MEGaSaURA. II. Stacked spectra

We find remarkable similarity in the velocity profiles at z~0 and z~2, suggesting that similar physical processes control the outflows across cosmic time. While the maximum outflow velocity depends strongly on ionization potential, the absorption-weighted mean velocity does not. As such, the bulk of the high- ionization absorption traces the low-ionization gas, with an additional blueshifted absorption tail extending to at least -2000km/s.

We interpret this tail as arising from the stellar wind and photospheres of massive stars. Starburst99 models are able to replicate this high-velocity absorption tail. However, these theoretical models poorly reproduce several of the photospheric absorption features, indicating that improvements are needed to match observational constraints on the massive stellar content of star-forming galaxies at z~2.