POLARIZED EXTENDED Ly{alpha} EMISSION FROM A z = 2.3 RADIO GALAXY

Journal Article · Wed May 01 04:00:00 EDT 2013 · Astrophysical Journal Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/768/1/L3· OSTI ID:22130701

Humphrey, A. ^[1]; Vernet, J.; Fosbury, R. A. E. ^[2]; Villar-Martin, M. ^[3]; Di Serego Alighieri, S. ^[4]

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1. Centro de Astrofisica da Universidade do Porto, Rua das Estrelas, 4150-762 Porto (Portugal)
2. European Southern Observatory, Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 2, D-85748 Garching (Germany)
3. Centro de Astrobiologia (INTA-CSIC), Carretera de Ajalvir, km 4, E-28850 Torrejon de Ardoz, Madrid (Spain)
4. INAF-Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri, L.go E. Fermi 5, I-50125 Firenze (Italy)

We present spatially resolved spectropolarimetric measurements of the 100 kpc scale gaseous environment of the z = 2.34 radio galaxy TXS 0211-122. The polarization level of the narrow Ly{alpha} emission is low centrally (P < 5%), but rises to P = 16.4% {+-} 4.6% in the eastern part of the nebula, indicating that the nebula is at least partly powered by the scattering of Ly{alpha} photons by H I. Not only is this the first detection of polarized Ly{alpha} around a radio-loud active galaxy, it is also the second detection to date for any kind of Ly{alpha} nebula. We also detect a pair of diametrically opposed UV continuum sources along the slit, at the outer edges of the Ly{alpha} nebula, which we suggest may be the limb of a dusty shell, related to the large-scale H I absorbers often associated with high-z radio galaxies.

• OSTI ID: 22130701
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal Letters, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal Letters Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 768; ISSN 2041-8205
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
DETECTION
EMISSION
LIMBS
NEBULAE
PHOTONS
POLARIZATION
RADIO GALAXIES
RED SHIFT
SCATTERING
SPATIAL RESOLUTION