Weak Galactic Winds in Active Galactic Nuclei Post-starburst Host Galaxies at z ~ 0.1

Abstract

Post-starburst (PSB) galaxies may be in rapid transition from star-forming to quiescence and are excellent candidates to constrain active galactic nuclei (AGN) feedback models. We study galactic winds in the stacked spectrum of 560 AGN PSBs and that of a control sample of star-forming galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). Using a two component (inter-stellar +wind) absorption-line model of the \ion{Na}{i} doublet, and after accounting for the stellar photospheric absorption, we find that the AGN PSBs have a centroid wind velocity shift of $-252_{-57}^{+64}$ km s${}^{-1}$ and a maximum blueshift velocity of $-678_{-53}^{+54}$ km s${}^{-1}$. In comparison, the control sample, which is matched with the AGN PSBs in redshift, stellar mass, axis-ratio, the 4000 Å break index, Balmer decrement, and WISE 12 $\mu$m to 4.6 $\mu$m flux ratio, has a centroid wind velocity shift of $-119_{-41}^{+33}$ km s${}^{-1}$ and a maximum velocity of $-406_{-61}^{+51}$ km s${}^{-1}$. The equivalent widths due to the winds in both samples are similar: $0.36_{-0.07}^{+0.10}$ Å for the AGN PSBs and $0.24_{-0.06}^{+0.07}$ Å for the control sample. Despite having a higher velocity, the observed winds in the AGN PSBs are still not powerful enough to sweep significant amounts of gas out of the halos of the host galaxies. We also detect winds of similar velocities in the stacked spectra of shocked and quenched PSBs.

arXiv comment16 pages, 11 figures, submitted to MNRAS, comments and suggestions for improvements are welcome

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