Bibcode
Jiménez-Vicente, J.; Castillo-Morales, A.; Mediavilla, E.; Battaner, E.
Bibliographical reference
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters, Volume 382, Issue 1, pp. L16-L20.
Advertised on:
11
2007
Citations
6
Refereed citations
6
Description
We report the discovery of a galactic wind in the central region of the
galaxy M100. This result is based on a careful 2D spectroscopic study
performed on observations made with the fibre system INTEGRAL on the
William Herschel Telescope. The primary evidence of the wind is the
presence of blueshifted interstellar NaD absorption lines. The velocity
field of the absorbers show a clear rotation pattern but which is
globally blueshifted (~ -115 km s-1) with respect to the
systemic velocity of the galaxy. The emission lines also present a
blueward component arising from the ionized gas phase of the galactic
wind. The velocity field of the ionized gas wind component shows no
evidence of rotation but exhibits a pattern that can be interpreted in
terms of the projection of an outflowing cone or shell. The wind
component has [NII]/Hα ratios of about 1.8, typical of shock
ionization. The ionized component of the wind can be identified with an
expanding shell of shocked gas, and the neutral component with disc gas
entrained in the wind at the interface of the expanding shell with the
galactic interstellar medium. The galactic wind seems to be driven
uniquely by the nuclear starburst. Our analysis indicates that a
non-negligible fraction of the wind material might escape to the
intergalactic medium (IGM). In this case, if the wind detected in M100
were representative of similar phenomena in other galaxies with low to
moderate activity, the current estimates of metal and dust content of
the IGM might be drastically underestimated.