COS-Burst: Observations of the Impact of Starburst-Driven Winds on the Properties of the Circum-Galactic Medium

TL;DR

This study uses Hubble's COS to observe how starburst-driven winds influence the circum-galactic medium, revealing enhanced absorption features and velocities indicating wind-CGM interactions, thus shedding light on galaxy evolution.

Contribution

First observational evidence showing that starburst-driven winds significantly alter the properties of the circum-galactic medium around low-redshift galaxies.

Findings

Stronger Lyα, Si III, C IV, O VI absorption lines in starburst CGM.

Larger velocity widths and offsets of Lyα lines in starburst CGM.

Absorbing material velocities roughly twice the halo virial velocity.

Abstract

We report on observations made with the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS) on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) using background QSOs to probe the circum-galactic medium (CGM) around 17 low-redshift galaxies that are undergoing or have recently undergone a strong starburst (the COS-Burst program). The sightlines extend out to roughly the virial radius of the galaxy halo. We construct control samples of normal star-forming low-redshift galaxies from the COS/HST archive that match the starbursts in terms of galaxy stellar mass and impact parameter. We find clear evidence that the CGM around the starbursts differs systematically compared to the control galaxies. The Ly$\alpha$, Si III, C IV, and possibly O VI absorption-lines are stronger as a function of impact parameter, and the ratios of the equivalent widths of C IV/Ly$\alpha$ and Si III/Ly$\alpha$ are both larger than in normal star-forming galaxies. We also find that the widths and the velocity offsets (relative to $v_{sys}$) of the Ly$\alpha$ absorption-lines are significantly larger in the CGM of the starbursts, implying velocities of the absorbing material that are roughly twice the halo virial velocity. We show that these properties can be understood as a consequence of the interaction between a starburst-driven wind and the pre-existing CGM. These results underscore the importance of winds driven from intensely star-forming galaxies in helping drive the evolution of galaxies and the intergalactic medium. They also offer a new probe of the properties of starburst-driven winds and of the CGM itself.