Cold Gas Outflows Research Articles

The insignificance of Seyfert 2 activity in driving cold-gas galactic winds

We study the interstellar Na I $\lambda \lambda 5890, 5895$ (Na D) absorption-line doublet in a nearly-complete sample of $\sim$9900 nearby Seyfert 2 galaxies, in order to quantify the significance of optical AGN activity in driving kpc-scale outflows that can quench star formation. Comparison to a carefully matched sample of $\sim$44,000 control objects indicates that the Seyfert and control population have similar Na D detection rates ($\sim 5-6%$). Only 53 Seyferts (or 0.5% of the population) are found to potentially display galactic-scale winds, compared to 0.8% of the control galaxies. While nearly a third of the Na D outflows observed in our Seyfert 2 galaxies occur around the brightest AGN, both radio and infrared data indicate that star formation could play the dominant role in driving cold-gas outflows in an even higher fraction of the Na D-outflowing Seyfert 2s. Our results indicate that galactic-scale outflows at low redshift are no more frequent in Seyferts than they are in their non-active counterparts, that optical AGN are not significant contributors to the quenching of star formation in the nearby Universe, and that star-formation may actually be the principal driver of outflows even in systems that do host an AGN.

UGMRT detections of H i 21-cm absorption associated with intermediate redshift galaxies

I report detections of four new HI 21-cm absorbers associated with sources at intermediate redshifts, 0.7 < z < 1.0. The sources are part of a sample of 11 radio-loud galaxies, all at 0.7 < z < 1.0, that were searched for associated HI 21-cm absorption using uGMRT. Previously, just four such absorbers were known in the literature at these redshifts; the current observations have increased the total to eight. The results indicate that the detection fraction at intermediate redshifts could be as high as that at lower redshifts, 30\%, on contrary to a much lower detection fraction observed in samples at z > 1. Three detections show strong blueshifted features, indicating cold gas outflows. These three sources also tentatively show excess [O II] line luminosity compared to a bulk of the remaining sample, possibly suggesting that the hosts of these AGNs harbour different environments, either due to interaction with the radio jets or due to excess star formation in the host galaxy. Further, a cold HI mass outflow rate of \approx 78 M_{sun} yr^{-1} , assuming T_s = 1000 K, is estimated for the detection towards SDSS J014652.79-015721.2, at z = 0.95904, which is the highest till date in comparison to similar estimates available in the literature.

Cold gas outflows from the Small Magellanic Cloud traced with ASKAP

Feedback from massive stars plays a critical role in the evolution of the Universe by driving powerful outflows from galaxies that enrich the intergalactic medium and regulate star formation. An important source of outflows may be the most numerous galaxies in the Universe: dwarf galaxies. With small gravitational potential wells, these galaxies easily lose their star-forming material in the presence of intense stellar feedback. Here, we show that the nearby dwarf galaxy, the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), has atomic hydrogen outflows extending at least 2 kiloparsecs (kpc) from the star-forming bar of the galaxy. The outflows are cold, $T<400~{\rm K}$, and may have formed during a period of active star formation $25 - 60$ million years (Myr) ago. The total mass of atomic gas in the outflow is $\sim 10^7$ solar masses, ${\rm M_{\odot}}$, or $\sim 3$% of the total atomic gas of the galaxy. The inferred mass flux in atomic gas alone, $\dot{M}_{HI}\sim 0.2 - 1.0~{\rm M_{\odot}~yr^{-1}}$, is up to an order of magnitude greater than the star formation rate. We suggest that most of the observed outflow will be stripped from the SMC through its interaction with its companion, the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), and the Milky Way, feeding the Magellanic Stream of hydrogen encircling the Milky Way.

Cold-gas outflows in typical low-redshift galaxies are driven by star formation, not AGN

Abstract Energetic feedback from active galactic nuclei (AGN) is an important ingredient for regulating the star formation history of galaxies in models of galaxy formation, which makes it important to study how AGN feedback actually occurs in practice. In order to catch AGNs in the act of quenching star formation, we have used the interstellar Na i λλ5890, 5895(NaD) absorption lines to look for cold-gas outflows in a sample of 456 nearby galaxies for which we could unambiguously ascertain the presence of radio-AGN activity, thanks to radio imaging at milli-arcsecond scales. While compact radio emission indicating a radio AGN was found in 103 galaxies (23 per cent of the sample), and 23 objects (5 per cent) exhibited NaD absorption-line kinematics suggestive of cold-gas outflows, not one object showed evidence of a radio AGN and of a cold-gas outflow simultaneously. Radio-AGN activity was found predominantly in early-type galaxies, while cold-gas outflows were mainly seen in spiral galaxies with central star formation or composite star formation/AGN activity. Optical AGNs also do not seem capable of driving galactic winds in our sample. Our work adds to a picture of the low-redshift Universe, where cold-gas outflows in massive galaxies are generally driven by star formation and where radio-AGN activity occurs most often in systems in which the gas reservoir has already been significantly depleted.