Metal content of the circumgalactic medium around star-forming galaxies at z $\sim$ 2.6 as revealed by the VIMOS Ultra-Deep Survey

Abstract

The circumgalactic medium (CGM) is the location where the interplay between large-scale outflows and accretion onto galaxies occurs. Metals in different ionization states flowing between the circumgalactic and intergalactic mediums are affected by large galactic outflows and low-ionization state inflowing gas. Observational studies on their spatial distribution and their relation with galaxy properties may provide important constraints on models of galaxy formation and evolution. To provide new insights into the spatial distribution of the circumgalactic of star-forming galaxies, we select a sample of 238 close pairs at $1.5<z<4.5$ ($⟨z⟩\sim$2.6) from the VIMOS Ultra Deep Survey. We then generate composite spectra by co-adding spectra of $background$ galaxies that provide different sight-lines across the CGM to examine the spatial distribution of the gas located around these galaxies and investigate possible correlations between the strength of the low- and high-ionization absorption features with different galaxy properties. We detect C II, Si II, Si IV and C IV) up to separations $⟨b⟩=$ 172 kpc and 146 kpc. Our $W_0$ radial profiles suggest a potential redshift evolution for the CGM gas content producing these absorptions. We find a correlation between C II and C IV with star formation rate, stellar mass and trends with galaxy size estimated by the effective radius and azimuthal angle. Galaxies with high star formation rate show stronger C IV absorptions compared with star-forming galaxies with low SFR and low stellar mass. These results could be explained by stronger outflows, softer radiation fields unable to ionize high-ionization state lines or by the galactic fountain scenario where metal-rich gas ejected from previous star-formation episodes fall back to the galaxy.

Accepted for publication in A&A

References in corpus (42)

• Array Programming with NumPy
• The Cosmic Evolution Survey (COSMOS) -- Overview
• The Circumgalactic Medium
• zCOSMOS: A Large VLT/VIMOS redshift survey covering 0 < z < 3 in the COSMOS field
• Ubiquitous outflows in DEEP2 spectra of star-forming galaxies at z=1.4
• The COS-Halos Survey: Physical Conditions and Baryonic Mass in the Low-Redshift Circumgalactic Medium
• The Stellar, Gas and Dynamical Masses of Star-Forming Galaxies at z~2
• The VIMOS Ultra-Deep Survey: ~10,000 galaxies with spectroscopic redshifts to study galaxy assembly at early epochs 2<z<~6
• The Discovery of 1000 km/s Outflows in Massive Post-starburst Galaxies at z=0.6
• On the (Non)Evolution of HI Disks over Cosmic Time
• The Cosmic Baryon and Metal Cycles
• The dark nemesis of galaxy formation: why hot haloes trigger black hole growth and bring star formation to an end
• The COS-Halos Survey: Origins of the Highly Ionized Circumgalactic Medium of Star-Forming Galaxies
• Metal-line absorption around $z\approx$2.4 star-forming galaxies in the Keck Baryonic Structure Survey
• Diffuse Lyman-alpha Halos around Galaxies at z=2.2-6.6: Implications for Galaxy Formation and Cosmic Reionization
• Quasars Probing Quasars VII. The Pinnacle of the Cool Circumgalactic Medium Surrounds Massive z~2 Galaxies
• Predictions for the Angular Dependence of Gas Mass Flow Rate and Metallicity in the Circumgalactic Medium
• The SINFONI MgII Program for Line Emitters (SIMPLE): Discovering starbursts near QSO sight-lines
• Kinematics of Circumgalactic Gas: Feeding Galaxies and Feedback
• A clumpy and anisotropic galaxy halo at z=1 from gravitational-arc tomography
• The extent of chemically enriched gas around star-forming dwarf galaxies
• COS-Burst: Observations of the Impact of Starburst-Driven Winds on the Properties of the Circum-Galactic Medium
• New Perspective on Galaxy Outflows From the First Detection of Both Intrinsic and Traverse Metal-Line Absorption
• The MUSE Extremely Deep Field: the Cosmic Web in Emission at High Redshift
• The properties of the cool circumgalactic gas probed with the SDSS, WISE and GALEX surveys
• The Keck Baryonic Structure Survey: Using foreground/background galaxy pairs to trace the structure and kinematics of circumgalactic neutral hydrogen at $z\sim 2$
• GMASS Ultradeep Spectroscopy of Galaxies at redshift z~2. I. The stellar metallicity
• A Comprehensive Study of Ly$\alpha$ Emission in the High-redshift Galaxy Population
• Direct Insights into Observational Absorption Line Analysis Methods of the Circumgalactic Medium Using Cosmological Simulations
• Slicing the cool circumgalactic medium along the major-axis of a star-forming galaxy at $z=0.7$
• Metal-enriched halo gas across galaxy overdensities over the last 10 billion years
• The cold circumgalactic medium in emission: MgII halos in TNG50
• The Redshift Evolution of Rest-UV Spectroscopic Properties to z~5
• The KBSS-KCWI Survey: The connection between extended Ly$\alpha$ halos and galaxy azimuthal angle at $z\sim 2-3$
• The Relationship Between Galaxy ISM and Circumgalactic Gas Metallicities
• The MUSE Hubble Ultra Deep Field Survey. XV. The mean rest-UV spectra of Ly-alpha emitters at z>3
• Telltale signs of metal recycling in the circumgalactic medium of a $z\sim 0.77$ galaxy
• From large-scale environment to CGM angular momentum to star forming activities -- I: star-forming galaxies
• The role of galaxy mass on AGN emission: a view from the VANDELS survey
• Evidence for galaxy quenching in the green valley caused by a lack of a circumgalactic medium
• The MOSDEF-LRIS Survey: Probing ISM/CGM Structure of Star-Forming Galaxies at z~2 Using Rest-UV Spectroscopy
• Multi-phase gas properties of extremely strong intervening DLAs towards quasars