Probing the Physics of Dusty Outflows through Complex Organic Molecules in the Early Universe

Abstract

Galaxy-scale outflows are of critical importance for galaxy formation and evolution. Dust grains are the main sites for the formation of molecules needed for star formation but are also important for the acceleration of outflows that can remove the gas reservoir critical for stellar mass growth. Using the MIRI medium-resolution integral field spectrograph aboard the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), we detect the 3.28 $\mu$m aromatic and the 3.4 $\mu$m aliphatic hydrocarbon dust features in absorption in a redshift 4.601 hot dust-obscured galaxy, blue-shifted by $\Delta$V=$-5250^{+276}_{-339}$ kms$^{-1}$ from the systemic redshift of the galaxy. The extremely high velocity of the dust indicates that the wind was accelerated by radiation pressure from the central quasar. These results pave a novel way for probing the physics of dusty outflows in active galaxies at early cosmic time.