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Starburst and post-starburst high-redshift protogalaxies

Wu, K; (2019) Starburst and post-starburst high-redshift protogalaxies. Astronomy and Astrophysics , 626 , Article 85. 10.1051/0004-6361/201834350. Green open access

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Abstract

Quenching of star-formation has been identified in many starburst and post-starburst galaxies, indicating burst-like star-formation histories (SFH) in the primordial Universe. Galaxies undergoing violent episodes of star-formation are expected to be rich in high energy cosmic rays (CRs). We have investigated the role of these CRs in such environments, particularly how they could contribute to this burst-like SFH via quenching and feedback. These high energy particles interact with the baryon and radiation fields of their host via hadronic processes to produce secondary leptons. The secondary particles then also interact with ambient radiation fields to generate X-rays through inverse-Compton scattering. In addition, they can thermalise directly with the semi-ionised medium via Coulomb processes. Heating at a rate of ∼10−25 erg cm−3 s −1 can be attained by Coulomb processes in a star-forming galaxy with one core-collapse SN event per decade, and this is sufficient to cause quenching of star-formation. At high-redshift, a substantial amount of CR secondary electron energy can be diverted into inverse-Compton X-ray emission. This yields an X-ray luminosity of above 1041 erg s−1 by redshift z = 7 which drives a further heating effect, operating over larger scales. This would be able to halt inflowing cold gas filaments, strangulating subsequent star-formation. We selected a sample of 16 starburst and post-starburst galaxies at 7 . z . 9 and determine the star-formation rates they could have sustained. We applied a model with CR injection, propagation and heating to calculate energy deposition rates in these 16 sources. Our calculations show that CR feedback cannot be neglected as it has the strength to suppress star-formation in these systems. We also show that their currently observed quiescence is consistent with the suffocation of cold inflows, probably by a combination of X-ray and CR heating

Type: Article
Title: Starburst and post-starburst high-redshift protogalaxies
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/201834350
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201834350
Language: English
Additional information: This version is the version of record. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions.
Keywords: astroparticle physics – galaxies: ISM – cosmic rays – X-rays: galaxies – galaxies: evolution
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > Dept of Space and Climate Physics
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10076398
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