---
_id: '11526'
abstract:
- lang: eng
  text: We present the results from a MUSE survey of twelve z ≃ 3.15 quasars, which
    were selected to be much fainter (20 < iSDSS < 23) than in previous studies of
    giant Ly α nebulae around the brightest quasars (16.6 < iAB < 18.7). We detect
    H I Ly α nebulae around 100 per cent of our target quasars, with emission extending
    to scales of at least 60 physical kpc, and up to 190 pkpc. We explore correlations
    between properties of the nebulae and their host quasars, with the goal of connecting
    variations in the properties of the illuminating QSO to the response in nebular
    emission. We show that the surface brightness profiles of the nebulae are similar
    to those of nebulae around bright quasars, but with a lower normalization. Our
    targeted quasars are on average 3.7 mag (≃30 times) fainter in UV continuum than
    our bright reference sample, and yet the nebulae around them are only 4.3 times
    fainter in mean Ly α surface brightness, measured between 20 and 50 pkpc. We find
    significant correlations between the surface brightness of the nebula and the
    luminosity of the quasar in both UV continuum and Ly α. The latter can be interpreted
    as evidence for a substantial contribution from unresolved inner parts of the
    nebulae to the narrow components seen in the Ly α lines of some of our faint quasars,
    possibly from the inner circumgalactic medium or from the host galaxy’s interstellar
    medium.
acknowledgement: The authors thank Daichi Kashino, for providing access to unpublished
  zCOSMOS Deep data, and Jakob S. den Brok for sharing code used in den Brok et al.
  (2020). GP and SC acknowledge the support of the Swiss National Science Foundation
  [grant PP00P2163824]. SM is supported by the Experienced Researchers Fellowship,
  Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung, Germany. This work is based on observations collected
  at the European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere
  under the MUSE GTO programme. The major analysis and production of figures in this
  work was conducted in Python, using standard libraries which include NumPy (Harris
  et al. 2020), SciPy (Virtanen et al. 2020), Matplotlib (Hunter 2007) and the interactive
  command shell IPython (Pérez & Granger 2007). This research also made use of Astropy,
  a community-developed core Python package for Astronomy (Astropy Collaboration et
  al. 2013), and Photutils, an Astropy package for detection and photometry of astronomica
  sources (Bradley et al. 2019). The python interface dustmaps (Green 2018) was used
  to query galactic extinction maps. topcat, a graphical tool for manipulating tabular
  data, was also utilized in this analysis (Taylor 2005). This research has made use
  of the "Aladin sky atlas" developed at CDS, Strasbourg Observatory, France (Bonnarel
  et al. 2000).
article_processing_charge: No
article_type: original
arxiv: 1
author:
- first_name: Ruari
  full_name: Mackenzie, Ruari
  last_name: Mackenzie
- first_name: Gabriele
  full_name: Pezzulli, Gabriele
  last_name: Pezzulli
- first_name: Sebastiano
  full_name: Cantalupo, Sebastiano
  last_name: Cantalupo
- first_name: Raffaella A
  full_name: Marino, Raffaella A
  last_name: Marino
- first_name: Simon
  full_name: Lilly, Simon
  last_name: Lilly
- first_name: Sowgat
  full_name: Muzahid, Sowgat
  last_name: Muzahid
- first_name: Jorryt J
  full_name: Matthee, Jorryt J
  id: 7439a258-f3c0-11ec-9501-9df22fe06720
  last_name: Matthee
  orcid: 0000-0003-2871-127X
- first_name: Joop
  full_name: Schaye, Joop
  last_name: Schaye
- first_name: Lutz
  full_name: Wisotzki, Lutz
  last_name: Wisotzki
citation:
  ama: Mackenzie R, Pezzulli G, Cantalupo S, et al. Revealing the impact of quasar
    luminosity on giant Lyα nebulae. <i>Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical
    Society</i>. 2021;502(1):494-509. doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/staa3277">10.1093/mnras/staa3277</a>
  apa: Mackenzie, R., Pezzulli, G., Cantalupo, S., Marino, R. A., Lilly, S., Muzahid,
    S., … Wisotzki, L. (2021). Revealing the impact of quasar luminosity on giant
    Lyα nebulae. <i>Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society</i>. Oxford
    University Press. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/staa3277">https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/staa3277</a>
  chicago: Mackenzie, Ruari, Gabriele Pezzulli, Sebastiano Cantalupo, Raffaella A
    Marino, Simon Lilly, Sowgat Muzahid, Jorryt J Matthee, Joop Schaye, and Lutz Wisotzki.
    “Revealing the Impact of Quasar Luminosity on Giant Lyα Nebulae.” <i>Monthly Notices
    of the Royal Astronomical Society</i>. Oxford University Press, 2021. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/staa3277">https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/staa3277</a>.
  ieee: R. Mackenzie <i>et al.</i>, “Revealing the impact of quasar luminosity on
    giant Lyα nebulae,” <i>Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society</i>,
    vol. 502, no. 1. Oxford University Press, pp. 494–509, 2021.
  ista: Mackenzie R, Pezzulli G, Cantalupo S, Marino RA, Lilly S, Muzahid S, Matthee
    JJ, Schaye J, Wisotzki L. 2021. Revealing the impact of quasar luminosity on giant
    Lyα nebulae. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 502(1), 494–509.
  mla: Mackenzie, Ruari, et al. “Revealing the Impact of Quasar Luminosity on Giant
    Lyα Nebulae.” <i>Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society</i>, vol. 502,
    no. 1, Oxford University Press, 2021, pp. 494–509, doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/staa3277">10.1093/mnras/staa3277</a>.
  short: R. Mackenzie, G. Pezzulli, S. Cantalupo, R.A. Marino, S. Lilly, S. Muzahid,
    J.J. Matthee, J. Schaye, L. Wisotzki, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical
    Society 502 (2021) 494–509.
date_created: 2022-07-07T10:11:15Z
date_published: 2021-03-01T00:00:00Z
date_updated: 2022-08-18T10:56:28Z
day: '01'
doi: 10.1093/mnras/staa3277
extern: '1'
external_id:
  arxiv:
  - '2010.12589'
intvolume: '       502'
issue: '1'
keyword:
- Space and Planetary Science
- Astronomy and Astrophysics
- 'techniques: imaging spectroscopy'
- intergalactic medium
- 'quasars: emission lines'
- 'quasars: general'
language:
- iso: eng
main_file_link:
- open_access: '1'
  url: https://arxiv.org/abs/2010.12589
month: '03'
oa: 1
oa_version: Preprint
page: 494-509
publication: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
publication_identifier:
  eissn:
  - 1365-2966
  issn:
  - 0035-8711
publication_status: published
publisher: Oxford University Press
quality_controlled: '1'
scopus_import: '1'
status: public
title: Revealing the impact of quasar luminosity on giant Lyα nebulae
type: journal_article
user_id: 2DF688A6-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
volume: 502
year: '2021'
...