A consistent picture has emerged on the average flow of baryons in and out of galaxies and its role in regulating galaxy formation in the past 12 billion years. In this picture, the circumgalactic medium (CGM) is one of the main players, as it mediates accretion, outflows, and metal mixing, and ultimately the cool gas supply of the interstellar medium (ISM). However, since this view is based on average global trends, it omits the details of the interplay between CGM and ISM gas, as well as the frequent interactions between two or more galaxies. In this thesis, we use high angular resolution observations of Lyα and [C ii] 158µm of interacting galaxies at high redshift to fill in the missing details by addressing the following questions: 1) What are the morphological and kinematic properties of the cool gas driving the formation of galaxies from ISM to CGM scales? 2) How do feedback and dynamical interactions shape the close environments of distant galaxies and their emerging Lyα halos (LAHs)? 3) What is the dominant mechanism powering LAHs? What is the origin of [C ii] extended emission?
Type of project: PhD thesis
Status: Ongoing until March 2025 (expected)
Researchers: Manuel Solimano, Jorge Gonzalez, Manuel Aravena
Funding source: Becas ANID