Redshifted Cool Gas in the Disturbed HI Disk of the Starburst Dwarf NGC 4214
astro-ph.GA
Submitted: 2026-10-09
Updated: 2026-10-09
Comments: 14 pages, 3 figures, accepted by The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Project page: https://spacetelescope.github.io/hst
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
The gist: We report redshifted cool gas toward the central star-forming region of the nearby starburst dwarf galaxy NGC 4214.
Abstract
We report redshifted cool gas toward the central star-forming region of the nearby starburst dwarf galaxy NGC 4214. HST/COS spectra show low-ionization absorbers redshifted relative to the systemic velocity, most clearly in SII (Δv=19.8 plus or minus2.6 km,s-1) and supported by MgII (Δv=30.3 plus or minus3.0 km,s-1), while PII remains tentative (Δv=7.5 plus or minus3.4 km,s-1). The Keck/HIRES spectra also reveal a redshifted CaII absorption component (Δv=25.6 plus or minus1.5 km,s-1). Because the absorption is detected against the central UV or optical continuum, the gas must lie in the foreground of the star-forming region and is moving away from the observer and toward the background UV source in projection. A VLA--THINGS HI spectrum extracted at the COS position within one VLA beam also shows a redshifted neutral component at v hel=329.2 plus or minus0.9 km s-1, offset by 38.2 plus or minus1.3 km s-1 from systemic and by 27.6 plus or minus1.0 km s-1 from the dominant local HI component. The FAST HI mapping further reveals an extended, kinematically disturbed neutral disk, with residual structures relative to a warped-disk model. Together, the redshifted UV absorption, the redshifted HI component, and the disturbed large-scale HI velocity field show that the central anomalous cool gas is observed in a galaxy with a disturbed extended neutral disk. This geometry suggests that the redshifted cool gas may trace inflow or recycled fallback toward the central region, although warped-disk or non-circular disk motions cannot be fully excluded.
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