Molecular Outflow in the Reionization-epoch Quasar J2054-0005 Revealed by OH 119 μm Observations
Journal article, 2024

Molecular outflows are expected to play a key role in galaxy evolution at high redshift. To study the impact of outflows on star formation at the epoch of reionization, we performed sensitive Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array observations of OH 119 μm toward J2054-0005, a luminous quasar at z = 6.04. The OH line is detected and exhibits a P-Cygni profile that can be fitted with a broad blueshifted absorption component, providing unambiguous evidence of an outflow, and an emission component at near-systemic velocity. The mean and terminal outflow velocities are estimated to be v out ≈ 670 and 1500 km s−1, respectively, making the molecular outflow in this quasar one of the fastest at the epoch of reionization. The OH line is marginally spatially resolved for the first time in a quasar at z > 6, revealing that the outflow extends over the central 2 kpc region. The mass outflow rate is comparable to the star formation rate ( M ̇ out / SFR ∼ 2 ), indicating rapid (∼107 yr) quenching of star formation. The mass outflow rate in a sample of star-forming galaxies and quasars at 4 < z < 6.4 exhibits a positive correlation with the total infrared luminosity, although the scatter is large. Owing to the high outflow velocity, a large fraction (up to ∼50%) of the outflowing molecular gas may be able to escape from the host galaxy into the intergalactic medium.

Author

Dragan Salak

Hokkaido University

Takuya Hashimoto

University of Tsukuba

Akio K. Inoue

Waseda University

Tom Bakx

Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Astronomy and Plasmaphysics

Darko Donevski

Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati

Narodowe Centrum Badan Jadrowych

University of Trieste

Y. Tamura

Nagoya University

Yuma Sugahara

Waseda University

National Astronomical Observatory of Japan

N. Kuno

University of Tsukuba

Yusuke Miyamoto

Fukui University of Technology

S. Fujimoto

The University of Texas at Austin

Suphakorn Suphapolthaworn

Hokkaido University

Astrophysical Journal

0004-637X (ISSN) 1538-4357 (eISSN)

Vol. 962 1 1

Subject Categories

Physical Sciences

DOI

10.3847/1538-4357/ad0df5

More information

Latest update

2/16/2024