Resolved galactic superwinds reconstructed around their host galaxies at z > 3

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper presents a detailed analysis of two giant Lyman-alpha (Ly α) arcs detected near galaxies at z = 3.038 and z = 3.754 lensed by the massive cluster MACS 1206−0847 (z = 0.44). The Ly α nebulae revealed in deep MUSE observations exhibit a double-peaked profile with a dominant red peak, indicating expansion/outflowing motions. One of the arcs stretches over 1 arcmin around the cluster Einstein radius, resolving the velocity field of the line-emitting gas on kpc scales around three star-forming galaxies of 0.3–$1.6\, L_*$ at z = 3.038. The second arc spans 15 arcsec in size, roughly centred around two low-mass Ly α emitters of $\approx 0.03\, L_*$ at z = 3.754. All three galaxies in the z = 3.038 group exhibit prominent damped Ly α absorption (DLA) and several metal absorption lines, in addition to nebular emission lines such as $\hbox{He ii}$$\lambda \, 1640$ and C iii]λλ1906, 1908. Extended Ly α emission appears to emerge from star-forming regions with suppressed surface brightness at the centre of each galaxy. Significant spatial variations in the Ly α line profile are observed which, when unaccounted for in the integrated line, leads to biased constraints for the underlying gas kinematics. The observed spatial variations indicate the presence of a steep velocity gradient in a continuous flow of high column density gas from star-forming regions into a low-density halo environment. A detailed inspection of available galaxy spectra shows no evidence of AGN activity in the galaxies, and the observed Ly α signals are primarily explained by resonant scattering. The study presented in this paper shows that spatially resolved imaging spectroscopy provides the most detailed insights yet into the kinematics of galactic superwinds associated with star-forming galaxies.