THE QUASAR OUTFLOW CONTRIBUTION TO AGN FEEDBACK: VLT MEASUREMENTS OF SDSS J0318-0600

By J. Dunn, M. Bautista, N. Arav, M. Moe, K. Korista, E. Costantini, C. Benn, Sara L. Ellison, D. Edmonds. 2009

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We present high spectral resolution Very Large Telescope observations of the broad absorption line quasar SDSS J0318 − 0600. This high-quality data set allows us to extract accurate ionic column densities and determine an electron number density of ne = 103.3±0.2 cm−3 for the main outflow absorption component. The heavily reddened spectrum of SDSS J0318-0600 requires purely silicate dust with a reddening curve characteristic of predominately large grains, from which we estimate the bolometric luminosity. We carry out photoionization modeling to determine the total column density, ionization parameter, and distance of the gas and find that the photoionization models suggest abundances greater than solar. Due to the uncertainty in the location of the dust extinction, we arrive at two viable distances for the main ouflow component from the central source, 6 and 17 kpc, where we consider the 6 kpc location as somewhat more physically plausible. Assuming the canonical global covering of 20% for the outflow and a distance of 6 kpc, our analysis yields a mass flux of 120 M☉ yr−1 and a kinetic luminosity that is ∼0.1% of the bolometric luminosity of the object. Should the dust be part of the outflow, then these values are ∼4× larger. The large mass flux and kinetic luminosity make this outflow a significant contributor to active galactic nucleus feedback processes.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Instrumentation

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/c060116dd8bd9ea2eaa17029037fd58376765928

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Citations in the corpus

Cool outflows in galaxies and their implications (2020, methodology): “UH is derived independently by comparing the measured column densities with the predictions of photoionization models under the assumption of ionization equilibrium (e.g. Moe et al. 2009; Dunn et al. 2010).”
Bulge mass is king: the dominant role of the bulge in determining the fraction of passive galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (2014, background): “…out of cold gas from the centre of galaxies in cataclysmic events such as during enhanced periods of nuclear activity throughout the major merging of gas rich galaxies (see Nulsen et al. 2005, Dunn et al. 2010, Feruglio et al. 2010, Fabian 2012, and Cicone et al. 2014 for observational evidence).”
Quasar outflows and AGN feedback in the extreme UV: HST/COS observations of HE 0238−1904 (2013, methodology): “Such occurences greatly reduce the errors in determining the photoionization equilibrium due to chemical abundance uncertainties (Arav et al. 2007) and dust depletion (Dunn et al. 2010b).”
Mechanical AGN feedback: controlling the thermodynamical evolution of elliptical galaxies (2012, background): “…nuclear activity and large-scale disturbances in the hot gas, such as X-ray cavities, which are often filled with radio emission (e.g. Churazov et al. 2000; Diehl & Statler 2008a; Dunn et al. 2010b; Giacin- E-mail: massimo.gaspari4@unibo.it tucci et al. 2011), and shocks (Baldi et al. 2009).”
The physics of galactic winds driven by active galactic nuclei (2012, background): “Photoionization modeling of a subset of low-ionization absorbers indicates that the kinetic luminosity of the outflowing gas can reach a few percent of LAGN (Moe et al. 2009; Dunn et al. 2010; Bautista et al. 2010).”
Stellar and Quasar Feedback in Concert: Effects on AGN Accretion, Obscuration, and Outflows (2015, background): “…spatial extents of ∼ 0.1−10 kpc (Tremonti et al. 2007; Prochaska & Hennawi 2009; Moe et al. 2009; Wild et al. 2009; Fischer et al. 2010; Humphrey et al. 2010; Dunn et al. 2010; Bautista et al. 2010; Feruglio et al. 2010; Sturm et al. 2011; Rupke & Veilleux 2011; Coil et al. 2011; Greene et al.…”
Quasar feedback and the origin of radio emission in radio-quiet quasars (2014, background): “…specific examples of black-hole-driven winds have now been identified using a variety of observational techniques, both at low and at high redshifts (Nesvadba et al. 2006; Arav et al. 2008; Nesvadba et al. 2008; Moe et al. 2009; Dunn et al. 2010; Alexander et al. 2010; Harrison et al. 2012).”
FEEDBACK FROM CENTRAL BLACK HOLES IN ELLIPTICAL GALAXIES. III. MODELS WITH BOTH RADIATIVE AND MECHANICAL FEEDBACK (2010, result): “This means that during the burst, mechanical feedback plays a major role in the model evolution, a conclusion that seems to be supported also by observations (Moe et al. 2009, Dunn et al. 2010.”
The Coevolution of Galaxies and Supermassive Black Holes: Insights from Surveys of the Contemporary Universe (2014, background): “In series of papers, Arav and collaborators (Arav et al. 2008, Korista et al. 2008, Moe et al. 2009, Dunn et al. 2010, Bautista et al. 2010, Edmonds et al. 2011, Aoki et al. 2011, Borguet et al. 2013, Arav et al. 2013) have been able to determine the main physical properties of outflows in high-z…”
THE MULTIPHASE STRUCTURE AND POWER SOURCES OF GALACTIC WINDS IN MAJOR MERGERS (2013, background): “The high velocities, masses, and energies we observe in ULIRGs with luminous AGN are comparable to the properties of outflows inferred to arise on kpc scales in other radio-quiet QSOs (Moe et al. 2009; Dunn et al. 2010; Borguet et al. 2013).”
Impact of supermassive black hole growth on star formation (2017, methodology): “In some cases these outflows are inferred to be located on 100s–1000s of parsec scales by applying a variety of modelling techniques, such as radiative transfer and photoionization models, to the information extracted from the spectra[47, 46].”
Gas expulsion by quasar-driven winds as a solution to the overcooling problem in galaxy groups and clusters (2010, background): “Indeed, there are already signs that such ‘quasar mode’ outflows are operating both at low and high redshift (see e.g. Moe et al. 2009; Dunn et al. 2010; Feruglio et al. 2010; Raimundo et al. 2010; Tombesi et al. 2010a,b).”
Observations of feedback from radio-quiet quasars – II. Kinematics of ionized gas nebulae (2013, background): “Direct and indirect evidence for powerful quasar-driven winds started emerging, both for radio-quiet (Arav et al. 2008; Moe et al. 2009; Alexander et al. 2010; Dunn et al. 2010) and radio-loud objects (Nesvadba et al. 2006, 2008) at low and high redshifts (Maiolino et al. 2012; Borguet et al. 2013).”
Observations of feedback from radio-quiet quasars - I. Extents and morphologies of ionized gas nebulae (2013, background): “Careful photo-ionization modeling of specific absorption features (Arav et al. 2008) demonstrated that in several objects the outflow appears to extend out to several kpc from the nucleus and to carry a large amount of kinetic energy and momentum (Moe et al. 2009; Dunn et al. 2010).”
X-shooter reveals powerful outflows in z ∼ 1.5 X-ray selected obscured quasi-stellar objects (2014, background): “For example, Lípari & Terlevich (2006) first proposed that Broad Absorption Line Quasars (BAL QSOs, e.g. Dunn et al. 2010) may be objects in the transition phase between the ULIRGs and unobscured QSO phase, where the outflowing wind in the ionized component is seen directly in optical-UV spectra…”
Quasar feedback revealed by giant molecular outflows (2010, background): “High–velocity energetic winds, whose kinetic energy is comparable to the bolometric energy of the quasar, are observed in the galactic nuclei (Reeves et al. 2009, Moe et al. 2009, Dunn et al. 2010, Bautista et al. 2010).”
What drives the growth of black holes (2011, background): “…have significant effects on the scale of the host galaxy since, in the majority of the cases the winds are observed only along the line of sight and there are no direct constraints on the spatial distribution of the outflowing gas (e.g., Tremonti et al., 2007; Arav et al., 2008; Dunn et al., 2010).”