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arXiv · 2607.24071

Evidence for Azimuthally Anisotropic MgII Absorption around DESI Luminous Red Galaxies

Xuanyi Wu·Cheng Li
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Abstract

We use luminous red galaxies (LRGs) and background quasar spectra from DESI DR1 to measure the mean MgII equivalent width around massive quiescent galaxies as a function of projected radius and azimuth relative to the projected major axis. Our forced-measurement approach assigns a MgII doublet-window EW to every LRG-quasar pair, including spectra without individually detected absorbers, and subtracts a redshift-matched random-control signal measured from the same normalized quasar spectra. The all-angle profile declines smoothly over $r_p=0.01$-$1.0$ proper Mpc and shows stronger inner absorption at $0.4<z_{\rm LRG}<0.75$ than at $0.75<z_{\rm LRG}<1.1$. Superposed on this radial and redshift dependence, sightlines near the LRG major axis show enhanced absorption relative to the minor axis at $r_p\simeq30$-$80$ kpc. For the full $0.4<z_{\rm LRG}<1.1$ sample, the integrated fiducial major-minus-minor difference over $r_p=0.03$-$0.077$ Mpc is $0.184\pm0.075$ Angstrom, with a position-angle randomization probability $p=0.013$. The redshift split shows no significant evolution in the anisotropy amplitude, even though the inner EW profile itself evolves. Our results provide evidence for a localized major-axis enhancement of MgII-bearing cool/warm gas around LRGs, showing that azimuthal CGM structure is measurable in massive quiescent halos as well as in star-forming systems.

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Xuanyi Wu, Cheng Li. 2026-08-15. Evidence for Azimuthally Anisotropic MgII Absorption around DESI Luminous Red Galaxies. https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.24071

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