English

A z$\sim$1 galactic-scale outflow transversally mapped to $\sim$50 kpc through gravitational-arc tomography

Astrophysics of Galaxies 2026-04-29 v1

Abstract

We report spatially resolved measurements of cool gas traced by Mg II and Fe II absorption in the circumgalactic medium (CGM) of a star-forming galaxy at z1z\sim1 (G1). The fortuitous alignment of a background gravitational arc at z\sim2.4 provides seven closely spaced (\sim6 kpc) transverse sightlines along the minor axis of G1, probing its CGM out to \sim50 kpc. This geometry allows us to detect a galactic-scale outflow simultaneously in down-the-barrel and transverse directions, where blue-shifted Mg II absorption is detected along both types of sightlines, revealing a large-scale, collimated wind. We measure blue-shifted line-of-sight velocities of vlosv_{\mathrm{los}} \sim 62 - 239 km s1^{-1} and line-of-sight velocity dispersions σlos\sigma_{\mathrm{los}} \sim 53 - 133 km s1^{-1}, suggesting a structure dominated by bulk motion. De-projection of vlosv_{\mathrm{los}} along the minor axis indicates that the outflow material barely approaches the escape velocity and is likely to be gravitationally bound to G1. We constrain an outflow opening angle θc\theta_c\sim 18^\circ - 25^\circ, and a mass outflow rate of M˙out \dot{M}_{\mathrm{out}} \gtrsim 0.06 MM_\odot yr1^{-1}, corresponding to a mass loading factor η\eta \gtrsim 0.004, estimated within \sim10 - 50 kpc (\sim 0.05 - 0.3 RvirR_\text{vir}) of the galaxy centre. Our measurements, combined with previous arc tomography data along the major axis, indicate that normalizing impact parameters by galaxy B-band luminosity substantially reduces scatter in the established anti-correlation between Mg II equivalent width and impact parameter, while also diminishing possible excess of Mg II equivalent width towards the minor axis.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2603.01882,
  title  = {A z$\sim$1 galactic-scale outflow transversally mapped to $\sim$50 kpc through gravitational-arc tomography},
  author = {J. A. Hernández-Guajardo and L. F. Barrientos and S. López and E. J. Johnston and C. Ledoux and N. Tejos and A. Afruni and M. Solimano and E. Jullo and H. Cortés-Muñoz and P. Noterdaeme and J. González-López and A. Ormazábal and F. Muñoz-Olivares and T. A. M. Berg},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2603.01882},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

Accepted for publication in A&A