Extreme Circumgalactic H i and C iii Absorption around the Most Massive, Quenched Galaxies

Smailagic, M.; Prochaska, J. Xavier; Burchett, Joseph N.; Zhu, Guangtun; Ménard, Brice

doi:10.3847/1538-4357/aae384

Cited by 9 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…These small velocity spans indicate the gas is cool and there is an absence of winds. In no cases do we (or C18) find metalline absorption having the strength or velocity breadth of those seen around the two LRGs studied by Smailagić et al (2018). It is unclear why they have detected such velocity spans (>750 km s −1 ) at ρ = 29 kpc and 343 kpc.…”

Section: Hydrogen and Metal-line Absorptionmentioning

confidence: 78%

“…Several recent studies have probed the cold gas content of massive luminous red galaxies (LRGs) at z 1 (e.g., Gauthier et al 2009;Lundgren et al 2009;Chen et al 2010a;Bowen & Chelouche 2011;Zhu et al 2014;Pérez-Ràfols et al 2015;Huang et al 2016;Chen et al 2018;Smailagić et al 2018;Zahedy et al 2019). LRGs are high-mass (M 10 11 M ) quiescent galaxies with old stellar populations that have been selected via color (to select quiescent, high redshift galaxies) and magnitude (to select massive, 3L* systems) cuts (Eisenstein et al 2001).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Red Dead Redemption Survey of Circumgalactic Gas about Massive Galaxies. I. Mass and Metallicity of the Cool Phase

Berg

Howk

Lehner

et al. 2019

ApJ

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We present a search for H I in the circumgalactic medium (CGM) of 21 massive ( log M ∼ 11.4), luminous red galaxies (LRGs) at z ∼ 0.5. Using UV spectroscopy of QSO sightlines projected within 500 kpc (∼R vir ) of these galaxies, we detect H I absorption in 11/21 sightlines, including two partial Lyman limit systems and two Lyman limit systems. The covering factor of log N (H I) ≥ 16.0 gas within the virial radius of these LRGs is f c (ρ ≤ R vir ) = 0.27 +0.11 −0.10 , while for optically-thick gas (log N (−0.07 . Combining this sample of massive galaxies with previous galaxy-selected CGM studies, we find no strong dependence of the H I covering factor on galaxy mass, although star-forming galaxies show marginally higher covering factors. There is no evidence for a critical mass above which dense, cold (T ∼ 10 4 K) gas is suppressed in the CGM of galaxies (spanning stellar masses 9.5 log M 11.8). The metallicity distribution in LRGs is indistinguishable from those found about lower-mass star-forming galaxies, and we find low-metallicity gas with [X/H] ≈ −1.8 (1.5% solar) and below about massive galaxies. About half the cases show super-solar [Fe II/Mg II] abundances as seen previously in cool gas near massive galaxies. While the high-metallicity cold gas seen in LRGs could plausibly result from condensation from a corona, the low-metallicity gas is inconsistent with this interpretation.

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Section: Hydrogen and Metal-line Absorptionmentioning

confidence: 78%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Red Dead Redemption Survey of Circumgalactic Gas about Massive Galaxies. I. Mass and Metallicity of the Cool Phase

Berg

Howk

Lehner

et al. 2019

ApJ

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“…The rest of the baryons, a.k.a the missing baryons, are likely to reside in the circumgalactic medium (CGM) of galaxies, and the surrounding intergalactic medium (Bregman 2007;Werk et al 2014;Danforth et al 2016;Tumlinson et al 2017;Shull et al 2017). So far, baryons in the CGM have been detected using quasar (quasi-stellar object; QSO) absorption line diagnostics for a wide range of galaxy masses (e.g., dwarfs, L ∼ L * , and luminous red galaxies; for a non-exhaustive list: Tumlinson et al 2011;Rudie et al 2012;Werk et al 2014;Bordoloi et al 2014;Liang & Chen 2014;Burchett et al 2016;Johnson et al 2017;Smailagić et al 2018). Emission line mapping of Lyman-α photons near star-forming galaxies and bright QSOs have also found large halos spanning a few tens to hundreds kpc, which could be massive baryonic reservoirs (Cantalupo et al 2014;Hennawi et al 2015;Borisova et al 2016;Cai et al 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tentative detection of the circumgalactic medium of the isolated low-mass dwarf galaxy WLM

Zheng

Putman

Emerick

et al. 2019

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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We report a tentative detection of the circumgalactic medium (CGM) of WLM, an isolated, low-mass (logM * /M ≈ 7.6), dwarf irregular galaxy in the Local Group (LG). We analyze an HST/COS archival spectrum of a quasar sightline (PHL2525), which is 45 kpc (0.5 virial radius) from WLM and close to the Magellanic Stream (MS). Along this sightline, two ion absorbers are detected in Si II, Si III, Si IV, C II, and C IV at velocities of ∼-220 km s −1 (Component v-220) and ∼-150 km s −1 (Component v-150). To identify their origins, we study the position-velocity alignment of the components with WLM and the nearby MS. Near the Magellanic longitude of PHL2525, the MSrelated neutral and ionized gas moves at −190 km s −1 , suggesting an MS origin for Component v-220, but not for Component v-150. Because PHL2525 passes near WLM and Component v-150 is close to WLM's systemic velocity (∼-132 km s −1 ), it is likely that Component v-150 arises from the galaxy's CGM. This results in a total Si mass in WLM's CGM of M CGM Si ∼ (0.2 − 1.0) × 10 5 M using assumption from other COS dwarf studies. Comparing M CGM Si to the total Si mass synthesized in WLM over its lifetime (∼1.3×10 5 M ), we find ∼3% is locked in stars, ∼6% in the ISM, ∼15%-77% in the CGM, and the rest (∼14%-76%) is likely lost beyond the virial radius. Our finding resonates with other COS dwarf galaxy studies and theoretical predictions that low-mass galaxies can easily lose metals into their CGM due to stellar feedback and shallow gravitational potential.

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“…These advances have all come through UV absorption line spectroscopy of background QSOs. Particularly aided by the sensitivity of the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS) aboard Hubble Space Telescope (HST), we are now able to design absorption line experiments focusing on particular classes of galaxies, e.g., L* galaxies [20], dwarfs [18,21,22], and luminous red galaxies [23][24][25].…”

Section: Uv Frontiers: the Cgm To Galaxy Clusters And Cosmic Webmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ultraviolet Perspectives on Diffuse Gas in the Largest Cosmic Structures

Burchett¹,

Nagai²,

Butsky³

et al. 2019

Preprint

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The past decade has seen an explosion of discoveries and new insights into the diffuse gas within galaxies, galaxy clusters, and the filaments composing the Cosmic Web. A new decade will bring fresh opportunities to further this progress towards developing a comprehensive view of the composition, thermal state, and physical processes of diffuse gas in the Universe. Ultraviolet (UV) spectroscopy, probing diffuse 10 4 − 10 6 K gas at high spectral resolution, is uniquely poised to (1) witness environmental galaxy quenching processes in action, such as strangulation and tidaland ram-pressure stripping, (2) directly account for the baryon content of galaxy clusters in the cold-warm (T < 10 6 K) gas, (3) determine the phase structure and kinematics of gas participating in the equilibrium-regulating exchange of energy at the cores of galaxy clusters, and (4) map cold streams and filaments of the Cosmic Web that feed galaxies and clusters. With a substantial UV undertaking beyond the Hubble Space Telescope, all of the above would be achievable over the entire epoch of galaxy cluster formation. Such capabilities, coupled with already-planned advancements at other wavelengths, will transform extragalactic astronomy by revealing the dominant formation and growth mechanisms of gaseous halos over the mass spectrum, settling the debate between early-and late-time metal enrichment scenarios, and revealing how the ecosystems in which galaxies reside ultimately facilitate their demise.

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Extreme Circumgalactic H i and C iii Absorption around the Most Massive, Quenched Galaxies

Cited by 9 publications

References 52 publications

The Red Dead Redemption Survey of Circumgalactic Gas about Massive Galaxies. I. Mass and Metallicity of the Cool Phase

The Red Dead Redemption Survey of Circumgalactic Gas about Massive Galaxies. I. Mass and Metallicity of the Cool Phase

Tentative detection of the circumgalactic medium of the isolated low-mass dwarf galaxy WLM

Ultraviolet Perspectives on Diffuse Gas in the Largest Cosmic Structures

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