The nature of Lyα blobs: Powered by extreme starbursts

Abstract

We present a new model for the observed Lyα blobs (LABs) within the context of the standard cold dark matter model. In this model, LABs are the most massive halos with the strongest clustering (protoclusters) undergoing extreme starbursts in the high-z universe. Aided by calculations of detailed radiative transfer of Lyα photons through ultrahigh resolution (159 pc), large-scale (≥30 Mpc) adaptive mesh refinement cosmological hydrodynamic simulations with galaxy formation, this model is shown to be able to, for the first time, reproduce simultaneously the global Lyα luminosity function and the luminosity-size relation of the observed LABs. Physically, a combination of dust attenuation of Lyα photons within galaxies, clustering of galaxies, and the complex propagation of Lyα photons through the circumgalactic and intergalactic medium gives rise to the large sizes and the irregular isophotal shapes of LABs that are frequently observed. A generic and unique prediction of this model is that there should be strong far-infrared (FIR) sources within each LAB with the most luminous FIR source likely representing the gravitational center of the protocluster, not necessarily the apparent center of the Lyα emission of the LAB or the most luminous optical source. Upcoming ALMA observations should unambiguously test this prediction. If verified, LABs will provide very valuable laboratories for studying the formation of galaxies in the most overdense regions of the universe at a time when the global star formation was the most vigorous. © 2013. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved..