Rest-frame ultra-violet spectra of massive galaxies at z=3: evidence of
  high-velocity outflows
  Galaxy formation models invoke the presence of strong feedback mechanisms
that regulate the growth of massive galaxies at high redshifts. In this paper
we aim to: (1) confirm spectroscopically the redshifts of a sample of massive
galaxies selected with photometric redshifts z > 2.5; (2) investigate the
properties of their stellar and interstellar media; (3) detect the presence of
outflows, and measure their velocities. To achieve this, we analysed deep,
high-resolution (R~2000) FORS2 rest-frame UV spectra for 11 targets. We
confirmed that 9 out of 11 have spectroscopic redshifts z > 2.5. We also
serendipitously found two mask fillers at redshift z > 2.5, which originally
were assigned photometric redshifts 2.0 < z < 2.5. In the four highest-quality
spectra we derived outflow velocities by fitting the absorption line profiles
with models including multiple dynamical components. We found strongly
asymmetric, high-ionisation lines, from which we derived outflow velocities
ranging from 480 to 1518 km/s. The two galaxies with highest velocity show
signs of AGN. We revised the spectral energy distribution fitting U-band
through 8 micron photometry, including the analysis of a power-law component
subtraction to identify the possible presence of active galactic nuclei (AGN).
The revised stellar masses of all but one of our targets are >1e10 Msun, with
four having stellar masses > 5e10 Msun. Three galaxies have a significant
power-law component in their spectral energy distributions, which indicates
that they host AGN. We conclude that massive galaxies are characterised by
significantly higher velocity outflows than the typical Lyman break galaxies at
z ~ 3. The incidence of high-velocity outflows (~40% within our sample) is also
much higher than among massive galaxies at z < 1, which is consistent with the
powerful star formation and nuclear activity that most massive galaxies display
at z > 2.
