A cosmic stream of atomic carbon gas connected to a massive radio galaxy at redshift 3.8

The growth of galaxies in the early Universe is driven by accretion of circum- and intergalactic gas. Simulations have predicted that steady streams of cold gas penetrate the dark matter halos of galaxies and provide the raw material necessary to sustain star formation. We report a filamentary strea...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) 2023-03, Vol.379 (6639), p.1323-1326
Main Authors: Emonts, Bjorn H C, Lehnert, Matthew D, Yoon, Ilsang, Mandelker, Nir, Villar-Martín, Montserrat, Miley, George K, De Breuck, Carlos, Pérez-Torres, Miguel A, Hatch, Nina A, Guillard, Pierre
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Astrophysics
Carbon
Cold gas
Deposition
Galaxies
Gas streams
Intergalactic media
Physics
Radio galaxies
Red shift
Star formation
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Summary:The growth of galaxies in the early Universe is driven by accretion of circum- and intergalactic gas. Simulations have predicted that steady streams of cold gas penetrate the dark matter halos of galaxies and provide the raw material necessary to sustain star formation. We report a filamentary stream of gas that extends for 100 kiloparsecs and connects to the massive radio galaxy 4C 41.17. We detected the stream using submillimeter observations of the to emission from the [C i] line of atomic carbon, a tracer of neutral atomic or molecular hydrogen gas. The galaxy contains a central gas reservoir that is fueling a vigorous starburst. Our results show that the raw material for star formation can be present in cosmic streams outside galaxies.
ISSN:0036-8075
1095-9203
DOI:10.1126/science.abh2150