295 research outputs found
The COS-Dwarfs Survey: The Carbon Reservoir Around sub-L* Galaxies
We report new observations of circumgalactic gas from the COS-Dwarfs survey,
a systematic investigation of the gaseous halos around 43 low-mass z 0.1
galaxies using background QSOs observed with the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph.
From the projected 1D and 2D distribution of C IV absorption, we find that C IV
absorption is detected out to ~ 0.5 R of the host galaxies. The C IV
absorption strength falls off radially as a power law and beyond 0.5 R,
no C IV absorption is detected above our sensitivity limit of ~ 50-100 m.
We find a tentative correlation between detected C IV absorption strength and
star formation, paralleling the strong correlation seen in highly ionized
oxygen for L~L* galaxies by the COS-Halos survey. The data imply a large carbon
reservoir in the CGM of these galaxies, corresponding to a minimum carbon mass
of 1.2 out to ~ 110 kpc. This mass is
comparable to the carbon mass in the ISM and more than the carbon mass
currently in stars of these galaxies. The C IV absorption seen around these
sub-L* galaxies can account for almost two-thirds of all > 100 m C IV
absorption detected at low z. Comparing the C IV covering fraction with
hydrodynamical simulations, we find that an energy-driven wind model is
consistent with the observations whereas a wind model of constant velocity
fails to reproduce the CGM or the galaxy properties.Comment: 18 Pages, 11 Figures, ApJ 796 13
The COS-Halos Survey: Physical Conditions and Baryonic Mass in the Low-Redshift Circumgalactic Medium
We analyze the physical conditions of the cool, photoionized (T
K) circumgalactic medium (CGM) using the COS-Halos suite of gas column density
measurements for 44 gaseous halos within 160 kpc of galaxies at . These data are well described by simple photoionization models, with
the gas highly ionized (n/n) by the
extragalactic ultraviolet background (EUVB). Scaling by estimates for the
virial radius, R, we show that the ionization state (tracked by the
dimensionless ionization parameter, U) increases with distance from the host
galaxy. The ionization parameters imply a decreasing volume density profile
n = (10)(R/R. Our derived
gas volume densities are several orders of magnitude lower than predictions
from standard two-phase models with a cool medium in pressure equilibrium with
a hot, coronal medium expected in virialized halos at this mass scale. Applying
the ionization corrections to the HI column densities, we estimate a lower
limit to the cool gas mass M
M for the volume within R R. Allowing for an
additional warm-hot, OVI-traced phase, the CGM accounts for at least half of
the baryons purported to be missing from dark matter halos at the 10
M scale.Comment: 19 pages, 12 Figures, and a 37-page Appendix with 36 additional
figures. Accepted to ApJ June 21 201
Diverse metallicities of Fermi bubble clouds indicate dual origins in the disk and halo
The Galactic Center is surrounded by two giant plasma lobes known as the
Fermi Bubbles, extending ~10 kpc both above and below the Galactic plane.
Spectroscopic observations of Fermi Bubble directions at radio, ultraviolet,
and optical wavelengths have detected multi-phase gas clouds thought to be
embedded within the bubbles referred to as Fermi Bubble high-velocity clouds
(FB HVCs). While these clouds have kinematics that can be modeled by a
biconical nuclear wind launched from the Galactic center, their exact origin is
unknown because, until now, there has been little information on their
heavy-metal abundance (metallicity). Here we show that FB HVCs have a wide
range of metallicities from <20% solar to ~320% solar. This result is based on
the first metallicity survey of FB HVCs. These metallicities challenge the
previously accepted tenet that all FB HVCs are launched from the Galactic
center into the Fermi Bubbles with solar or super-solar metallicities. Instead,
we suggest that FB HVCs originate in both the Milky Way's disk and halo. As
such, some of these clouds may characterize circumgalactic medium that the
Fermi Bubbles expand into, rather than material carried outward by the nuclear
wind, changing the canonical picture of FB HVCs. More broadly, these results
reveal that nuclear outflows from spiral galaxies can operate by sweeping up
gas in their halos while simultaneously removing gas from their disks.Comment: This version of the article has been accepted for publication on
Nature Astronomy after peer review. This version is not the Version of Record
(https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-022-01720-0) and does not reflect
post-acceptance improvements, or any correction
Gas Accretion in Star-Forming Galaxies
Cold-mode gas accretion onto galaxies is a direct prediction of LCDM
simulations and provides galaxies with fuel that allows them to continue to
form stars over the lifetime of the Universe. Given its dramatic influence on a
galaxy's gas reservoir, gas accretion has to be largely responsible for how
galaxies form and evolve. Therefore, given the importance of gas accretion, it
is necessary to observe and quantify how these gas flows affect galaxy
evolution. However, observational data have yet to conclusively show that gas
accretion ubiquitously occurs at any epoch. Directly detecting gas accretion is
a challenging endeavor and we now have obtained a significant amount of
observational evidence to support it. This chapter reviews the current
observational evidence of gas accretion onto star-forming galaxies.Comment: Invited review to appear in Gas Accretion onto Galaxies, Astrophysics
and Space Science Library, eds. A. J. Fox & R. Dav\'e, to be published by
Springer. This chapter includes 22 pages with 7 Figure
Short-lived star-forming giant clumps in cosmological simulations of z~2 disks
Many observed massive star-forming z\approx2 galaxies are large disks that
exhibit irregular morphologies, with \sim1kpc, \sim10^(8-10)Msun clumps. We
present the largest sample to date of high-resolution cosmological SPH
simulations that zoom-in on the formation of individual M*\sim10^(10.5)Msun
galaxies in \sim10^(12)Msun halos at z\approx2. Our code includes strong
stellar feedback parameterized as momentum-driven galactic winds. This model
reproduces many characteristic features of this observed class of galaxies,
such as their clumpy morphologies, smooth and monotonic velocity gradients,
high gas fractions (f_g\sim50%) and high specific star-formation rates
(\gtrsim1Gyr^(-1)). In accord with recent models, giant clumps
(Mclump\sim(5x10^8-10^9)Msun) form in-situ via gravitational instabilities.
However, the galactic winds are critical for their subsequent evolution. The
giant clumps we obtain are short-lived and are disrupted by wind-driven mass
loss. They do not virialise or migrate to the galaxy centers as suggested in
recent work neglecting strong winds. By phenomenologically implementing the
winds that are observed from high-redshift galaxies and in particular from
individual clumps, our simulations reproduce well new observational constraints
on clump kinematics and clump ages. In particular, the observation that older
clumps appear closer to their galaxy centers is reproduced in our simulations,
as a result of inside-out formation of the disks rather than inward clump
migration.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, 1 table. Accepted for publication in the
Astrophysical Journa
Gas Accretion via Lyman Limit Systems
In cosmological simulations, a large fraction of the partial Lyman limit
systems (pLLSs; 16<log N(HI)<17.2) and LLSs (17.2log N(HI)<19) probes
large-scale flows in and out of galaxies through their circumgalactic medium
(CGM). The overall low metallicity of the cold gaseous streams feeding galaxies
seen in these simulations is the key to differentiating them from metal rich
gas that is either outflowing or being recycled. In recent years, several
groups have empirically determined an entirely new wealth of information on the
pLLSs and LLSs over a wide range of redshifts. A major focus of the recent
research has been to empirically determine the metallicity distribution of the
gas probed by pLLSs and LLSs in sizable and representative samples at both low
(z2) redshifts. Here I discuss unambiguous evidence for
metal-poor gas at all z probed by the pLLSs and LLSs. At z<1, all the pLLSs and
LLSs so far studied are located in the CGM of galaxies with projected distances
<100-200 kpc. Regardless of the exact origin of the low-metallicity pLLSs/LLSs,
there is a significant mass of cool, dense, low-metallicity gas in the CGM that
may be available as fuel for continuing star formation in galaxies over cosmic
time. As such, the metal-poor pLLSs and LLSs are currently among the best
observational evidence of cold, metal-poor gas accretion onto galaxies.Comment: Invited review to appear in Gas Accretion onto Galaxies, Astrophysics
and Space Science Library, eds. A. J. Fox & R. Dav\'e, to be published by
Springe
Hydrogen and Metal Line Absorption Around Low-Redshift Galaxies in Cosmological Hydrodynamic Simulations
We study the physical conditions of the circum-galactic medium (CGM) around
z=0.25 galaxies as traced by HI and metal line absorption, using cosmological
hydrodynamic simulations that include galactic outflows. Using lines of sight
targeted at impact parameters from 10 kpc to 1 Mpc around galaxies with halo
masses from 10^11-10^13 M_solar, we study the physical conditions and their
variation with impact parameter b and line-of-sight velocity delta v in the CGM
as traced by HI, MgII, SiIV, CIV, OVI, and NeVIII absorbers. All ions show a
strong excess of absorption near galaxies compared to random lines of sight.
The excess continues beyond 1 Mpc, reflecting the correlation of metal
absorption with large-scale structure. Absorption is particularly enhanced
within about v<300 km/sec and roughly 300 kpc of galaxies (with distances
somewhat larger for the highest ion), approximately delineating the CGM; this
range contains the majority of global metal absorption. Low ions like MgII and
SiIV predominantly arise in denser gas closer to galaxies and drop more rapidly
with b, while high ions OVI and NeVIII trace more diffusely distributed gas
with a comparatively flat radial profile; CIV is intermediate. All ions
predominantly trace T~10^4-4.5 K photo-ionised gas at all b, but when hot CGM
gas is present (mostly in larger halos), we see strong collisionally-ionised
OVI and NeVIII at b <= 100 kpc. Larger halo masses generally produce more
absorption, though overall the trends are not as strong as that with impact
parameter. These findings arise using our favoured outflow scalings as expected
for momentum-driven winds; with no winds, the CGM gas remains mostly
unenriched, while our outflow model with a constant velocity and mass loading
factor produce hotter, more widely dispersed metals.Comment: 26 pages, 15 figures, published in MNRAS. Updates to citations from
previous versio
Obscured AGN at z~1 from the zCOSMOS-Bright Survey I. Selection and Optical Properties of a [Ne v]-selected sample
A sample of 94 narrow line AGN with 0.65<z<1.20 has been selected from the
20k-Bright zCOSMOS galaxy sample by detection of the high-ionization [NeV]3426
line. Taking advantage of the large amount of data available in the COSMOS
field, the properties of the [NeV]-selected Type-2 AGN have been investigated,
focusing on their host galaxies, X-ray emission, and optical line flux ratios.
Finally, the diagnostic developed by Gilli et al. (2010), based on the X-ray to
[NeV] luminosity ratio, has been exploited to search for the more heavily
obscured AGN. We found that [Ne v]-selected narrow line AGN have Seyfert 2-like
optical spectra, although with emission line ratios diluted by a star-forming
component. The ACS morphologies and stellar component in the optical spectra
indicate a preference for our Type-2 AGN to be hosted in early-spirals with
stellar masses greater than 10^(9.5-10)Msun, on average higher than those of
the galaxy parent sample. The fraction of galaxies hosting [NeV]-selected
obscured AGN increases with the stellar mass, reaching a maximum of about 3% at
2x10^11 Msun. A comparison with other selection techniques at z~1 shows that
the detection of the [Ne v] line is an effective method to select AGN in the
optical band, in particular the most heavily obscured ones, but can not provide
by itself a complete census of AGN2. Finally, the high fraction of
[NeV]-selected Type-2 AGN not detected in medium-deep Chandra observations
(67%) is suggestive of the inclusion of Compton-thick sources in our sample.
The presence of a population of heavily obscured AGN is corroborated by the
X-ray to [NeV] ratio; we estimated, by mean of X-ray stacking technique and
simulations, that the Compton-thick fraction in our sample of Type-2 AGN is
43+-4%, in good agreement with standard assumptions by the XRB synthesis
models.Comment: 14 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in A&
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