A search for cold molecular outflows in cosmic noon galaxies
arXiv:2511.16733 · doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202554297
Abstract
The flow of baryons in and out of galaxies is the primary driver for galaxy evolution. In addition to depleting the gas reservoir of galaxies, outflows also enrich their circumgalactic medium (CGM) with processed gas -- which can further impact the next stages of gas accretion, resulting in the presence of molecular gas beyond the stellar component of galaxies, out to CGM scales. Here, we aim to search for cold molecular gas (MH2) in the CGM of typical main-sequence (MS) star-forming galaxies (SFGs) at cosmic noon (zmed=1.3), where we expect outflows to be particularly prominent. Using Band 3 CO(2-1) data from the Atacama Large Millimeter and submillimeter Array (ALMA), we study the spatial extent of the MH2 of a sample of 26 SFGs, via stacking techniques. We compare this extent to that of the stacked stellar emission of our sample traced by UltraVISTA Ks band data. We also search for broad wings in the stacked spectrum which can be indicative of ongoing outflows. Within the noise level of the observations, we find that the total intrinsic MH2 of our sample spatially extends to scales of ~12 kpc, similarly to the stellar emission (~13 kpc). We do not find broad wings in the stacked spectrum that could hint at ongoing molecular outflows, but we find a tentative minor excess of CO(2-1) emission at negative velocities that might be indicative of outflows, where the redshifted gas is optically thick. The absence of high-velocity molecular gas suggests that molecular outflows traced by CO(2-1) emission are weak in MS SFGs at cosmic noon. These weak outflows thus fail to expel a significant amount of molecular gas to CGM scales, as indicated by the absence of molecular emission extending beyond the stellar emission region. This lack of CO emission at large radii could also imply that the molecular gas does not survive at such distances.
15 pages, 13 figures, accepted for publication at Astronomy & Astrophysics
References in corpus (64)
- How Do Galaxies Get Their Gas?
- The CO-to-H2 Conversion Factor
- The Cosmic Evolution Survey (COSMOS) -- Overview
- A Highly Consistent Framework for the Evolution of the Star-Forming "Main Sequence" from z~0-6
- Physical Models of Galaxy Formation in a Cosmological Framework
- Cool Gas in High Redshift Galaxies
- CASA, the Common Astronomy Software Applications for Radio Astronomy
- First Results from the TNG50 Simulation: The evolution of stellar and gaseous disks across cosmic time
- UltraVISTA: a new ultra-deep near-infrared survey in COSMOS
- Quasar feedback revealed by giant molecular outflows
- Stellar Feedback in Galaxies and the Origin of Galaxy-scale Winds
- Cool Outflows in Galaxies and their Implications
- Evidence for Ubiquitous Collimated Galactic-Scale Outflows along the Star-Forming Sequence at z~0.5
- A Herschel [CII] Galactic plane survey I: the global distribution of ISM gas components
- The radial and azimuthal profiles of Mg II absorption around 0.5 < z < 0.9 zCOSMOS galaxies of different colors, masses and environments
- Discovery of an AGN-Driven Molecular Outflow in the Local Early-Type Galaxy NGC 1266
- Tracing the molecular gas in distant submillimetre galaxies via CO(1-0) imaging with the EVLA
- The Starburst-Driven Molecular Wind in NGC 253 and the Suppression of Star Formation
- The multi-phase winds of Markarian 231: from the hot, nuclear, ultra-fast wind to the galaxy-scale, molecular outflow
- A Herschel/PACS Far Infrared Line Emission Survey of Local Luminous Infrared Galaxies
- Radiation pressure from massive star clusters as a launching mechanism for super-galactic winds
- The Herschel Dwarf Galaxy Survey: I. Properties of the low-metallicity ISM from PACS spectroscopy
- The KMOS^3D Survey: Demographics and Properties of Galactic Outflows at z = 0.6 - 2.7
- Very extended cold gas, star formation and outflows in the halo of a bright QSO at z>6
- ALMA observations of feeding and feedback in nearby Seyfert galaxies: an AGN-driven outflow in NGC 1433
- The physics and the structure of the quasar-driven outflow in Mrk 231
- Molecular outflows in local galaxies: Method comparison and a role of intermittent AGN driving
- The ALPINE-ALMA [CII] Survey: Size of Individual Star-Forming Galaxies at z=4-6 and their Extended Halo Structure
- First Identification of 10-kpc Scale [CII] 158um Halos around Star-Forming Galaxies at z=5-7
- The distribution of atomic hydrogen in EAGLE galaxies: morphologies, profiles, and HI holes
- Quasar Feedback in the Ultraluminous Infrared Galaxy F11119+3257: Connecting the Accretion Disk Wind with the Large-Scale Molecular Outflow
- [CII] 158 micron Luminosities and Star Formation Rate in Dusty Starbursts and AGN
- Widespread QSO-driven outflows in the early Universe
- Molecular outflow and feedback in the obscured Quasar XID2028 revealed by ALMA
- Is atomic carbon a good tracer of molecular gas in metal-poor galaxies?
- MusE GAs FLOw and Wind (MEGAFLOW) I: First MUSE results on background quasars
- Large turbulent reservoirs of cold molecular gas around high-redshift starburst galaxies
- The gentle monster PDS 456: the kpc scale molecular outflow and its implications for QSO feedback
- Extended [CII] Emission in Local Luminous Infrared Galaxies
- Giant galaxy growing from recycled gas: ALMA maps the circumgalactic molecular medium of the Spiderweb in [CI]
- The Main Sequence at contains a sizable fraction of galaxies with compact star formation sizes: a new population of early post-starbursts?
- CO emission in distant galaxies on and above the main sequence
- Spatially resolved cold molecular outflows in ULIRGs
- Outflows and extended [CII] halos in high redshift galaxies
- ALMA reveals extended cool gas and hot ionized outflows in a typical star-forming galaxy at
- Properties of ionized outflows in MaNGA DR2 galaxies
- High-velocity extended molecular outflow in the star-formation dominated luminous infrared galaxy ESO 320-G030
- Herschel Observations of Far-Infrared Cooling Lines in intermediate Redshift (Ultra)-luminous Infrared Galaxies
- Bipolar Outflows out to 10~kpc for Massive Galaxies at Redshift
- SUPER. VI. A giant molecular halo around a z~2 quasar
- A spectral stacking analysis to search for faint outflow signatures in z~6 quasars
- Imaging the Molecular Outflows of the Prototypical ULIRG NGC 6240 with ALMA
- Enhanced UV radiation and dense clumps in Mrk231's molecular outflow
- High resolution modeling of [CII], [CI], [OIII] and CO line emission from the ISM and CGM of a star forming galaxy at z ~ 6.5
- Estimating the statistical uncertainty due to spatially correlated noise in interferometric images
- No sign of strong molecular gas outflow in an infrared-bright dust-obscured galaxy with strong ionized-gas outflow
- Evidence of extended cold molecular gas and dust halos around Extremely Red Quasars with ALMA
- Atomic and molecular gas as traced by [C II] emission
- ColdSIM predictions of [C II] emission in primordial galaxies
- The correct estimate of the probability of false detection of the matched filter in the detection of weak signals. II. (Further results with application to a set of ALMA and ATCA data)
- Carbon envelopes around merging galaxies at z ~ 4.5
- Correct estimate of the probability of false detection of the matched filter in weak-signal detection problems. III (Peak distribution method versus the Gumbel distribution method)
- CO(1--0) imaging reveals 10-kiloparsec molecular gas reservoirs around star-forming galaxies at high redshift
- PHIBSS: Searching for Molecular Gas Outflows in Star-Forming Galaxies at 0.5-2.6