Are Ly α emitters segregated in protoclusters regions?

The presence of neutral hydrogen in the interstellar medium (ISM) and intergalactic medium (IGM) induces radiative transfer (RT) effects on $\rm {Ly}\,\alpha$ photons that affect the observability of Lyman alpha emitters (LAEs). We use the galform semi-analytic model of galaxy formation and evolution to analyse how these effects shape the spatial distribution of LAEs with respect to $\rm {H}\,\alpha$ emitters (HAEs) around high-density regions at high redshift. We find that when a large sample of protoclusters is considered, HAEs showing also $\rm {Ly}\,\alpha$ emission (HAEs + LAEs) populate the same regions as those that do not display the $\rm {Ly}\,\alpha$ line at $z$ = 2.2. We compare against the protocluster USS1558-003, one of the most massive protoclusters located at $z$ = 2.53. Our results indicate that the strong depletion of HAEs + LAEs present in the high-density regions of USS1558-003 may be due to cosmic variance. We find that at $z$ = 2.2 and $z$ = 3.0, RT of the ISM produces a strong decline (30–50 per cent) of the clustering amplitude of HAEs + LAEs with respect to HAEs towards the protoclusters centre. At $z$ = 5.7, given the early evolutionary state of protoclusters and galaxies, the clustering of HAEs + LAEs has a smaller variation (10–20 per cent) towards the protoclusters centre. Depending on the equivalent width and luminosity criteria of the emission-line galaxy sample, the IGM can have a mild or a null effect on galaxy properties and clustering in high-density regions.