Outflows in recently-quenched and quiescent galaxies at cosmic noon and beyond
Elisabeth Taylor (University of Edinburgh)
Tuesday 17/03/2026 @ 14:00, Sala Antonio Sollima (IV piano Battiferro)
The cause of the cessation of star formation in galaxies, or ‘quenching’, remains a key area of interest in astrophysics. Feedback (from both active galactic nuclei (AGN) and intense star formation) is a key in cosmological simulations of galaxy evolution and quenching, where it is invoked to prevent the build-up of too many massive galaxies. Galactic scale outflows are a signature of these feedback processes, and high-velocity winds are common in star-forming and recently-quenched galaxies at z < 1. However, there is still a lack of consensus on if these winds are directly linked to the quenching event itself. In this talk, I will outline my work investigating outflows in recently-quenched and quiescent galaxies at cosmic noon and beyond, in an attempt to constrain the cause of quenching in high-redshift systems. I will discuss whether the presence of outflows in these galaxies is related to the amount of time elapsed since quenching took place, and what the derived wind energetics can reveal about their potential drivers. Finally, I will present a simple estimation of a potential ‘outflow cycle’, derived from comparison of our observations to simulations.