Dissertation

Neutral outflows in high-redshift dusty galaxies

Outflows are crucially important for the gas budget and evolution of luminous star-forming galaxies and AGNs, with observed mass outflow rates of the same order as the star formation rate. Greater star formation and black hole growth lead to more intense feedback and outflows, resulting in self-regulated galaxy growth.

Author: K.M. Butler
Date: 14 September 2023
Links: Thesis in Leiden Repository

Multi-phase observations show that the cool molecular and atomic gas dominate the mass and momentum budget of massive galaxy outflows which additionally remove the direct fuel for star formation. In this thesis we target the molecular and atomic outflows at cosmic noon and dawn where the most extreme star formation and black hole activity is found but where current observations are severely lacking. Techniques commonly used to detect outflows in the nearby universe with emission lines are, however, challenging or impossible with current technology at the high-redshifts of this thesis. Molecular absorption lines provide a powerful and reliable alternative which is demonstrated with the OH+ and OH molecules in this thesis. With observations from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), this thesis provides cutting-edge comparisons of molecular/neutral outflows at cosmic dawn/noon between star-forming galaxies and dusty quasar hosts.