English

Stellar feedback in a clumpy galaxy at $z \sim$ 3.4

Astrophysics of Galaxies 2021-09-16 v1

Abstract

Giant star-forming regions (clumps) are widespread features of galaxies at z14z \approx 1-4. Theory predicts that they can play a crucial role in galaxy evolution if they survive to stellar feedback for > 50 Myr. Numerical simulations show that clumps' survival depends on the stellar feedback recipes that are adopted. Up to date, observational constraints on both clumps' outflows strength and gas removal timescale are still uncertain. In this context, we study a line-emitting galaxy at redshift z3.4z \simeq 3.4 lensed by the foreground galaxy cluster Abell 2895. Four compact clumps with sizes \lesssim 280 pc and representative of the low-mass end of clumps' mass distribution (stellar masses 2×108 M\lesssim 2\times10^8\ {\rm M}_\odot) dominate the galaxy morphology. The clumps are likely forming stars in a starbursting mode and have a young stellar population (\sim 10 Myr). The properties of the Lyman-α\alpha (Lyα\alpha) emission and nebular far-ultraviolet absorption lines indicate the presence of ejected material with global outflowing velocities of \sim 200-300 km/s. Assuming that the detected outflows are the consequence of star formation feedback, we infer an average mass loading factor (η\eta) for the clumps of \sim 1.8 - 2.4 consistent with results obtained from hydro-dynamical simulations of clumpy galaxies that assume relatively strong stellar feedback. Assuming no gas inflows (semi-closed box model), the estimates of η\eta suggest that the timescale over which the outflows expel the molecular gas reservoir (7×108 M\simeq 7\times 10^8\ \text{M}_\odot) of the four detected low-mass clumps is \lesssim 50 Myr.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2109.06898,
  title  = {Stellar feedback in a clumpy galaxy at $z \sim$ 3.4},
  author = {E. Iani and A. Zanella and J. Vernet and J. Richard and M. Gronke and C. M. Harrison and F. Arrigoni-Battaia and G. Rodighiero and A. Burkert and M. Behrendt and Chian-Chou Chen and E. Emsellem and J. Fensch and P. Hibon and M. Hilker and E. Le Floc'h and V. Mainieri and A. M. Swinbank and F. Valentino and E. Vanzella and M. A. Zwaan},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2109.06898},
  year   = {2021}
}

Comments

19 pages, 11 figures + Appendix. Published in MNRAS

R2 v1 2026-06-24T05:57:59.574Z