English

Spatially Resolved Circumgalactic Medium around a Star-Forming Galaxy Driving a Galactic Outflow at $z\approx 0.8$

Astrophysics of Galaxies 2025-06-18 v2

Abstract

We report the small-scale spatial variation in cool (T104KT\sim 10^4 K) Mg II absorption detected in the circumgalactic medium (CGM) of a star-forming galaxy at z0.8z\approx 0.8. The CGM of this galaxy is probed by a spatially extended bright background gravitationally lensed arc at z=2.76z = 2.76. The background arc continuously samples the CGM of the foreground galaxy at a range of impact parameters between 54-66 kpc. The Mg II absorption strengths vary by more than a factor of two within these ranges. A power-law fit to the fractional variation of absorption strengths yields a coherence length of 2.7 kpc within these absorption lines. This suggests a high degree of spatial coherence in the CGM of this galaxy. The host galaxy is driving a strong galactic outflow with a mean outflow velocity \approx -179 km/s and mass outflow rate M˙out6427+31Myr1\dot{M}_{out}\geq 64_{-27}^{+31} M_{\odot}yr^{-1} traced by blueshifted Mg II and Fe II absorption lines. The galaxy itself has a spatially extended emission halo with a maximum spatial extent of \approx 33 kpc traced by [O II], [O III] and HβH\beta emission lines. The extended emission halo shows kinematic signatures of co-rotating halo-gas with solar metallicity. Taken together, these observations suggest evidence of a baryon cycle that is recycling the outflowing gas to form the next generation of stars.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2501.17940,
  title  = {Spatially Resolved Circumgalactic Medium around a Star-Forming Galaxy Driving a Galactic Outflow at $z\approx 0.8$},
  author = {Ahmed Shaban and Rongmon Bordoloi and John M. O'Meara and Keren Sharon and Nicolas Tejos and Sebastian Lopez and Cédric Ledoux and L. Felipe Barrientos and Jane R. Rigby},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2501.17940},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

Published in ApJ. 22 pages, 11 figures, 3 tables. Referee comments incorporated