James Webb Space Telescope Feed Post

Harvard ADS: Direct High-resolution Observation of Feedback and Chemical Enrichment in the Circumgalactic Medium at Redshift 2.8

Paper abstract: Although the circumgalactic medium (CGM) plays a vital role in galaxy evolution, studying the emission from CGM is challenging due to its low surface brightness and the complexities involved in interpreting resonant lines like Ly\alpha. The near-infrared coverage, unprecedented sensitivity, and high spatial resolution of the JWST enable us to study the optical strong lines associated with the extended Ly\alpha "nebulae" at redshift 2-3. These lines serve as diagnostic tools to infer the physical conditions in the massive CGM gas reservoir of these systems. In deep medium-band images taken by the JWST, we serendipitously discover the [O III] emission from the CGM surrounding a massive interacting galaxy system at redshift z ~ 2.8, known to be embedded in a bright extended (100 kpc) Ly\alpha "nebula". This is the first time that the [O III] lines are detected from a Ly\alpha "nebula", and the JWST images reveal that the CGM gas actually resides in narrow (~ 2.5 kpc) filamentary structures with strong [O III] emission, tracing the same extent as the Ly\alpha emission. Analysis of the [O III] suggests that the emitting CGM is fully ionized and is energetically dominated by mechanical heating. We also find that the inferred density and pressure are higher than those commonly predicted by simulations of the CGM. We conclude that the observed CGM emission originates from the gas expelled by the episodic feedback processes, cooling down and enriching the CGM, while travelling to a distance of at least 60 kpc. These observations demonstrate how fierce feedback processes shape gas distribution and properties in the CGM around massive halos. While the deep high-resolution imaging opens up a new discovery space for investigating the CGM, it also challenges numerical simulations to explain and reproduce the exquisitely complex structures revealed by the observations.