Frequency and nature of central molecular outflows in nearby star-forming disk galaxies

Sophia K. Stuber; Toshiki Saito; Eva Schinnerer; Eric Emsellem; Miguel Querejeta; Thomas G. Williams; Ashley T. Barnes; Frank Bigiel; Guillermo Blanc; Daniel A. Dale; Kathryn Grasha; Ralf Klessen; J. M.Diederik Kruijssen; Adam K. Leroy; Sharon Meidt; Hsi An Pan; Erik Rosolowsky; Andreas Schruba; Jiayi Sun; Antonio Usero

doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202141093

Frequency and nature of central molecular outflows in nearby star-forming disk galaxies

Sophia K. Stuber^*, Toshiki Saito, Eva Schinnerer, Eric Emsellem, Miguel Querejeta, Thomas G. Williams, Ashley T. Barnes, Frank Bigiel, Guillermo Blanc, Daniel A. Dale, Kathryn Grasha, Ralf Klessen, J. M.Diederik Kruijssen, Adam K. Leroy, Sharon Meidt, Hsi An Pan, Erik Rosolowsky, Andreas Schruba, Jiayi Sun, Antonio Usero

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

24 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Central molecular outflows in spiral galaxies are assumed to modulate their host galaxy's star formation rate (SFR) by removing gas from the inner region of the galaxy. Outflows consisting of different gas phases appear to be a common feature in local galaxies, yet, little is known about the frequency of molecular outflows in main sequence galaxies in the nearby universe. We develop a rigorous set of selection criteria, which allow the reliable identification of outflows in large samples of galaxies. Our criteria make use of central spectra, position-velocity diagrams and velocity-integrated intensity maps (line-wing maps). We use this method on high-angular resolution CO (2-1) observations from the PHANGS-ALMA survey, which provides observations of the molecular gas for a homogeneous sample of 90 nearby main sequence galaxies at a resolution of ∼100 pc. We find correlations between the assigned outflow confidence and stellar mass or global SFR. We determine the frequency of central molecular outflows to be 25 ± 2% considering all outflow candidates, or 20 ± 2% for secure outflows only. Our resulting outflow candidate sample of 16-20 galaxies shows an overall enhanced fraction of active galactic nuclei (AGN) (50%) and bars (89%) compared to the full sample (galaxies with AGN: 24%, with bar: 61%). We extend the trend between mass outflow rates and SFR known for high outflow rates down to lower values (log10 Ṁ out [M⊙ yr-1] < 0). Mass loading factors are of order unity, indicating that these outflows are not efficient in quenching the SFR in main sequence galaxies.

Original language	English
Article number	A172
Journal	Astronomy and Astrophysics
Volume	653
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202141093
Publication status	Published - 1 Sept 2021

Access to Document

10.1051/0004-6361/202141093

Cite this

Stuber, S. K., Saito, T., Schinnerer, E., Emsellem, E., Querejeta, M., Williams, T. G., Barnes, A. T., Bigiel, F., Blanc, G., Dale, D. A., Grasha, K., Klessen, R., Kruijssen, J. M. D., Leroy, A. K., Meidt, S., Pan, H. A., Rosolowsky, E., Schruba, A., Sun, J., & Usero, A. (2021). Frequency and nature of central molecular outflows in nearby star-forming disk galaxies. Astronomy and Astrophysics, 653, Article A172. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202141093

@article{2843e28383e24fffaa049fb0f664fe42,

title = "Frequency and nature of central molecular outflows in nearby star-forming disk galaxies",

abstract = "Central molecular outflows in spiral galaxies are assumed to modulate their host galaxy's star formation rate (SFR) by removing gas from the inner region of the galaxy. Outflows consisting of different gas phases appear to be a common feature in local galaxies, yet, little is known about the frequency of molecular outflows in main sequence galaxies in the nearby universe. We develop a rigorous set of selection criteria, which allow the reliable identification of outflows in large samples of galaxies. Our criteria make use of central spectra, position-velocity diagrams and velocity-integrated intensity maps (line-wing maps). We use this method on high-angular resolution CO (2-1) observations from the PHANGS-ALMA survey, which provides observations of the molecular gas for a homogeneous sample of 90 nearby main sequence galaxies at a resolution of ∼100 pc. We find correlations between the assigned outflow confidence and stellar mass or global SFR. We determine the frequency of central molecular outflows to be 25 ± 2% considering all outflow candidates, or 20 ± 2% for secure outflows only. Our resulting outflow candidate sample of 16-20 galaxies shows an overall enhanced fraction of active galactic nuclei (AGN) (50%) and bars (89%) compared to the full sample (galaxies with AGN: 24%, with bar: 61%). We extend the trend between mass outflow rates and SFR known for high outflow rates down to lower values (log10 Ṁ out [M⊙ yr-1] < 0). Mass loading factors are of order unity, indicating that these outflows are not efficient in quenching the SFR in main sequence galaxies.",

keywords = "Galaxies: ISM, Galaxies: statistics, ISM: jets and outflows, ISM: kinematics and dynamics, Molecular data",

author = "Stuber, {Sophia K.} and Toshiki Saito and Eva Schinnerer and Eric Emsellem and Miguel Querejeta and Williams, {Thomas G.} and Barnes, {Ashley T.} and Frank Bigiel and Guillermo Blanc and Dale, {Daniel A.} and Kathryn Grasha and Ralf Klessen and Kruijssen, {J. M.Diederik} and Leroy, {Adam K.} and Sharon Meidt and Pan, {Hsi An} and Erik Rosolowsky and Andreas Schruba and Jiayi Sun and Antonio Usero",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} S. K. Stuber et al. 2021.",

year = "2021",

month = sep,

day = "1",

doi = "10.1051/0004-6361/202141093",

language = "English",

volume = "653",

journal = "Astronomy and Astrophysics",

issn = "0004-6361",

publisher = "EDP Sciences",

}

Stuber, SK, Saito, T, Schinnerer, E, Emsellem, E, Querejeta, M, Williams, TG, Barnes, AT, Bigiel, F, Blanc, G, Dale, DA, Grasha, K, Klessen, R, Kruijssen, JMD, Leroy, AK, Meidt, S, Pan, HA, Rosolowsky, E, Schruba, A, Sun, J & Usero, A 2021, 'Frequency and nature of central molecular outflows in nearby star-forming disk galaxies', Astronomy and Astrophysics, vol. 653, A172. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202141093

TY - JOUR

T1 - Frequency and nature of central molecular outflows in nearby star-forming disk galaxies

AU - Stuber, Sophia K.

AU - Saito, Toshiki

AU - Schinnerer, Eva

AU - Emsellem, Eric

AU - Querejeta, Miguel

AU - Williams, Thomas G.

AU - Barnes, Ashley T.

AU - Bigiel, Frank

AU - Blanc, Guillermo

AU - Dale, Daniel A.

AU - Grasha, Kathryn

AU - Klessen, Ralf

AU - Kruijssen, J. M.Diederik

AU - Leroy, Adam K.

AU - Meidt, Sharon

AU - Pan, Hsi An

AU - Rosolowsky, Erik

AU - Schruba, Andreas

AU - Sun, Jiayi

AU - Usero, Antonio

PY - 2021/9/1

Y1 - 2021/9/1

N2 - Central molecular outflows in spiral galaxies are assumed to modulate their host galaxy's star formation rate (SFR) by removing gas from the inner region of the galaxy. Outflows consisting of different gas phases appear to be a common feature in local galaxies, yet, little is known about the frequency of molecular outflows in main sequence galaxies in the nearby universe. We develop a rigorous set of selection criteria, which allow the reliable identification of outflows in large samples of galaxies. Our criteria make use of central spectra, position-velocity diagrams and velocity-integrated intensity maps (line-wing maps). We use this method on high-angular resolution CO (2-1) observations from the PHANGS-ALMA survey, which provides observations of the molecular gas for a homogeneous sample of 90 nearby main sequence galaxies at a resolution of ∼100 pc. We find correlations between the assigned outflow confidence and stellar mass or global SFR. We determine the frequency of central molecular outflows to be 25 ± 2% considering all outflow candidates, or 20 ± 2% for secure outflows only. Our resulting outflow candidate sample of 16-20 galaxies shows an overall enhanced fraction of active galactic nuclei (AGN) (50%) and bars (89%) compared to the full sample (galaxies with AGN: 24%, with bar: 61%). We extend the trend between mass outflow rates and SFR known for high outflow rates down to lower values (log10 Ṁ out [M⊙ yr-1] < 0). Mass loading factors are of order unity, indicating that these outflows are not efficient in quenching the SFR in main sequence galaxies.

AB - Central molecular outflows in spiral galaxies are assumed to modulate their host galaxy's star formation rate (SFR) by removing gas from the inner region of the galaxy. Outflows consisting of different gas phases appear to be a common feature in local galaxies, yet, little is known about the frequency of molecular outflows in main sequence galaxies in the nearby universe. We develop a rigorous set of selection criteria, which allow the reliable identification of outflows in large samples of galaxies. Our criteria make use of central spectra, position-velocity diagrams and velocity-integrated intensity maps (line-wing maps). We use this method on high-angular resolution CO (2-1) observations from the PHANGS-ALMA survey, which provides observations of the molecular gas for a homogeneous sample of 90 nearby main sequence galaxies at a resolution of ∼100 pc. We find correlations between the assigned outflow confidence and stellar mass or global SFR. We determine the frequency of central molecular outflows to be 25 ± 2% considering all outflow candidates, or 20 ± 2% for secure outflows only. Our resulting outflow candidate sample of 16-20 galaxies shows an overall enhanced fraction of active galactic nuclei (AGN) (50%) and bars (89%) compared to the full sample (galaxies with AGN: 24%, with bar: 61%). We extend the trend between mass outflow rates and SFR known for high outflow rates down to lower values (log10 Ṁ out [M⊙ yr-1] < 0). Mass loading factors are of order unity, indicating that these outflows are not efficient in quenching the SFR in main sequence galaxies.

KW - Galaxies: ISM

KW - Galaxies: statistics

KW - ISM: jets and outflows

KW - ISM: kinematics and dynamics

KW - Molecular data

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85116421374&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1051/0004-6361/202141093

DO - 10.1051/0004-6361/202141093

M3 - Article

SN - 0004-6361

VL - 653

JO - Astronomy and Astrophysics

JF - Astronomy and Astrophysics

M1 - A172

ER -

Frequency and nature of central molecular outflows in nearby star-forming disk galaxies

Abstract

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this