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he correlation between neutral hydrogen (H i) in the intergalactic medium (IGM) and galaxies attracts great interest. We select four fields that include several coherently strong Lyα absorption systems at z ∼ 2.2 detected using background quasars from the whole SDSS/(e) Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) database. Deep narrowband and g-band imaging are performed using the Hyper Suprime-Cam on the Subaru Telescope. We select 2642 Lyα emitter (LAE) candidates at z = 2.177 ± 0.023 down to the Lyα luminosity of LLyα ≈ 2 × 1042 erg s−1 to construct the galaxy overdensity maps, covering an effective area of 5.39 deg2. Combining the sample with the Lyα absorption estimated from 64 (e) BOSS quasar spectra, we find a moderate to strong correlation between the LAE overdensity δLAE and the effective optical depth τLoS in lines of sight, with P value = 0.09% or

Characterizing high-z quasar environments is key to understanding the co-evolution of quasars and the surrounding galaxies. To restrict their global picture, we statistically examine the g-dropout galaxy overdensity distribution around 570 faint quasar candidates at z ~ 4, based on the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program survey. We compare the overdensity significances of g-dropout galaxies around the quasars with those around g-dropout galaxies, and find no significant difference between their distributions. A total of 4 (22) out of the 570 faint quasars, 0.7_{-0.4}^{+0.4} (3.9_{-0.8}^{+0.8}) %, are found to be associated with the > 4 sigma overdense regions within an angular separation of 1.8 (3.0) arcmin, which is the typical size of protoclusters at this epoch. This is similar to the fraction of g-dropout galaxies associated with the > 4 sigma overdense regions. This result is consistent with our previous work that 1.3_{-0.9}^{+0.9} % and 2.0_{-1.1}^{+1.1} % of luminous quasars detected in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey exist in the > 4 sigma overdense regions within 1.8 and 3.0 arcmin separations, respectively. Therefore, we suggest that the galaxy number densities around quasars are independent of their luminosity, and most quasars do not preferentially appear in the richest protocluster regions at z ~ 4. The lack of an apparent positive correlation between the quasars and the protoclusters implies that: i) the gas-rich major merger rate is relatively low in the protocluster regions, ii) most high-z quasars may appear through secular processes, or iii) some dust-obscured quasars exist in the protocluster regions., 12 pages, 4 figures

GN-z11 was photometrically selected as a luminous star-forming galaxy candidate at redshift z > 10 based on Hubble Space Telescope (HST) imaging data. Follow-up HST near-infrared grism observations detected a continuum break that was explained as the Ly-alpha break corresponding to z = 11.09 (+0.08-0.12). However, its accurate redshift remained unclear. Here we report a probable detection of three ultraviolet (UV) emission lines from GN-z11, which can be interpreted as the [C III] 1907, C III] 1909 doublet and O III] 1666 at z = 10.957+/-0.001 (when the Universe was only ~420 Myr old, or ~3% of its current age). This is consistent with the redshift of the previous grism observations, supporting GN-z11 as the most distant galaxy known to date. Its UV lines likely originate from dense ionized gas that is rarely seen at low redshifts, and its strong [C III] and C III] emission is partly due to an active galactic nucleus (AGN) or enhanced carbon abundance. GN-z11 is luminous and young, yet moderately massive, implying a rapid build-up of stellar mass in the past. Future facilities will be able to find the progenitors of such galaxies at higher redshift and probe the cosmic epoch in the beginning of re-ionization., Published in Nature Astronomy on Dec 14, 2020; 21 pages; authors' version

We report the rest-frame ultraviolet luminosity function of $g$-dropout galaxies in 177 protocluster candidates (PC UVLF) at $z\sim4$ selected in the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program. Comparing with the UVLF of field galaxies at the same redshift, we find that the PC UVLF shows a significant excess towards the bright-end. This excess can not be explained by the contribution of only active galactic nuclei, and we also find that this is more significant in higher dense regions. Assuming that all protocluster members are located on the star formation main sequence, the PC UVLF can be converted into a stellar mass function. Consequently, our protocluster members are inferred to have a 2.8 times more massive characteristic stellar mass than that of the field Lyman break galaxies at the same redshift. This study, for the first time, clearly shows that the enhancement in star formation or stellar mass in overdense regions can generally be seen as early as at $z\sim4$. We also estimate the star formation rate density (SFRD) in protocluster regions as $\simeq 6-20\%$ of the cosmic SFRD, based on the measured PC UVLF after correcting for the selection incompleteness in our protocluster sample. This high value suggests that protoclusters make a non-negligible contribution to the cosmic SFRD at $z\sim4$, as previously suggested by simulations. Our results suggest that protoclusters are essential components for the galaxy evolution at $z\sim4$., Comment: 22 pages, 16 figures, Accepted for publication in ApJ

To determine the dominant sources for cosmic reionization, the evolution history of the global ionizing fraction, and the topology of the ionized regions, we have conducted a deep imaging survey using four narrow-band (NB) and one intermediate-band (IB) filters on the Subaru/Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC), called Cosmic HydrOgen Reionization Unveiled with Subaru (CHORUS). The central wavelengths and full-widths-at-half-maximum of the CHORUS filters are, respectively, 386.2 nm and 5.5 nm for NB387, 526.0 nm and 7.9 nm for NB527, 717.1 nm and 11.1 nm for NB718, 946.2 nm and 33.0 nm for IB945, and 971.2 nm and 11.2 nm for NB973. This combination, including NB921 (921.5 nm and 13.5 nm) from the Subaru Strategic Program with HSC (HSC SSP), are carefully designed, as if they were playing a chorus, to observe multiple spectral features simultaneously, such as Lyman continuum, Ly$\alpha$, C~{\sc iv}, and He~{\sc ii} for $z=2$--$7$. The observing field is the same as that of the deepest footprint of the HSC SSP in the COSMOS field and its effective area is about 1.6 deg$^2$. Here, we present an overview of the CHORUS project, which includes descriptions of the filter design philosophy, observations and data reduction, multiband photometric catalogs, assessments of the imaging quality, measurements of the number counts, and example use cases of the data. All the imaging data, photometric catalogs, masked pixel images, data of limiting magnitudes and point spread functions, results of completeness simulations, and source number counts are publicly available through the HSC SSP database., Comment: 17 pages, 6 figures, PASJ open access (https://academic.oup.com/pasj/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/pasj/psaa100/5959796), all the data products are available at https://hsc-release.mtk.nao.ac.jp/doc/index.php/chorus

We present a comparison of the spatial distributions of Lyα emitters (LAEs) and massive star-forming and quiescent galaxies (SFGs and QGs) at 2 < z < 4.5. We use the photometric redshift catalog to select SFGs and QGs and an LAE catalog from intermediate/narrow bands obtained from the Subaru Telescope and Isaac Newton Telescope in the Cosmic Evolution Survey (COSMOS). We derive the auto-/cross-correlation signals of SFGs, QGs, and LAEs and the galaxy overdensity distributions at the position of them. Whereas the cross-correlation signals of SFGs and QGs are explained solely by their halo mass differences, those of SFGs and LAEs are significantly lower than those expected from their autocorrelation signals, suggesting that some additional physical processes are segregating these two populations. Such segregation of SFGs and LAEs becomes stronger for rest-frame ultraviolet faint LAEs (M UV > -20). From the overdensity distributions, LAEs are located in less dense regions than SFGs and QGs, whereas SFGs and QGs tend to be in the same overdensity distributions. The different spatial distributions of LAEs compared to those of massive galaxies may be attributed to assembly bias or large amounts of neutral hydrogen gas associated with massive halos. These results reinforce the importance of exploring multiple galaxy populations in quantifying the intrinsic galaxy environment of the high-z universe.

In preparation for the IGM tomography study by Subaru Prime Focus Spectrograph (PFS) survey and other large future telescopes such as TMT/ELT/GMT, we present the results of our pilot study on Ly$\alpha$ forest and IGM tomography statistics using the GADGET3-OSAKA cosmological smoothed particle hydrodynamical simulation. Our simulation includes models for star formation and supernova feedback, which enables more realistic cross-correlation studies between galaxies, neutral hydrogen (HI) and metals in circumgalactic and intergalactic medium. We create a light-cone data set at $z=2-3$ from our simulations and generate mock Ly$\alpha$ forest data. As a first step, in this paper, we focus on the distribution of HI and galaxies, and present statistical results on 1D flux PDF, 1D power spectrum, flux contrast vs. impact parameter, HI$-$galaxy cross-correlations. Our results show overall agreement with current observational data, with some interesting discrepancies on small scales that are due to either feedback effects or varying observational conditions. Our simulation shows stronger HI absorption with decreasing transverse distance from galaxies. We find that the massive galaxies with $M_\star \ge 10^{10}\,M_\odot$ contribute strongly to the flux contrast signal, and that the lower-mass galaxies with $M_\star \sim 10^8-10^{10}\,M_\odot$ tend to dilute the flux contrast signal from massive galaxies. On large scales, the average flux contrast smoothly connects to the IGM level, supporting the concordance $\Lambda$ cold dark matter model. We also find an increase in the HI absorption toward the center of a protocluster., Comment: 26 pages, 16 figures. Published in ApJ (matched to the published version)

We present the results of a survey of the brightest UV-selected galaxies in protoclusters. These proto-brightest cluster galaxy (proto-BCG) candidates are drawn from 179 overdense regions of $g$-dropout galaxies at $z\sim4$ from the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program identified previously as good protocluster candidates. This study is the first to extend the systematic study of the progenitors of BCGs from $z\sim2$ to $z\sim4$. We carefully remove possible contaminants from foreground galaxies and, for each structure, we select the brightest galaxy that is at least 1 mag brighter than the fifth brightest galaxy. We select 63 proto-BCG candidates and compare their properties with those of galaxies in the field and those of other galaxies in overdense structures. The proto-BCG candidates and their surrounding galaxies have different rest-UV color $(i - z)$ distributions to field galaxies and other galaxies in protoclusters that do not host proto-BCGs. In addition, galaxies surrounding proto-BCGs are brighter than those in protoclusters without proto-BCGs. The image stacking analysis reveals that the average effective radius of proto-BCGs is $\sim28\%$ larger than that of field galaxies. The $i-z$ color differences suggest that proto-BCGs and their surrounding galaxies are dustier than other galaxies at $z\sim4$. These results suggest that specific environmental effects or assembly biasses have already emerged in some protoclusters as early as $z \sim 4$, and we suggest that proto-BCGs have different star formation histories than other galaxies in the same epoch., Comment: 18 pages, 11 figures, Accepted for publication in ApJ

We have carried out deep and wide field imaging observations with narrow bands targeting 11 quasar fields to systematically study the possible photoevaporation effect of quasar radiation on surrounding low mass galaxies at $z\sim2-3$. We focused on Lyman alpha emitters (LAEs) at the same redshifts as the quasars that lie within the quasar proximity zones, where the ultra-violet radiation from the quasars is higher than the average background at that epoch. We found that LAEs with high rest-frame equivalent width of Ly$��$ emission ($EW_0$) of $\gtrsim 150$��$~$ with low stellar mass ($\lesssim 10^8 M_{\odot}$), are predominantly scarce in the quasar proximity zones, suggesting that quasar photoevaporation effects may be taking place. The halo mass of LAEs with $EW_0>150$��$~$ is estimated to be $3.6^{+12.7}_{-2.3}\times10^9 M_{\odot}$ either from the Spectral Energy Distribution (SED) fitting or the main sequence. Based on a hydrodynamical simulation, the predicted delay in star formation under a local UV background intensity with $J (��_L)\gtrsim10^{-21}$ erg s$^{-1}$ cm$^{-2}$ Hz$^{-1}$ sr$^{-1}$ for galaxies having less than this halo mass is about $>20$ Myr, which is longer than the expected age of LAEs with $EW_0>150$��. On the other hand, the photoevaporation seems to be less effective around very luminous quasars, which is consistent with the idea that these quasars are still in an early stage of quasar activity., 18 pages, 9 figures