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Abstract Lyαemitters (LAEs) are star-forming galaxies that efficiently probe the spatial distribution of galaxies in the high-redshift Universe. The spatial clustering of LAEs reflects the properties of their individual host dark matter halos, allowing us to study the evolution of the galaxy–halo connection. We analyze the clustering of 5233, 5220, and 3706 LAEs atz= 2.4, 3.1, and 4.5, respectively, in the 9 deg2COSMOS field from the One-hundred-deg2DECam Imaging in Narrowbands survey. After correcting for redshift-space distortions, LAE contamination rates, and the integral constraint, the observed angular correlation functions imply linear galaxy bias factors ofb= and forz= 2.4, 3.1, and 4.5, respectively. The median dark matter halo masses inferred from these measurements are = for the three samples, respectively. The analysis also reveals that LAEs occupy roughly 3%–7% of the halos whose clustering strength matches that of the LAEs.more » « lessFree, publicly-accessible full text available July 28, 2026
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Context.We identified and analysed massive quiescent galaxies (MQGs) atz ≈ 3.1 within the 2 deg2COSMOS field and explored the effect of the galaxy environment on quenching processes. By examining the variation in the quenched fraction and physical properties of these galaxies in different environmental contexts, including local densities, protoclusters, and cosmic filaments, we investigated the connection between environmental factors and galaxy quenching at cosmic noon. Aims.We selected MQGs atz ≈ 3.1 using deep photometric data from the COSMOS2020 catalogue combined with narrow-band-selected Lyman-αemitters (LAEs) from the One-hundred-square-degree DECam Imaging in Narrowbands (ODIN) survey. We performed a spectral energy distribution fitting using the code BAGPIPES to derive the star formation histories and quenching timescales. We constructed Voronoi-tessellation density maps using LAEs, and we independently selected galaxies photometrically to characterize the galaxy environments. Methods.We identified 24 MQGs atz ≈ 3.1, each of which has a stellar mass higher than 1010.6 M⊙. These MQGs share remarkably uniform star-formation histories, with intense starburst phases followed by rapid quenching within short timescales (≤400 Myr). The consistency of these quenching timescales suggests a universal and highly efficient quenching mechanism in this epoch. We found no significant correlation between environmental density (either local or large scale) and galaxy quenching parameters such as the quenching duration, the quenched fraction, or the timing. MQGs show no preferential distribution with respect to protoclusters or filaments compared to massive star-forming galaxies. Some MQGs reside close to gas-rich filaments, but show no evidence of rejuvenated star formation. This implies gas-heating mechanisms and not gas exhaustion. These results indicate that the quenching processes atz ≈ 3.1 likely depend little on the immediate galaxy environment. Results.Our findings suggest that environmental processes alone, such as galaxy mergers, interactions, or gas stripping, cannot fully explain the galaxy quenching atz ≈ 3.1. Internal mechanisms such as feedback from AGN, stellar feedback, virial shock heating, or morphological quenching instead play an important role in quenching. Future spectroscopic observations must confirm the quiescent nature and precise redshifts of these galaxies. Observational studies of gas dynamics, gas temperature, and ionisation conditions within and around MQGs will also clarify the physical mechanisms driving galaxy quenching during this critical epoch of galaxy evolution.more » « lessFree, publicly-accessible full text available August 1, 2026
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Abstract In this work, we test the frequent assumption that Lyα-emitting galaxies (LAEs) are experiencing their first major burst of star formation at the time of observation. To this end, we identify 74 LAEs from the ODIN Survey with rest-UV-through-NIR photometry from UVCANDELS. For each LAE, we perform nonparametric star formation history (SFH) reconstruction using the Dense Basis Gaussian-process-based method of spectral energy distribution fitting. We find that a strong majority (67%) of our LAE SFHs align with the frequently assumed archetype of a first major star formation burst, with at most modest star formation rates (SFRs) in the past. However, the rest of our LAE SFHs have significant amounts of star formation in the past, with 28% exhibiting earlier bursts of star formation, with the ongoing burst having the highest SFR (dominant bursts) and the final 5% having experienced their highest SFR in the past (nondominant bursts). Combining the SFHs indicating first and dominant bursts, ∼95% of LAEs are experiencing their largest burst yet: a formative burst. We also find that the fraction of total stellar mass created in the last 200 Myr is ∼1.3 times higher in LAEs than in mass-matched Lyman break galaxy (LBG) samples, and that a majority of LBGs are experiencing dominant bursts, reaffirming that LAEs differ from other star-forming galaxies. Overall, our results suggest that multiple evolutionary paths can produce galaxies with strong observed Lyαemission.more » « lessFree, publicly-accessible full text available June 4, 2026
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Free, publicly-accessible full text available December 1, 2025
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Abstract Line flux ratios from [O ii] doublets can probe electron densities in the interstellar medium of galaxies. We employ the Southern African Large Telescope’s (SALT) Robert Stobie Spectrograph (RSS), which provides sufficient resolution (R ∼ 3000) to split the [O ii] doublets, to target galaxies from Hobby-Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment and One-hundred-deg2DECam Imaging in Narrowbands with emission line fluxes of at least 2 × 10−16 erg cm−2 s−1. Reduction is carried out using RSSMOSPipeline to reduce SALT-RSS data through wavelength calibration. Despite SALT-RSS being known for its difficulty to flux calibrate, we present spectra that have been flux calibrated using alignment stars with Sloan Digital Sky Survey spectra as standards. We combine multiple spectroscopic settings to obtain full 2D spectra across a wavelength range of 3500–9500 Å. A 1D spectrum can then be extracted to calculate flux ratios and line widths, revealing important physical properties of these bright [O ii]-emitters.more » « less
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Abstract To understand the formation and evolution of massive cosmic structures, studying them at high redshift, in the epoch when they formed the majority of their mass, is essential. The One-hundred-deg2DECam Imaging in Narrowbands (ODIN) survey is undertaking the widest-area narrowband program to date, to use Lyα-emitting galaxies (LAEs) to trace the large-scale structure (LSS) of the Universe on the scale of 10–100 cMpc at three cosmic epochs. In this work, we present results atz= 3.1 based on early ODIN data in the COSMOS field. We identify protoclusters and cosmic filaments using multiple methods and discuss their strengths and weaknesses. We then compare our observations against the IllustrisTNG suite of cosmological hydrodynamical simulations. The two are in excellent agreement, identifying a similar number and angular size of structures above a specified density threshold. We successfully recover the simulated protoclusters with log(Mz=0/M⊙) ≳ 14.4 in ∼60% of the cases. With these objects, we show that the descendant masses of our observed protoclusters can be estimated purely based on our 2D measurements, finding a medianz= 0 mass of ∼1014.5M⊙. The lack of information on the radial extent of each protocluster introduces a ∼0.4 dex uncertainty in its descendant mass. Finally, we show that the recovery of the cosmic web in the vicinity of protoclusters is both efficient and accurate. The similarity of our observations and the simulations implies that our structure selection is likewise robust and efficient, demonstrating that LAEs are reliable tracers of the LSS.more » « less
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Abstract Lyman-alpha-emitting galaxies (LAEs) are typically young, low-mass, star-forming galaxies with little extinction from interstellar dust. Their low dust attenuation allows their Lyαemission to shine brightly in spectroscopic and photometric observations, providing an observational window into the high-redshift Universe. Narrowband surveys reveal large, uniform samples of LAEs at specific redshifts that probe large-scale structure and the temporal evolution of galaxy properties. The One-hundred-deg2DECam Imaging in Narrowbands (ODIN) utilizes three custom-made narrowband filters on the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) to discover LAEs at three equally spaced periods in cosmological history. In this paper, we introduce the hybrid-weighted double-broadband continuum estimation technique, which yields improved estimation of Lyαequivalent widths. Using this method, we discover 6032, 5691, and 4066 LAE candidates atz= 2.4, 3.1, and 4.5 in the extended COSMOS field (∼9 deg2). We find that [Oii] emitters are a minimal contaminant in our LAE samples, but that interloping Green Pea–like [Oiii] emitters are important for our redshift 4.5 sample. We introduce an innovative method for identifying [Oii] and [Oiii] emitters via a combination of narrowband excess and galaxy colors, enabling their study as separate classes of objects. We present scaled median stacked spectral energy distributions for each galaxy sample, revealing the overall success of our selection methods. We also calculate rest-frame Lyαequivalent widths for our LAE samples and find that the EW distributions are best fit by exponential functions with scale lengths ofw0= 53 ± 1, 65 ± 1, and 59 ± 1 Å, respectively.more » « less
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Abstract While many Lyαblobs (LABs) are found in and around several well-known protoclusters at high redshift, how they trace the underlying large-scale structure is still poorly understood. In this work, we utilize 5352 Lyαemitters (LAEs) and 129 LABs atz= 3.1 identified over a ∼9.5 deg2area in early data from the ongoing One-hundred-deg2DECam Imaging in Narrowbands (ODIN) survey to investigate this question. Using LAEs as tracers of the underlying matter distribution, we identify overdense structures as galaxy groups, protoclusters, and filaments of the cosmic web. We find that LABs preferentially reside in regions of higher-than-average density and are located in closer proximity to overdense structures, which represent the sites of protoclusters and their substructures. Moreover, protoclusters hosting one or more LABs tend to have a higher descendant mass than those which do not. Blobs are also strongly associated with filaments of the cosmic web, with ∼70% of the population being within a projected distance of ∼2.4 pMpc from a filament. We show that the proximity of LABs to protoclusters is naturally explained by their association with filaments as large cosmic structures are where many filaments converge. The contiguous wide-field coverage of the ODIN survey allows us to establish firmly a connection between LABs as a population and filaments of the cosmic web for the first time.more » « less
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Abstract Deep optical and near-infrared imaging of the entire Galactic plane is essential for understanding our Galaxy’s stars, gas, and dust. The second data release of the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) Plane Survey extends the five-band optical and near-infrared survey of the southern Galactic plane to cover 6.5% of the sky, ∣b∣ ≤ 10°, and 6° >ℓ> −124°, complementary to coverage by Pan-STARRS1. Typical single-exposure effective depths, including crowding effects and other complications, are 23.5, 22.6, 22.1, 21.6, and 20.8 mag ing,r,i,z, andYbands, respectively, with around 1″ seeing. The survey comprises 3.32 billion objects built from 34 billion detections in 21,400 exposures, totaling 260 hr open shutter time on the DECam at Cerro Tololo. The data reduction pipeline features several improvements, including the addition of synthetic source injection tests to validate photometric solutions across the entire survey footprint. A convenient functional form for the detection bias in the faint limit was derived and leveraged to characterize the photometric pipeline performance. A new postprocessing technique was applied to every detection to debias and improve uncertainty estimates of the flux in the presence of structured backgrounds, specifically targeting nebulosity. The images and source catalogs are publicly available athttp://decaps.skymaps.info/.more » « less
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Abstract We describe the survey design and science goals for One-hundred-deg2DECam Imaging in Narrowbands (ODIN), a NOIRLab survey using the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) to obtain deep (AB ∼ 25.7) narrowband images over an unprecedented area of sky. The three custom-built narrowband filters,N419,N501, andN673, have central wavelengths of 419, 501, and 673 nm and respective FWHM of 7.5, 7.6, and 10.0 nm, corresponding to Lyαatz= 2.4, 3.1, and 4.5 and cosmic times of 2.8, 2.1, and 1.4 Gyr, respectively. When combined with even deeper, public broadband data from the Hyper Suprime-Cam, DECam, and in the future, the Legacy Survey of Space and Time, the ODIN narrowband images will enable the selection of over 100,000 Lyα-emitting (LAE) galaxies at these epochs. ODIN-selected LAEs will identify protoclusters as galaxy overdensities, and the deep narrowband images enable detection of highly extended Lyαblobs (LABs). Primary science goals include measuring the clustering strength and dark matter halo connection of LAEs, LABs, and protoclusters, and their respective relationship to filaments in the cosmic web. The three epochs allow for the redshift evolution of these properties to be determined during the period known as Cosmic Noon, where star formation was at its peak. The narrowband filter wavelengths are designed to enable interloper rejection and further scientific studies by revealing [Oii] and [Oiii] atz= 0.34, Lyαand Heii1640 atz= 3.1, and Lyman continuum plus Lyαatz= 4.5. Ancillary science includes similar studies of the lower-redshift emission-line galaxy samples and investigations of nearby star-forming galaxies resolved into numerous [Oiii] and [Sii] emitting regions.more » « less
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