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We investigate the energy sources of random turbulent motions of ionized gas from Ha emission in eight local star-forming galaxies from the Sydney-AAO Multi-object Integral field spectrograph (SAMI) Galaxy Survey. These galaxies satisfy strict pure star-forming selection criteria to avoid contamination from active galactic nuclei (AGNs) or strong shocks/outflows. Using the relatively high spatial and spectral resolution of SAMI, we find that - on sub-kpc scales, our galaxies display a flat distribution of ionized gas velocity dispersion as a function of star formation rate (SFR) surface density. A major fraction of our SAMI galaxies shows higher velocity dispersion than predictions by feedback-driven models, especially at the low SFR surface density end. Our results suggest that additional sources beyond star formation feedback contribute to driving random motions of the interstellar medium in star-forming galaxies.We speculate that gravity, galactic shear and/or magnetorotational instability may be additional driving sources of turbulence in these galaxies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report the detection of an emission feature at the 12σ level with FWHM line width of about 450 km s−1 toward the nearest quasi-stellar object, QSO Mrk 231. Based on observations with the IRAM 30 m telescope and the Northern Extended Millimeter Array Interferometer, the 11–10 transition of molecular oxygen is the likely origin of the line with rest frequency close to 118.75 GHz. The velocity of the O2 emission in Mrk 231 coincides with the red wing seen in CO emission, suggesting that it is associated with the outflowing molecular gas, located mainly at about 10 kpc away from the central active galactic nucleus (AGN). This first detection of extragalactic molecular oxygen provides an ideal tool to study AGN-driven molecular outflows on dynamic timescales of tens of megayears. O2 may be a significant coolant for molecular gas in such regions affected by AGN-driven outflows. New astrochemical models are needed to explain the implied high molecular oxygen abundance in such regions several kiloparsecs away from the center of galaxies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present ALMA observations of the CO(1−0) line and 3 mm continuum emission in eight ultraluminous infrared (IR) quasi-stellar objects (QSOs) at z = 0.06–0.19. All eight IR QSO hosts are clearly resolved in their CO molecular gas emission with a median source size of 3.2 kpc, and seven out of eight sources are detected in 3 mm continuum, which is found to be more centrally concentrated with respect to molecular gas with sizes of 0.4−1.0 kpc. Our observations reveal a diversity of CO morphology and kinematics for the IR QSO systems, which can be roughly classified into three categories: rotating gas disk with ordered velocity gradient, compact CO peak with disturbed velocity, and multiple CO distinct sources undergoing a merger between a luminous QSO and a companion galaxy separated by a few kpc. The molecular gas in three of the IR QSO hosts is found to be rotation-dominated with a ratio of the maximum rotation velocity to the local velocity dispersion of Vrot/σ = 4–6. Basic estimates of the dynamical masses within the CO-emitting regions give masses between 7.4 × 109 and 6.9 × 1010M⊙. We find an increasing trend between black hole mass accretion rate and star formation rate (SFR) over 3 orders of magnitude in far-IR luminosity/SFR, in line with the correlation between QSO bolometric luminosity and star formation activity, indicative of a likely direct connection between active galactic nuclei and star formation activity over galaxy evolution timescales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a sample of 48 nearby galaxies with central, biconical outflows identified by the Mapping Nearby Galaxies at APO survey. All considered galaxies have star-formation-driven biconical (SFB) central outflows, with no signs of an active galactic nucleus. We find that the SFB outflows require high central concentration of the star formation rate. This increases the gas velocity dispersion over the equilibrium limit and helps maintain the gas outflows. The central starbursts increase the metallicity, extinction, and the [α/Fe] ratio in the gas. A significant amount of young stellar population at the centers suggests that the SFBs are associated with the formation of young bulges in galaxies. More than 70% of SFB galaxies are group members or have companions with no prominent interaction, or show asymmetry of external isophotes. In 15% of SFB cases, stars and gas rotate in the opposite directions, which points at the gas infall from satellites as the primary reason for triggering the SFB phenomena. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]