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The physical processes by which gas is accreted onto galaxies, transformed into stars, and then expelled from galaxies are of paramount importance to galaxy evolution studies. Observationally constraining each of these baryonic components in the same system, however, is challenging. Furthermore, simulations indicate that the stellar mass of galaxies is a key factor influencing CGM properties. Indeed, absorption lines detected against background quasars offer the most compelling way to study the cold gas in the circumgalactic medium (CGM). The MUSE-ALMA Haloes survey is composed of quasar fields covered with VLT/MUSE observations, comprising 32 H I absorbers at 0.2 < z < 1.4 and 79 associated galaxies, with available or upcoming molecular gas measurements from ALMA. We use a dedicated 40-orbit HST UVIS and IR WFC3 broad-band imaging campaign to characterize the stellar content of these galaxies. By fitting their spectral energy distribution, we establish they probe a wide range of stellar masses: 8.1 < log ( M∗/M ) < 12.4. Given their star formation rates, most of these objects lie on the main sequence of galaxies. We also confirm a previously reported anti-correlation between the stellar masses and CGM hydrogen column density N (H I), indicating an evolutionary trend where higher mass galaxies are less likely to host large amounts of H I gas in their immediate vicinity up to 120 kpc. Together with other studies from the MUSE-ALMA Haloes survey, these data provide stellar masses of absorber hosts, a key component of galaxy formation and evolution, and observational constraints on the relation between galaxies and their surrounding medium. 

ABSTRACT The distribution of gas and metals in the circumgalactic medium (CGM) plays a critical role in how galaxies evolve. The MUSE-ALMA Haloes survey combines MUSE, ALMA, and HST observations to constrain the properties of the multiphase gas in the CGM and the galaxies associated with the gas probed in absorption. In this paper, we analyse the properties of galaxies associated with 32 strong $${\rm H\, {\small I}}$$ Ly-α absorbers at redshift 0.2 ≲ z ≲ 1.4. We detect 79 galaxies within ±500 kms−1 of the absorbers in our 19 MUSE fields. These associated galaxies are found at physical distances from 5.7 kpc and reach star formation rates as low as 0.1 M⊙ yr−1. The significant number of associated galaxies allows us to map their physical distribution on the Δv and b plane. Building on previous studies, we examine the physical and nebular properties of these associated galaxies and find the following: (i) 27/32 absorbers have galaxy counterparts and more than 50 per cent of the absorbers have two or more associated galaxies, (ii) the $${\rm H\, {\small I}}$$ column density of absorbers is anticorrelated with the impact parameter (scaled by virial radius) of the nearest galaxy as expected from simulations, (iii) the metallicity of associated galaxies is typically larger than the absorber metallicity, which decreases at larger impact parameters. It becomes clear that while strong $${\rm H\, {\small I}}$$ absorbers are typically associated with more than a single galaxy, we can use them to statistically map the gas and metal distribution in the CGM.