman-alpha blobs, a system without rough spherical symmetry can distinguish observationally between the competing explanations of infalling gas and galactic superwinds. We also show how the previous radio observations of polarization and 21cm absorption are consistent with our physical picture. We have begun observations on other radio galaxy Lyman-alpha halo systems to investigate the generality of these conclusions. Our findings give further evidence to the idea of high redshift radio galaxies as protogalaxies on their way to becoming brightest cluster members. VIRUS-P has been made possible by a generous donation from the Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation. This work is supported by Texas Advanced Research Program Grant No. 003658-0005-2006, a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, and a Sigma Xi travel grant.

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