# MusE GAs FLOw and Wind (MEGAFLOW) III: galactic wind properties using background quasars

## TL;DR

This study uses MUSE and UVES observations of 86 galaxies around 79 MgII absorbers at z~1 to analyze the geometry, velocity, and mass loading of galactic winds, revealing bi-conical outflows and mass fallback in most cases.

## Contribution

It provides new insights into the anisotropic distribution, outflow velocities, and mass loading factors of galactic winds at z~1, based on a large, integrated survey.

## Key findings

- Galactic halo gas shows a bi-modal azimuthal distribution.
- Outflows are likely bi-conical and extend up to 80 kpc.
- Mass loading factor remains roughly constant across galaxy masses.

## Abstract

We present results from our on-going MusE GAs FLOw and Wind (MEGAFLOW) survey, which consists of 22 quasar lines-of-sight, each observed with the integral field unit (IFU) MUSE and the UVES spectrograph at the ESO Very Large Telescopes (VLT). The goals of this survey are to study the properties of the circum-galactic medium around $z\sim1$ star-forming galaxies. The absorption-line selected survey consists of 79 strong \MgII\ absorbers (with rest-frame equivalent width (REW)$\gtrsim$0.3\AA) and, currently, 86 associated galaxies within 100 projected~kpc of the quasar with stellar masses ($M_\star$) from $10^9$ to $10^{11}$ \msun. We find that the cool halo gas traced by \MgII\ is not isotropically distributed around these galaxies, as we show the strong bi-modal distribution in the azimuthal angle of the apparent location of the quasar with respect to the galaxy major-axis. This supports a scenario in which outflows are bi-conical in nature and co-exist with a coplanar gaseous structure extending at least up to 60 to 80 kpc. Assuming that absorbers near the minor axis probe outflows, the current MEGAFLOW sample allowed us to select 26 galaxy-quasar pairs suitable for studying winds. From this sample, using a simple geometrical model, we find that the outflow velocity only exceeds the escape velocity when $M_{\star}\lesssim 4\times10^9$~\msun, implying the cool material is likely to fall back except in the smallest halos. Finally, we find that the mass loading factor $\eta$, the ratio between the ejected mass rate and the star formation rate (SFR), appears to be roughly constant with respect to the galaxy mass.