EVIDENCE FOR WIDE-SPREAD ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEUS-DRIVEN OUTFLOWS IN THE MOST MASSIVE z ∼ 1–2 STAR-FORMING GALAXIES

By R. Genzel, N. F. Förster Schreiber, D. Rosario, P. Lang, D. Lutz, E. Wisnioski, E. Wuyts, S. Wuyts, K. Bandara, R. Bender and 28 more. 2014

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In this paper, we follow up on our previous detection of nuclear ionized outflows in the most massive (log(M*/M☉) ⩾ 10.9) z ∼ 1–3 star-forming galaxies by increasing the sample size by a factor of six (to 44 galaxies above log(M*/M☉) ⩾ 10.9) from a combination of the SINS/zC-SINF, LUCI, GNIRS, and KMOS3Dspectroscopic surveys. We find a fairly sharp onset of the incidence of broad nuclear emission (FWHM in the Hα, [N ii], and [S ii] lines ∼450–5300 km s−1), with large [N ii]/Hα ratios, above log(M*/M☉) ∼ 10.9, with about two-thirds of the galaxies in this mass range exhibiting this component. Broad nuclear components near and above the Schechter mass are similarly prevalent above and below the main sequence of star-forming galaxies, and at z ∼ 1 and ∼2. The line ratios of the nuclear component are fit by excitation from active galactic nuclei (AGNs), or by a combination of shocks and photoionization. The incidence of the most massive galaxies with broad nuclear components is at least as large as that of AGNs identified by X-ray, optical, infrared, or radio indicators. The mass loading of the nuclear outflows is near unity. Our findings provide compelling evidence for powerful, high-duty cycle, AGN-driven outflows near the Schechter mass, and acting across the peak of cosmic galaxy formation.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Instrumentation

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/a2dca5c7cedb22839a1bd32209c2300efdaa4012

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In Astronomy and Astrophysics

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Citations in the corpus

• AGN wind scaling relations and the co-evolution of black holes and galaxies (2017, background): “Genzel et al. (2014) use 〈ne〉 = 80 cm−3 because this is the mean value in the disks and centres of star-forming galaxies.”
• FORMING COMPACT MASSIVE GALAXIES (2015, background): “Such winds can be driven by star formation (e.g., Heckman, Armus, & Miley 1987) and/or AGNs (e.g., Proga, Stone, & Kallman 2000) and are ubiquitous in star forming galaxies at high redshifts (Franx et al. 1997; Pettini et al. 1998; Förster Schreiber et al. 2014; Genzel et al. 2014a).”
• Theoretical Challenges in Galaxy Formation (2016, background): “Even at high redshift the launching sites of star formation driven (Newman et al. 2012b) and AGN driven (Genzel et al. 2014) winds can now be resolved with modern instruments.”
• The multi-phase winds of Markarian 231: from the hot, nuclear, ultra-fast wind to the galaxy-scale, molecular outflow (2015, background): “…ionized and neutral gas with similar velocities is found on galactic scale (1-30 kpc) in a few tens AGN from the local Universe up to z=2-3 (Cano-Diaz et al. 2012, Rupke & Veilleux 2011, 2013; Harrison et al. 2014; Nesvadba et al. 2008; Harrison et al. 2012; Genzel et al. 2014, Cresci et al. 2015).”
• Metallicity gradients in local field star-forming galaxies: insights on inflows, outflows, and the coevolution of gas, stars and metals (2015, background): “…(z > 1) have provided evidences that galaxies in the early Universe undergo many, perhaps intermittent, accretion events, immense star formation and outflows (e.g.,Tacconi et al. 2010, 2013; Weiner et al. 2009; Steidel et al. 2010; Genzel et al. 2011; Newman et al. 2012; Genzel et al. 2014).”
• The Illustris simulation: the evolving population of black holes across cosmic time (2014, background): “Thus from the observational point of view this remains an unsettled point, even though there is accumulating evidence for AGN-driven large scale outflows (Cicone et al. 2012; Maiolino et al. 2012; Cicone et al. 2014; Genzel et al. 2014).”
• First results from the TNG50 simulation: galactic outflows driven by supernovae and black hole feedback (2019, background): “…peak epoch of cosmic star formation at z ∼ 2− 3 in both absorption (Steidel et al. 2010) and emission, focusing on SF-driven outflows (Newman et al. 2012; Genzel et al. 2014) and AGN sources (Harrison et al. 2016; Leung et al. 2017; Circosta et al. 2018) even up to z & 5 quasars (e.g. Bischetti…”
• GASP. I. Gas Stripping Phenomena in Galaxies with MUSE (2017, background): “…are now observed both at low- and high-z, though what fraction of the outflowing gas rains back onto the galaxy is still an open question (Feruglio et al. 2010; Steidel et al. 2010; Fabian 2012; Bolatto et al. 2013; Cicone et al. 2014; Genzel et al. 2014; Wagg et al. 2014; Cresci et al. 2015).”
• STRONG NEBULAR LINE RATIOS IN THE SPECTRA of z ∼ 2–3 STAR FORMING GALAXIES: FIRST RESULTS FROM KBSS-MOSFIRE (2014, background): “…locations of galaxies in the BPT plane (e.g., Newman et al. 2013; Kewley et al. 2013a), particularly for galaxies with log(M∗/M ) >∼ 11 where kinematic evidence for AGN activity often accompanies large values of the N2 ratio (Förster Schreiber et al. 2014; Genzel et al. 2014; see also section 5).”
• The SINS/zC-SINF Survey of z ∼ 2 Galaxy Kinematics: SINFONI Adaptive Optics–assisted Data and Kiloparsec-scale Emission-line Properties (2018, methodology): “This object has by far the largest nuclear Fbroad/Fnarrow ratio (∼ 3), such that narrower line emission that would trace star formation around the center is comparatively very weak (Förster Schreiber et al. 2014; Genzel et al. 2014a).”
• Simulating galaxy formation with black hole driven thermal and kinetic feedback (2016, background): “Interestingly however, Genzel et al. (2014) and Förster Schreiber et al. (2014) have discovered wide-spread, powerful AGN-driven outflows in the majority (∼ 70”
• THE KMOS3D SURVEY: DESIGN, FIRST RESULTS, AND THE EVOLUTION OF GALAXY KINEMATICS FROM 0.7 ⩽ z ⩽ 2.7 (2014, methodology): “…out to z ∼ 2.5 (e.g., Förster Schreiber et al. 2006, 2009; Genzel et al. 2006, 2008; Shapiro et al. 2008; Epinat et al. 2009, 2012; Wuyts et al. 2011a) and the evolution of molecular gas mass fractions (e.g. Tacconi et al. 2010, 2013; Daddi et al. 2010; Saintonge et al. 2013; Genzel et al. 2014a).”