The OSIRIS Lens-amplified Survey (OLAS). I. Dynamical Effects of Stellar Feedback in Low-mass Galaxies at z ∼ 2

We introduce the OSIRIS Lens-Amplified Survey (OLAS), a kinematic survey of gravitationally lensed galaxies at cosmic noon taken with Keck adaptive optics. In this paper, we present spatially resolved spectroscopy and nebular emission kinematic maps for 17 star-forming galaxies with stellar masses 8 < log(M-*/M-circle dot) < 9.8 and redshifts 1.2 < z < 2.3. OLAS is designed to probe the stellar mass (M-*) and specific star formation rate (sSFR) range where simulations suggest that stellar feedback is most effective at driving gaseous outflows that create galaxy-wide potential fluctuations, which can generate dark matter cores. We compare our kinematic data with the trend among sSFR, M-*, and H alpha velocity dispersion, sigma, from the Feedback In Realistic Environments (FIRE) simulations. Our observations reveal a correlation between sSFR and sigma at fixed M-* that is similar to the trend predicted by simulations: feedback from star formation drives star-forming gas and newly formed stars into more dispersion-dominated orbits. The observed magnitude of this effect is in good agreement with the FIRE simulations, in which feedback alters the central density profiles of low-mass galaxies, converting dark matter cusps into cores over time. Our data support the scenario that stellar feedback drives gaseous outflows and potential fluctuations, which in turn drive dark matter core formation in dwarf galaxies.