Skip to main content
eScholarship
Open Access Publications from the University of California

UC Santa Barbara

UC Santa Barbara Previously Published Works bannerUC Santa Barbara

THE KINEMATICS OF C iv IN STAR-FORMING GALAXIES AT z ∼ 1.2

Published Web Location

https://arxiv.org/abs/1604.03945v2
No data is associated with this publication.
Abstract

We present the first statistical sample of rest-frame far-UV spectra of star-forming galaxies at z ∼ 1. These spectra are unique in that they cover the high-ionization C iv λλ1548, 1550 doublet. We also detect low-ionization features such as Si ii λ1526, Fe ii λ1608, Al ii λ1670, Ni ii λλ1741, 1751, and Si ii λ1808, and intermediate-ionization features from Al iii λλ1854, 1862. Comparing the properties of absorption lines of lower- and higher-ionization states provides a window into the multiphase nature of circumgalactic gas. Our sample is drawn from the DEEP2 survey and spans the redshift range 1.01 ≤ z ≤ 1.35 (〈z〉 = 1.25). By isolating the interstellar C iv absorption from the stellar P Cygni wind profile, we find that 69% of the C iv profiles are blueshifted with respect to the systemic velocity. Furthermore, C iv shows a small but significant blueshift relative to Fe ii (offset of the best-fit linear regression -76 ± 26 km s-1). At the same time, the C iv blueshift is on average comparable to that of Mg ii λλ2796, 2803. At this point, in explaining the larger blueshift of C iv absorption at the ∼3σ level, we cannot distinguish between the faster motion of highly ionized gas relative to gas traced by Fe ii and filling in on the red side from resonant C iv emission. We investigate how far-UV interstellar absorption kinematics correlate with other galaxy properties using stacked spectra. These stacking results show a direct link between C iv absorption and the current star formation rate, though we only observe small velocity differences among different ionization states tracing the outflowing interstellar medium.

Many UC-authored scholarly publications are freely available on this site because of the UC's open access policies. Let us know how this access is important for you.

Item not freely available? Link broken?
Report a problem accessing this item