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Norman Murray

Publications and source records attributed to Norman Murray.

At least 109 records · Page 6Linked to original sources

The Difficulty of Getting High Escape Fractions of Ionizing Photons from High-redshift Galaxies: a View from the FIRE Cosmological Simulations

We present a series of high-resolution (20-2000 Msun, 0.1-4 pc) cosmological zoom-in simulations at z~6 from the Feedback In Realistic Environment (FIRE) project. These simulations cover halo masses 10^9-10^11 Msun and rest-frame ultraviolet magnitude Muv = -9 to -19. These simulations include explicit models of the multi-phase ISM, star formation, and stellar feedback, which produce reasonable galaxy properties at z = 0-6. We post-process the snapshots with a radiative transfer code to evaluate the escape fraction (fesc) of hydrogen ionizing photons. We find that the instantaneous fesc has large time variability (0.01%-20%), while the time-averaged fesc over long time-scales generally remains ~5%, considerably lower than the estimate in many reionization models. We find no strong dependence of fesc on galaxy mass or redshift. In our simulations, the intrinsic ionizing photon budgets are dominated by stellar populations younger than 3 Myr, which tend to be buried in dense birth clouds. The escaping photons mostly come from populations between 3-10 Myr, whose birth clouds have been largely cleared by stellar feedback. However, these populations only contribute a small fraction of intrinsic ionizing photon budgets according to standard stellar population models. We show that fesc can be boosted to high values, if stellar populations older than 3 Myr produce more ionizing photons than standard stellar population models (as motivated by, e.g., models including binaries). By contrast, runaway stars with velocities suggested by observations can enhance fesc by only a small fraction. We show that "sub-grid" star formation models, which do not explicitly resolve star formation in dense clouds with n >> 1 cm^-3, will dramatically over-predict fesc.

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Asynchronous rotation of Earth-mass planets in the habitable zone of lower-mass stars

Planets in the habitable zone of lower-mass stars are often assumed to be in a state of tidally synchronized rotation, which would considerably affect their putative habitability. Although thermal tides cause Venus to rotate retrogradely, simple scaling arguments tend to attribute this peculiarity to the massive Venusian atmosphere. Using a global climate model, we show that even a relatively thin atmosphere can drive terrestrial planets' rotation away from synchronicity. We derive a more realistic atmospheric tide model that predicts four asynchronous equilibrium spin states, two being stable, when the amplitude of the thermal tide exceeds a threshold that is met for habitable Earth-like planets with a 1-bar atmosphere around stars more massive than 0.5-0.7Msun. Thus, many recently discovered terrestrial planets could exhibit asynchronous spin-orbit rotation, even with a thin atmosphere.

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Dynamics of Dusty Radiation Pressure Driven Shells and Clouds: Fast Outflows from Galaxies, Star Clusters, Massive Stars, and AGN

It is typically assumed that radiation pressure driven winds are accelerated to an asymptotic velocity of V ~ v_esc, where v_esc is the escape velocity from the central source. We note that this is not the case for dusty shells and clouds. Instead, if the shell or cloud is initially optically-thick to the UV emission from the source of luminosity L, then there is a significant boost in V that reflects the integral of the momentum absorbed as it is accelerated. For shells reaching a generalized Eddington limit, we show that V ~ (4R_UV L/M_sh c)^1/2, in both point-mass and isothermal-sphere potentials, where R_UV is the radius where the shell becomes optically-thin to UV photons, and M_sh is the mass of the shell. The asymptotic velocity significantly exceeds v_esc for typical parameters, and can explain the ~1000-2000km/s outflows observed from rapidly star-forming galaxies and active galactic nuclei if the surrounding halo has low gas density. Similarly fast outflows from massive stars can be accelerated on few - 10^3 yr timescales. These results carry over to clouds that subtend only a small fraction of the solid angle from the source of radiation and that expand as a consequence of their internal sound speed. We further consider the dynamics of shells that sweep up a dense circumstellar or circumgalactic medium. We calculate the "momentum ratio" Mdot v/(L/c) in the shell limit and show that it can only significantly exceed ~2 if the effective optical depth of the shell to re-radiated FIR photons is much larger than unity. We discuss simple prescriptions for the properties of galactic outflows for use in large-scale cosmological simulations. We also briefly discuss applications to the dusty ejection episodes of massive stars, the disruption of giant molecular clouds, and AGN.

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Time Varying Dynamical Star Formation Rate

We present numerical evidence of dynamic star formation in which the accreted stellar mass grows superlinearly with time, roughly as $t^2$. We perform simulations of star formation in self-gravitating hydrodynamic and magneto-hydrodynamic turbulence that is continuously driven. By turning the self-gravity of the gas in the simulations on or off, we demonstrate that self-gravity is the dominant physical effect setting the mass accretion rate at early times before feedback effects take over, contrary to theories of turbulence-regulated star formation. We find that gravitational collapse steepens the density profile around stars, generating the power-law tail on what is otherwise a lognormal density probability distribution function. Furthermore, we find turbulent velocity profiles to flatten inside collapsing regions, altering the size-linewidth relation. This local flattening reflects enhancements of turbulent velocity on small scales, as verified by changes to the velocity power spectra. Our results indicate that gas self-gravity dynamically alters both density and velocity structures in clouds, giving rise to a time-varying star formation rate. We find that a substantial fraction of the gas that forms stars arrives via low density flows, as opposed to accreting through high density filaments.

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On the Dynamics of Ultra Compact X-ray Binaries: 4U 1850-087, 4U 0513-40 and M15 X-2

In this work we extend our dynamical study of Ultra Compact X-ray Binaries (UCXB) 4U 1820-30 from Prodan and Murray 2012 to three more UCXBs in globular clusters: 4U 1850-087, 4U 0513-40 and M15 X-2. These three UCXBs have orbital periods < 20 mins. Two of them, 4U 1850-087 and 4U 0513-40, have suspected luminosity variations of order of ~ 1yr. There is insufficient observational data to make any statements regarding the long periodicity in the light curve of M15 X-2 at this point. The properties of these three systems are quite similar to 4U 1820-30, which prompt us to model their dynamics in the same manner. As in the case of 4U 1820-30, we interpret the suspected long periods as the period of small oscillations around a stable fixed point in the Kozai resonance. We provide a lower limit on the tidal dissipation factor Q which is in agreement with results obtained for the case of 4U 1820-30.

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Secular Effects of Tidal Damping in Compact Planetary Systems

We describe the long-term evolution of compact systems of terrestrial planets, using a set of simulations that match the statistical properties of the observed exoplanet distribution. The evolution is driven by tidal dissipation in the planetary interiors, but the systems evolve as a whole due to secular gravitational interactions. We find that, for Earth-like dissipation levels, planetary orbits can be circularised out to periods of order 100 days, an order of magnitude larger than is possible for single planets. The resulting distribution of eccentricities is a qualitative match to that inferred from transit timing variations, with a minority of non-zero eccentricities maintained by particular secular configurations. The coupling of the tidal and secular processes enhance the inward migration of the innermost planets in these systems, and can drive them to short orbital periods. Resonant interactions of both the mean motion and secular variety are observed, although the interactions are not strong enough to drive systemic instability in most cases. However, we demonstrate that these systems can easily be driven unstable if coupled to giant planets on longer period orbits.

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What controls star formation in the central 500 pc of the Galaxy?

The star formation rate (SFR) in the Central Molecular Zone (CMZ, i.e. the central 500 pc) of the Milky Way is lower by a factor of >10 than expected for the substantial amount of dense gas it contains, which challenges current star formation theories. In this paper, we quantify which physical mechanisms could be responsible. On scales larger than the disc scale height, the low SFR is found to be consistent with episodic star formation due to secular instabilities or possibly variations of the gas inflow along the Galactic bar. The CMZ is marginally Toomre-stable when including gas and stars, but highly Toomre-stable when only accounting for the gas, indicating a low condensation rate of self-gravitating clouds. On small scales, we find that the SFR in the CMZ may be caused by an elevated critical density for star formation due to the high turbulent pressure. The existence of a universal density threshold for star formation is ruled out. The HI-H$_2$ phase transition of hydrogen, the tidal field, a possible underproduction of massive stars due to a bottom-heavy initial mass function, magnetic fields, and cosmic ray or radiation pressure feedback also cannot individually explain the low SFR. We propose a self-consistent cycle of star formation in the CMZ, in which the effects of several different processes combine to inhibit star formation. The rate-limiting factor is the slow evolution of the gas towards collapse - once star formation is initiated it proceeds at a normal rate. The ubiquity of star formation inhibitors suggests that a lowered central SFR should be a common phenomenon in other galaxies. We discuss the implications for galactic-scale star formation and supermassive black hole growth, and relate our results to the star formation conditions in other extreme environments.

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Radiation Feedback in ULIRGS: Are Photons Movers and Shakers?

We use our variable Eddington tensor (VET) radiation hydrodynamics code to perform two-dimensional simulations to study the impact of radiation forces on atmospheres composed of dust and gas. Our setup closely follows that of Krumholz & Thompson, assuming that dust and gas are well-coupled and that the radiation field is characterized by blackbodies with temperatures >~ 80 K, as might be found in ultraluminous infrared galaxies. In agreement with previous work, we find that Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities develop in radiation supported atmospheres, leading to inhomogeneities that limit momentum exchange between radiation and dusty gas, and eventually providing a near balance of the radiation and gravitational forces. However, the evolution of the velocity and spatial distributions of the gas differs significantly from previous work, which utilized a less accurate flux-limited diffusion (FLD) method. Our VET simulations show continuous net acceleration of the gas, with no steady-state reached by the end of the simulation. In contrast, FLD results show little net acceleration of the gas and settle in to a quasi-steady, turbulent state with low velocity dispersion. The discrepancies result primarily from the inability of FLD to properly model the variation of the radiation field around structures that are less than a few optical depths across. We conclude that radiation feedback remains a viable mechanism for driving high-Mach number turbulence. We discuss implications for observed systems and global numerical simulations of feedback, but more realistic setups are needed to make robust observational predictions and assess the prospect of launching outflows with radiation.

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Hot Galactic Winds Constrained by the X-Ray Luminosities of Galaxies

Galactic superwinds may be driven by very hot outflows generated by overlapping supernovae within the host galaxy. We use the Chevalier & Clegg (CC85) wind model and the observed correlation between X-ray luminosities of galaxies and their SFRs to constrain the mass loss rates (\dot{M}_hot) across a wide range of star formation rates (SFRs), from dwarf starbursts to ultra-luminous infrared galaxies. We show that for fixed thermalization efficiency and mass loading rate, the X-ray luminosity of the hot wind scales as L_X ~ SFR^2, significantly steeper than is observed for star-forming galaxies: L_X ~ SFR. Using this difference we constrain the mass-loading and thermalization efficiency of hot galactic winds. For reasonable values of the thermalization efficiency (<~ 1) and for SFR >~ 10 M_sun/yr we find that \dot{M}_hot/SFR <~ 1, significantly lower than required by integrated constraints on the efficiency of stellar feedback in galaxies, and potentially too low to explain observations of winds from rapidly star-forming galaxies. In addition, we highlight the fact that heavily mass-loaded winds cannot be described by the adiabatic CC85 model because they become strongly radiative.

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Detection of warm and diffuse baryons in large scale structure from the cross-correlation of gravitational lensing and the thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect

We report the first detection of a correlation between gravitational lensing by large scale structure and the thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich (tSZ) effect. Using the mass map from the Canada France Hawaii Telescope Lensing Survey (CFHTLenS) and a newly-constructed tSZ map from Planck, we measure a non-zero correlation between the two maps out to one degree angular separation on the sky, with an overall significance of 6 sigma. The tSZ maps are formed in a manner that removes primary cosmic microwave background fluctuations and minimizes residual contamination by galactic and extragalactic dust emission, and by CO line emission. We perform numerous tests to show that our measurement is immune to these residual contaminants. The resulting correlation function is consistent with the existence of a warm baryonic gas tracing the large scale structure with a bias b_gas. Given the shape of the lensing kernel, our signal sensitivity peaks at a redshift z~0.4, where half a degree separation on the sky corresponds to a physical scale of ~10 Mpc. The amplitude of the signal constrains the product (b_gas/1)(T_e / 0.1 keV)(n_e / 1 m^-3)=2.01\pm 0.31\pm 0.21, at redshift zero. Our study suggests that a substantial fraction of the "missing" baryons in the universe may reside in a low density warm plasma that traces dark matter.

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On WD-WD Mergers in Triple Systems: The Role of Kozai Resonance with Tidal Friction

White dwarf-white dwarf (WD-WD) mergers may lead to type Ia supernovae events. Thompson (2011) suggested that many such binaries are produced in hierarchical triple systems. The tertiary induces eccentricity oscillations in the inner binary via the Kozai-Lidov mechanism, driving the binary to high eccentricities, and significantly reducing the gravitational wave merger timescale (T_GW) over a broad range of parameter space. Here, we investigate the role of tidal forces in these systems. We show that tidal effects are important in the regime of moderately high initial relative inclination between the inner binary and the outer tertiary. For 85 < i_0 < 90 degrees (prograde) and 97 < i_0 < 102 degrees (retrograde), tides combine with GW radiation to dramatically decrease T_GW. In the regime of high inclinations between 91 < i_0 < 96 degrees, the inner binary likely suffers a direct collision, as in the work of Katz & Dong (2012) and tidal effects do not play an important role.

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Black hole triple dynamics: breakdown of the orbit average approximation and implications for gravitational wave detections

Coalescing black hole (BH) binaries forming in the dense core of globular clusters (GCs) are expected to be one the brightest sources of gravitational wave (GW) radiation for the next generation of ground-based laser interferometers. Favorable conditions for merger are initiated by the Kozai resonance in which the gravitational interaction with a third distant object, typically another BH, induces quasi-periodic variations of the inner BH binary eccentricity. In this paper we perform high precision N-body simulations of the long term evolution of hierarchical BH triples and investigate the conditions that lead to the merging of the BH binary and the way it might become an observable source of GW radiation. We find that the secular orbit average treatment, adopted in previous works, does not reliably describe the dynamics of these systems if the binary is orbited by the outer BH on a highly inclined orbit at a moderate distance. During the high eccentricity phase of a Kozai cycle the torque due to the outer BH can drive the binary to extremely large eccentricities in a fraction of the binary's orbital period. This occurs before relativistic terms become important to the evolution and allows the binary GW signal to reach large GW frequencies (>~10 Hz) at high eccentricities. We show that ~50 % of coalescing BH binaries driven by the Kozai mechanism in GCs will have eccentricities larger than 0.1, with 10 % of them being extremely eccentric, (1-e)<~10^-5, when they first chirp in the frequency band of ground based laser interferometers. This implies that a large fraction of such GW sources could be missed if conventional quasi-circular templates are used for analysis of GW detectors data. The efficient detection of all coalescing BH binaries in GCs will therefore require template banks of eccentric inspiral waveforms for matched-filtering and dedicated search strategies.

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Star Formation in Galaxy Mergers with Realistic Models of Stellar Feedback & the Interstellar Medium

We use simulations with realistic models for stellar feedback to study galaxy mergers. These high resolution (1 pc) simulations follow formation and destruction of individual GMCs and star clusters. The final starburst is dominated by in situ star formation, fueled by gas which flows inwards due to global torques. The resulting high gas density results in rapid star formation. The gas is self gravitating, and forms massive (~10^10 M_sun) GMCs and subsequent super-starclusters (masses up to 10^8 M_sun). However, in contrast to some recent simulations, the bulk of new stars which eventually form the central bulge are not born in superclusters which then sink to the center of the galaxy, because feedback efficiently disperses GMCs after they turn several percent of their mass into stars. Most of the mass that reaches the nucleus does so in the form of gas. The Kennicutt-Schmidt law emerges naturally as a consequence of feedback balancing gravitational collapse, independent of the small-scale star formation microphysics. The same mechanisms that drive this relation in isolated galaxies, in particular radiation pressure from IR photons, extend over seven decades in SFR to regulate star formation in the most extreme starbursts (densities >10^4 M_sun/pc^2). Feedback also drives super-winds with large mass loss rates; but a significant fraction of the wind material falls back onto the disks at later times, leading to higher post-starburst SFRs in the presence of stellar feedback. Strong AGN feedback is required to explain sharp cutoffs in star formation rate. We compare the predicted relic structure, mass profile, morphology, and efficiency of disk survival to simulations which do not explicitly resolve GMCs or feedback. Global galaxy properties are similar, but sub-galactic properties and star formation rates can differ significantly.

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Accretion Does Not Drive the Turbulence in Galactic Disks

Rapid accretion of cold gas plays a crucial role in getting gas into galaxies. It has been suggested that this accretion proceeds along narrow streams that might also directly drive the turbulence in galactic gas, dynamical disturbances, and bulge formation. In cosmological simulations, however, it is impossible to isolate and hence disentangle the effect of accretion from internal instabilities and mergers. Moreover, in most cosmological simulations, the phase structure and turbulence in the ISM arising from stellar feedback are treated in a sub-grid manner, so that feedback cannot generate ISM turbulence. In this paper we therefore test the effects of cold streams in extremely high-resolution simulations of otherwise isolated galaxy disks using detailed models for star formation and feedback; we then include or exclude mock cold flows falling onto the galaxies with accretion rates, velocities and geometry set to maximize their effect on the disk. We find: (1) Turbulent velocity dispersions in gas disks are identical with or without the cold flow; the energy injected by the flow is dissipated where it meets the disk. (2) In runs without stellar feedback, the presence of a cold flow has essentially no effect on runaway local collapse, resulting in star formation rates (SFRs) that are far too large. (3) Disks in runs with feedback and cold flows have higher SFRs, but only insofar as they have more gas. (4) Because flows are extended relative to the disk, they do not trigger strong resonant responses and so induce weak morphological perturbation (bulge formation via instabilities is not accelerated). (5) However, flows can thicken the disk by direct contribution of out-of-plane streams. We conclude that while inflows are critical over cosmological timescales to determine the supply and angular momentum of gas disks, they have weak instantaneous dynamical effects on galaxies.

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Dense Molecular Gas: A Sensitive Probe of Stellar Feedback Models

We show that the mass fraction of GMC gas (n>100 cm^-3) in dense (n>>10^4 cm^-3) star-forming clumps, observable in dense molecular tracers (L_HCN/L_CO(1-0)), is a sensitive probe of the strength and mechanism(s) of stellar feedback. Using high-resolution galaxy-scale simulations with pc-scale resolution and explicit models for feedback from radiation pressure, photoionization heating, stellar winds, and supernovae (SNe), we make predictions for the dense molecular gas tracers as a function of GMC and galaxy properties and the efficiency of stellar feedback. In models with weak/no feedback, much of the mass in GMCs collapses into dense sub-units, predicting L_HCN/L_CO(1-0) ratios order-of-magnitude larger than observed. By contrast, models with feedback properties taken directly from stellar evolution calculations predict dense gas tracers in good agreement with observations. Changing the strength or timing of SNe tends to move systems along, rather than off, the L_HCN-L_CO relation (because SNe heat lower-density material, not the high-density gas). Changing the strength of radiation pressure (which acts efficiently in the highest density gas), however, has a much stronger effect on L_HCN than on L_CO. We predict that the fraction of dense gas (L_HCN/L_CO(1-0)) increases with increasing GMC surface density; this drives a trend in L_HCN/L_CO(1-0) with SFR and luminosity which has tentatively been observed. Our results make specific predictions for enhancements in the dense gas tracers in unusually dense environments such as ULIRGs and galactic nuclei (including the galactic center).

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Resolving The Generation of Starburst Winds in Galaxy Mergers

We study galaxy super-winds driven in major mergers, using pc-resolution simulations with detailed models for stellar feedback that can self-consistently follow the formation/destruction of GMCs and generation of winds. The models include molecular cooling, star formation at high densities in GMCs, and gas recycling and feedback from SNe (I&II), stellar winds, and radiation pressure. We study mergers of systems from SMC-like dwarfs and Milky Way analogues to z~2 starburst disks. Multi-phase super-winds are generated in all passages, with outflow rates up to ~1000 M_sun/yr. However, the wind mass-loading efficiency (outflow rate divided by SFR) is similar to that in isolated galaxy counterparts of each merger: it depends more on global galaxy properties (mass, size, escape velocity) than on the dynamical state of the merger. Winds tend to be bi- or uni-polar, but multiple 'events' build up complex morphologies with overlapping, differently-oriented bubbles/shells at a range of radii. The winds have complex velocity and phase structure, with material at a range of speeds up to ~1000 km/s, and a mix of molecular, ionized, and hot gas that depends on galaxy properties and different feedback mechanisms. These simulations resolve a problem in some 'sub-grid' models, where simple wind prescriptions can dramatically suppress merger-induced starbursts. But despite large mass-loading factors (>~10) in the winds, the peak SFRs are comparable to those in 'no wind' simulations. Wind acceleration does not act equally, so cold dense gas can still lose angular momentum and form stars, while blowing out gas that would not have participated in the starburst in the first place. Considerable wind material is not unbound, and falls back on the disk at later times post-merger, leading to higher post-starburst SFRs in the presence of stellar feedback. This may require AGN feedback to explain galaxy quenching.

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The Meaning and Consequences of Star Formation Criteria in Galaxy Models with Resolved Stellar Feedback

We consider the effects of different star formation criteria on galactic scales, in high-resolution simulations with explicitly resolved GMCs and stellar feedback. We compare: (1) a self-gravity criterion (based on the local virial parameter and the assumption that self-gravitating gas collapses to high density in a free-fall time), (2) a fixed density threshold, (3) a molecular-gas law, (4) a temperature threshold, (5) a Jeans-instability requirement, (6) a criteria that cooling times be shorter than dynamical times, and (7) a convergent-flow criterion. We consider these both MW-like and high-density (starburst) galaxies. With feedback present, all models produce identical integrated star formation rates (SFRs), in agreement with the Kennicutt relation. Without feedback all produce orders-of-magnitude excessive SFRs. This is totally dependent on feedback and independent of the SF law. However, the spatial and density distribution of SF depend strongly on the SF criteria. Because cooling rates are generally fast and gas is turbulent, criteria (4)-(7) are 'weak' and spread SF uniformly over the disk (above densities n~0.01-0.1 cm^-3). A molecular criterion (3) localizes to higher densities, but still a wide range; for Z Z_solar, it is similar to a density threshold at n~1 cm^-3 (well below mean densities in the MW center or starbursts). Fixed density thresholds (2) can always select the highest densities, but must be adjusted for simulation resolution and galaxy properties; the same threshold that works in a MW-like simulation will select nearly all gas in a starburst. Binding criteria (1) tend to adaptively select the largest over-densities, independent of galaxy model or resolution, and automatically predict clustered SF. We argue that this SF model is most physically-motivated and presents significant numerical advantages in large-dynamic range simulations.

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Scattered Emission from z~1 Galactic Outflows

Mapping Mg II resonance emission scattered by galactic winds offers a means to determine the spatial extent and density of the warm outflow. Using Keck/LRIS spectroscopy, we have resolved scattered Mg II emission to the east of 32016857, a star-forming galaxy at z =0.9392 with an outflow. The Mg II emission from this galaxy exhibits a P-Cygni profile, extends further than both the continuum and [O II] emission along the eastern side of the slit, and has a constant Doppler shift along the slit which does not follow the velocity gradient of the nebular [O II] emission. Using the Sobolev approximation, we derive the density of Mg+ ions at a radius of 12 to 18 kpc in the outflow. We model the ionization correction and find that much of the outflowing Mg is in Mg++. We estimate that the total mass flux could be as large as 330 - 500 solar masses per year, with the largest uncertainties coming from the depletion of Mg onto grains and the clumpiness of the warm outflow. We show that confining the warm clouds with a hot wind reduces the estimated mass flux of the warm outflow and indicates amass-loading factor near unity in the warm phase alone. Based on the high blue luminosities that distinguish 32016857 and TKRS 4389, described by Rubin et al. 2011, from other galaxies with P-Cygni emission, we suggest that, as sensitivity to diffuse emission improves, scattering halos may prove to be a generic property of star-forming galaxies at intermediate redshifts.

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