Discovery of Optically Emitting Circumgalactic Nebulae around the Majority of UV-luminous Quasars at Intermediate Redshift

Abstract

We report the discovery of large, ionized, [O ii ]-emitting circumgalactic nebulae around the majority of 30 UV-luminous quasars at z = 0.4–1.4 observed with deep, wide-field integral field spectroscopy with the Multi-Unit Spectroscopy Explorer (MUSE) by the Cosmic Ultraviolet Baryon Survey and MUSE Quasar Blind Emitters Survey. Among the 30 quasars, seven (23%) exhibit [O ii ]-emitting nebulae with major axis sizes greater than 100 kpc, 20 greater than 50 kpc (67%), and 27 (90%) greater than 20 kpc. Such large, optically emitting nebulae indicate that cool, dense, and metal-enriched circumgalactic gas is common in the halos of luminous quasars at intermediate redshift. Several of the largest nebulae exhibit morphologies that suggest interaction-related origins. We detect no correlation between the sizes and cosmological-dimming-corrected surface brightnesses of the nebulae and quasar redshift, luminosity, black hole mass, or radio-loudness, but find a tentative correlation between the nebulae and rest-frame [O ii ] equivalent width in the quasar spectra. This potential trend suggests a relationship between interstellar medium content and gas reservoirs on CGM scales. The [O ii ]-emitting nebulae around the z ≈ 1 quasars are smaller and less common than Ly α nebulae around z ≈ 3 quasars. These smaller sizes can be explained if the outer regions of the Ly α halos arise from scattering in more neutral gas, by evolution in the cool circumgalactic medium content of quasar-host halos, by lower-than-expected metallicities on ≳50 kpc scales around z ≈ 1 quasars, or by changes in quasar episodic lifetimes between z = 3 and 1.

Keywords

• Circumgalactic medium
• Cool intergalactic medium
• Quasars