Abstract
The OH+(11 − 10) absorption line is a powerful tracer of inflowing and outflowing gas in the predominantly atomic diffuse and turbulent halo surrounding galaxies. In this Letter, we present observations of OH+(11 − 10), CO(9-8) and the underlying dust continuum in five strongly lensed z ∼ 2 − 4 quasi-stellar objects (QSOs), using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) to detect outflowing neutral gas. Blue-shifted OH+(11 − 10) absorption is detected in three out of five QSOs and tentatively detected in a fourth. Absorption at systemic velocities is also detected in one source also displaying blue-shifted absorption. OH+(11 − 10) emission is observed in three out of five QSOs at systemic velocities and the OH+(21 − 10) transition is also detected in one source. CO(9-8) is detected in all five QSOs at high S/N, providing information on the dense molecular gas within the host galaxy. We compare our sample to high-z far-infrared (FIR) luminous star-forming and active galaxies from the literature. We find no difference in OH+ absorption line properties between active and star-forming galaxies with both samples roughly following the same optical depth-dust temperature relation. This suggests that these observables are driven by the same mechanism in both samples. Similarly, star-forming and active galaxies both follow the same OH+ emission–FIR relation. Obscured QSOs display broader (> 800 km s−1) emission than the unobscured QSOs and all but one of the high-z star-forming galaxies (likely caused by the warm molecular gas reservoir obscuring the accreting nucleus). Broader CO(9-8) emission (> 500 km s−1) is found in obscured versus unobscured QSOs, but overall they cover a similar range in line widths as the star-forming galaxies and follow the CO(9-8)–FIR luminosity relation found in low-z galaxies. We find that outflows traced by OH+ are only detected in extreme star-forming galaxies (indicated by broad CO(9-8) emission) and in both types of QSOs, which, in turn, display no red-shifted absorption. This suggests that diffuse neutral outflows in galaxy halos may be associated with the most energetic evolutionary phases leading up to and following the obscured QSO phase.
Subject
Space and Planetary Science,Astronomy and Astrophysics
Cited by
2 articles.
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