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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Preprint |
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2025
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| Online Access: | https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.01499 |
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| _version_ | 1866913933054443520 |
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| author | Ďurovčíková, Dominika Eilers, Anna-Christina Simcoe, Robert A. Welsh, Louise Meyer, Romain A. Matthee, Jorryt Ryan-Weber, Emma V. Yue, Minghao Katz, Harley Satyavolu, Sindhu Becker, George Davies, Frederick B. Farina, Emanuele Paolo |
| author_facet | Ďurovčíková, Dominika Eilers, Anna-Christina Simcoe, Robert A. Welsh, Louise Meyer, Romain A. Matthee, Jorryt Ryan-Weber, Emma V. Yue, Minghao Katz, Harley Satyavolu, Sindhu Becker, George Davies, Frederick B. Farina, Emanuele Paolo |
| contents | We report the discovery of a Lyman $α$ emitter (LAE) candidate in the immediate foreground of the quasar PSO J158-14 at $z_{\rm QSO}=6.0685$ at a projected distance $\sim29\ {\rm pkpc}$ that is associated with an extremely metal-poor absorption system. This system was found in archival observations of the quasar field with the Very Large Telescope/Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (VLT/MUSE) and was previously missed in searches of absorption systems using quasar absorption line spectroscopy as it imparts no detectable metal absorption lines on the background quasar spectrum. The detected Ly$α$ emission line at a redshift of $z_{\rm LAE}=6.0323$ is well aligned with the outer edge of the quasar's proximity zone and can plausibly cause its observed damping wing if it is associated with a proximate sub-damped Ly$α$ absorption system with a column density of $\log {N_{\rm HI} / {\rm cm}^{-2}} \approx 19.7$. A $>10$ hour medium-resolution spectrum of the quasar observed with the Magellan/Folded-port InfraRed Echellette (FIRE) and VLT/X-Shooter spectrographs reveals a metallicity constraint of ${\rm [Z/H]} < -3$. Such low metallicity makes this system an extremely metal-poor galaxy candidate and provides an exciting site to study possible signatures of Population III stars. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2505_01499 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | An extremely metal-poor Lyman $α$ emitter candidate at $z=6$ revealed through absorption spectroscopy Ďurovčíková, Dominika Eilers, Anna-Christina Simcoe, Robert A. Welsh, Louise Meyer, Romain A. Matthee, Jorryt Ryan-Weber, Emma V. Yue, Minghao Katz, Harley Satyavolu, Sindhu Becker, George Davies, Frederick B. Farina, Emanuele Paolo Astrophysics of Galaxies We report the discovery of a Lyman $α$ emitter (LAE) candidate in the immediate foreground of the quasar PSO J158-14 at $z_{\rm QSO}=6.0685$ at a projected distance $\sim29\ {\rm pkpc}$ that is associated with an extremely metal-poor absorption system. This system was found in archival observations of the quasar field with the Very Large Telescope/Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (VLT/MUSE) and was previously missed in searches of absorption systems using quasar absorption line spectroscopy as it imparts no detectable metal absorption lines on the background quasar spectrum. The detected Ly$α$ emission line at a redshift of $z_{\rm LAE}=6.0323$ is well aligned with the outer edge of the quasar's proximity zone and can plausibly cause its observed damping wing if it is associated with a proximate sub-damped Ly$α$ absorption system with a column density of $\log {N_{\rm HI} / {\rm cm}^{-2}} \approx 19.7$. A $>10$ hour medium-resolution spectrum of the quasar observed with the Magellan/Folded-port InfraRed Echellette (FIRE) and VLT/X-Shooter spectrographs reveals a metallicity constraint of ${\rm [Z/H]} < -3$. Such low metallicity makes this system an extremely metal-poor galaxy candidate and provides an exciting site to study possible signatures of Population III stars. |
| title | An extremely metal-poor Lyman $α$ emitter candidate at $z=6$ revealed through absorption spectroscopy |
| topic | Astrophysics of Galaxies |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.01499 |