A MUltiwavelength Study of ELAN Environments (AMUSE2)

We have been undertaking a systematic survey at 850 mu m based on a sample of four prototypical zx2004;similar to 2 - 3 enormous Ly alpha nebulae (ELANe) as well as their megaparsec-scale (Mpc-scale) environments to study the physical connections between ELANe and their coeval dusty submillimeter galaxies (SMGs). By analysing the SCUBA-2 data with self-consistent Monte Carlo simulations to construct the number counts, here, we report on the overabundance of 850 mu m-selected submillimeter sources around all the four ELANe, by a factor of 3.6 +/- 0.6 (weighted average) compared to the blank fields. This suggests that the excessive number of submillimeter sources are likely to be part of the Mpc-scale environment around the ELANe, corroborating the co-evolution scenario for SMGs and quasars; this is a process which may be more commonly observed in the ELAN fields. If the current form of the underlying count models continues toward the fainter end, our results would suggest an excess of the 850 mu m extragalactic background light by a factor of between 2-10, an indication of significant background light fluctuations on the survey scales. Finally, by assuming that all the excessive submillimeter sources are associated with their corresponding ELAN environments, we estimate the SFR densities of each ELAN field, as well as a weighted average of sigma SFR = 1200 +/- 300 M-circle dot yr(-1) Mpc(-3), consistent with that found in the vicinity of other quasar systems or proto-clusters at similar redshifts; in addition, it is a factor of about 300 greater than the cosmic mean.