TY - JOUR
T1 - ODIN
T2 - Confirmation and 3D Reconstruction of Six Massive Protoclusters at Cosmic Noon
AU - DESI Collaboration
AU - Ortiz, Ashley
AU - Ramakrishnan, Vandana
AU - Lee, Kyoung-Soo
AU - Dey, Arjun
AU - Guo, Yucheng
AU - Pinarski, Ethan
AU - Raichoor, Anand
AU - Valdes, Francisco
AU - Aguilar, J.
AU - Ahlen, Steven
AU - Artale, Maria Celeste
AU - Bianchi, Davide
AU - Bliese, August
AU - Brooks, David
AU - Canning, Rebecca
AU - Cerdosino, Maria
AU - Claybaugh, Todd
AU - Cuceu, Andrei
AU - Macorra, Axel de la
AU - Doel, Peter
AU - Forero, Jaime
AU - Gawiser, Eric
AU - Gaztanaga, Enrique
AU - Gontcho, Satya
AU - Gronwall, Caryl
AU - Guaita, Lucia
AU - Gutierrez, Gaston
AU - Herrera-Alcantar, Hiram K.
AU - Hwang, Ho Seong
AU - Jeong, Woong-Seob
AU - Joyce, Dick
AU - Kehoe, Robert
AU - Kisner, Theodore
AU - Kremin, Anthony
AU - Kumar, Ankit
AU - Lahav, Ofer
AU - Landriau, Martin
AU - Lee, Jaehyun
AU - Lee, Seong-Kook
AU - Guillou, Laurent Le
AU - Manera, Marc
AU - Meisner, Aaron
AU - Miquel, Ramon
AU - Moon, Byeongha
AU - Moustakas, John
AU - Myers, Adam
AU - Nadathur, Seshadri
AU - Palanque-Delabrouille, Nathalie
AU - Park, Changbom
AU - Percival, Will
PY - 2026/9/1
Y1 - 2026/9/1
N2 - Protoclusters represent sites of accelerated galaxy formation and extreme astrophysical activity characteristic of dense environments. Identifying massive protoclusters and mapping their spatial structures are therefore crucial for understanding how large-scale environment influences galaxy evolution. We combine wide-field Lyα imaging from the One-hundred-deg2 DECam Imaging in Narrowbands survey with extensive Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument and ancillary spectroscopy across the extended COSMOS and XMM Large Scale Structure (LSS) fields (≈14 deg2) to search for massive protoclusters. We confirm six systems at z ≈ 2.4 and ≈ 3.1, including three newly identified structures and three which overlap with previously known structures and/or systems detected using other tracers. We reconstruct their three-dimensional structures, estimate descendant halo masses, and for one structure at z ≈ 3.12, demonstrate that overlapping narrowband filters (NB497 and N501) provide accurate redshift tomography for emission-line galaxies. One protocluster at z ≈ 2.45 overlaps with one of the LATIS tomographic fields, enabling direct comparison between galaxy and H i overdensities traced by Lyα forest absorption. Another at z ≈ 3.12 hosts a massive quiescent galaxy (M* ≈ 1.2 × 1011M⊙), suggesting that overdense environments may play a role in accelerating galaxy assembly and quenching. Comparing Lyα emission properties across environments, we find that protocluster galaxies exhibit higher median line fluxes and a deficit of faint emitters relative to the field. The effect is strongest when combining 2D and 3D density information, indicating that galaxies in the densest protocluster cores are most affected by environmental processes. This effect is stronger at z ≈ 3.1 than at z ≈ 2.4, suggesting possible redshift evolution.
AB - Protoclusters represent sites of accelerated galaxy formation and extreme astrophysical activity characteristic of dense environments. Identifying massive protoclusters and mapping their spatial structures are therefore crucial for understanding how large-scale environment influences galaxy evolution. We combine wide-field Lyα imaging from the One-hundred-deg2 DECam Imaging in Narrowbands survey with extensive Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument and ancillary spectroscopy across the extended COSMOS and XMM Large Scale Structure (LSS) fields (≈14 deg2) to search for massive protoclusters. We confirm six systems at z ≈ 2.4 and ≈ 3.1, including three newly identified structures and three which overlap with previously known structures and/or systems detected using other tracers. We reconstruct their three-dimensional structures, estimate descendant halo masses, and for one structure at z ≈ 3.12, demonstrate that overlapping narrowband filters (NB497 and N501) provide accurate redshift tomography for emission-line galaxies. One protocluster at z ≈ 2.45 overlaps with one of the LATIS tomographic fields, enabling direct comparison between galaxy and H i overdensities traced by Lyα forest absorption. Another at z ≈ 3.12 hosts a massive quiescent galaxy (M* ≈ 1.2 × 1011M⊙), suggesting that overdense environments may play a role in accelerating galaxy assembly and quenching. Comparing Lyα emission properties across environments, we find that protocluster galaxies exhibit higher median line fluxes and a deficit of faint emitters relative to the field. The effect is strongest when combining 2D and 3D density information, indicating that galaxies in the densest protocluster cores are most affected by environmental processes. This effect is stronger at z ≈ 3.1 than at z ≈ 2.4, suggesting possible redshift evolution.
KW - astro-ph.GA
U2 - 10.3847/1538-4357/ae899d
DO - 10.3847/1538-4357/ae899d
M3 - Article
SN - 0004-637X
VL - 1008
JO - The Astrophysical Journal
JF - The Astrophysical Journal
IS - 1
M1 - 85
ER -