Direct evidence for Lyα depletion in the protocluster core

We have carried out panoramic Lyα narrow-band imaging with Suprime-Cam on Subaru towards the known protocluster USS1558-003 at z = 2.53. Our previous narrow-band imaging in the near-infrared identified multiple dense groups of Ha emitters (HAEs) within the protocluster. We have now identified the large-scale structures across a ~50 comoving Mpc scale traced by Lyα emitters (LAEs) in which the protocluster traced by the HAEs is embedded. On a smaller scale, however, there are remarkably few LAEs in the regions of HAE overdensities. Moreover, the stacking analyses of the images show that HAEs in higher-density regions show systematically lower escape fractions of Lyα photons than those of HAEs in lower-density regions. These phenomena may be driven by the extra depletion of Lyα emission lines along our line of sight by more intervening cold circumgalactic/intergalactic medium and/or dust in the dense core.We also caution that all the previous high-z protocluster surveys using LAEs as tracers would have largely missed galaxies in the very dense cores of the protoclusters where we would expect to see any early environmental effects.