TY  - JOUR
A1  - Marino, Raffaella Anna
A1  - Cantalupo, Sebastiano
A1  - Lilly, Simon J.
A1  - Gallego, Sofia G.
A1  - Straka, Lorrie A.
A1  - Borisova, Elena
A1  - Pezzulli, Gabriele
A1  - Bacon, Roland
A1  - Brinchmann, Jarle
A1  - Carollo, C. Marcella
A1  - Caruana, Joseph
A1  - Conseil, Simon
A1  - Contini, Thierry
A1  - Diener, Catrina
A1  - Finley, Hayley
A1  - Inami, Hanae
A1  - Leclercq, Floriane
A1  - Muzahid, Sowgat
A1  - Richard, Johan
A1  - Schaye, Joop
A1  - Wendt, Martin
A1  - Wisotzki, Lutz
T1  - Dark Galaxy Candidates at Redshift similar to 3.5 Detected with MUSE
JF  - The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics
N2  - Recent theoretical models suggest that the early phase of galaxy formation could involve an epoch when galaxies are gas rich but inefficient at forming stars: a "dark galaxy" phase. Here, we report the results of our Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) survey for dark galaxies fluorescently illuminated by quasars at z > 3. Compared to previous studies which are based on deep narrowband (NB) imaging, our integral field survey provides a nearly uniform sensitivity coverage over a large volume in redshift space around the quasars as well as full spectral information at each location. Thanks to these unique features, we are able to build control samples at large redshift distances from the quasars using the same data taken under the same conditions. By comparing the rest-frame equivalent width (EW0) distributions of the Ly alpha sources detected in proximity to the quasars and in control samples, we detect a clear correlation between the locations of high-EW0 objects and the quasars. This correlation is not seen in other properties, such as Ly alpha luminosities or volume overdensities, suggesting the possible fluorescent nature of at least some of these objects. Among these, we find six sources without continuum counterparts and EW0 limits larger than 240 angstrom that are the best candidates for dark galaxies in our survey at z > 3.5. The volume densities and properties, including inferred gas masses and star formation efficiencies, of these dark galaxy candidates are similar to those of previously detected candidates at z approximate to 2.4 in NB surveys. Moreover, if the most distant of these are fluorescently illuminated by the quasar, our results also provide a lower limit of t - 60 Myr on the quasar lifetime.
KW  - galaxies: formation
KW  - galaxies: high-redshift
KW  - galaxies: star formation
KW  - intergalactic medium
KW  - quasars: emission lines
KW  - quasars: general
Y1  - 2018
U6  - https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aab6aa
SN  - 0004-637X
SN  - 1538-4357
VL  - 859
IS  - 1
PB  - IOP Publ. Ltd.
CY  - Bristol
ER  -