Mapping the Most Massive Overdensities through Hydrogen (MAMMOTH). II. Discovery of the Extremely Massive Overdensity BOSS1441 at z = 2.32
- UCO/Lick Observatory, University of California, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95064 (United States)
- Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, 933 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721 (United States)
- Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Mount Stromlo Observatory, Cotter Road, Weston ACT 2611 (Australia)
- Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute, 776 Daedeokdae-ro, Yuseong-gu Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)
- Instituto de Astrofisica, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, 7820436 Santiago (Chile)
- National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Mitaka, Tokyo, 181-8588 (Japan)
- The Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Peking University, Beijing 100871 (China)
Cosmological simulations suggest a strong correlation between high optical-depth Lyα absorbers, which arise from the intergalactic medium, and 3D mass overdensities on scales of 10–30 h{sup −1} comoving Mpc. By examining the absorption spectra of ∼80,000 QSO sight lines over a volume of 0.1 Gpc{sup 3} in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III (SDSS-III), we have identified an extreme overdensity, BOSS1441, which contains a rare group of strong Lyα absorbers at z=2.32±0.02. This absorber group is associated with six QSOs at the same redshift on a 30 comoving Mpc scale. Using Mayall/MOSAIC narrowband and broadband imaging, we detect Lyα emitters (LAEs) down to 0.7×L{sub Lyα}{sup ∗} and reveal a large-scale structure of LAEs in this field. Our follow-up LBT observations have spectroscopically confirmed 20 galaxies in the density peak. We show that BOSS1441 has an LAE overdensity of 10.8 ± 2.6 on a 15 comoving Mpc scale, which could collapse to a massive cluster with M ≳ 10{sup 15} M{sub ⊙} at z∼0. This overdensity is among the most massive large-scale structures at z∼2 discovered to date.
- OSTI ID:
- 22872768
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 839, Issue 2; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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