Massive molecular outflows and evidence for AGN feedback from CO observations
Claudia Cicone,Roberto Maiolino,E. Sturm,J. Gracia-Carpio,Chiara Feruglio,Roberto Neri,Susanne Aalto,Ric Davies,Fabrizio Fiore,J. Fischer,Santiago García-Burillo,Eduardo González-Alfonso,S. Hailey-Dunsheath,Enrico Piconcelli,Sylvain Veilleux +14 more
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors studied the properties of massive, galactic-scale outflows of molecular gas and investigated their impact on galaxy evolution, finding that the presence of an active galactic nucleus (AGN) can boost the outflow rate by a large factor, which is found to increase with the L-AGN/L-bol ratio.
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Abstract: We study the properties of massive, galactic-scale outflows of molecular gas and investigate their impact on galaxy evolution. We present new IRAMPdBI CO(1-0) observations of local ultra-luminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs) and quasar-hosts: a clear signature of massive and energetic molecular outflows, extending on kpc scales, is found in the CO(1-0) kinematics of four out of seven sources, with measured outflow rates of several 100M(circle dot)yr(-1). We combine these new observations with data from the literature, and explore the nature and origin of massive molecular outflows within an extended sample of 19 local galaxies. We find that starburst-dominated galaxies have an outflow rate comparable to their star formation rate (SFR), or even higher by a factor of similar to 2-4, implying that starbursts can indeed be effective in removing cold gas from galaxies. Nevertheless, our results suggest that the presence of an active galactic nucleus (AGN) can boost the outflow rate by a large factor, which is found to increase with the L-AGN/L-bol ratio. The gas depletion time scales due to molecular outflows are anti-correlated with the presence and luminosity of an AGN in these galaxies, and range from a few hundred million years in starburst galaxies down to just a few million years in galaxies hosting powerful AGNs. In quasar hosts, the depletion time scales due to the outflow are much shorter than the depletion time scales due to star formation. We estimate the outflow kinetic power and find that, for galaxies hosting powerful AGNs, it corresponds to about 5% of the AGN luminosity, as expected by models of AGN feedback. Moreover, we find that momentum rates of about 20 L-AGN/c are common among the AGN-dominated sources in our sample. For "pure" starburst galaxies, our data tentatively support models in which outflows are mostly momentum-driven by the radiation pressure from young stars onto dusty clouds. Overall, our results indicate that, although starbursts are effective in powering massive molecular outflows, the presence of an AGN may strongly enhance such outflows, and therefore have a profound feedback effect on the evolution of galaxies by efficiently removing fuel for star formation, hence quenching star formation.
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BASS XXXI: Outflow scaling relations in low redshift X-ray AGN host galaxies with MUSE
Dipesh Kakkad,E. Sani,A. F. Rojas,Nícolas Dullius Mallmann,Sylvain Veilleux,Franz E. Bauer,F. Ricci,R. F. Mushotsky,Michael Koss,Claudio Ricci,Ezequiel Treister,George C. Privon,Nathen H. Nguyen,Rudolf Bar,Fiona A. Harrison,Kyuseok Oh,Meredith Powell,Rogério Riffel,Daniel Stern,Benny Trakhtenbrot,C. Megan Urry +20 more
TL;DR: In this paper , the authors present the [OIII]5007 ionised gas outflow properties of 22 z <$0.1 X-ray AGN, derived from the BAT AGN Spectroscopic Survey using MUSE/VLT.
How the central black hole may shape its host galaxy through AGN feedback
TL;DR: In this paper, an upper limit to the characteristic size of galaxies may be defined by the critical radius beyond which radiation pressure on dust is no longer able to drive the shell, and the resulting relation between characteristic radius and mass, of the form $R \propto \sqrt M$ corresponds to the observed mass-radius relation of early type galaxies.
Emission line tracers of galactic outflows driven by stellar feedback in simulations of isolated disc galaxies
Elliot L. Howatson,Alexander J Richings,Elke Roediger,Claude-André Faucher-Giguère,Tom Theuns,Yuankang Liu,Tsang Keung Chan,Oliver Thompson,Cody Carr,Daniel Anglés-Alcázar,Elliot L. Howatson,Alexander J Richings,Elke Roediger,Claude-André Faucher-Giguère,Yuankang Liu,Tsang Keung Chan,Oliver Thompson,Cody Carr,Daniel Anglés-Alcázar +18 more
Abstract: ABSTRACT Galactic outflows strongly influence galactic evolution and have been detected in a range of observations. Hydrodynamic simulations can help interpret these by connecting direct observables to the physical conditions of the outflowing gas. Here we use simulations of isolated disc galaxies ranging from dwarf mass ($M_{200} = 10^{10}\, \mathrm{M}_{\odot }$) to Milky Way mass ($M_{200} = 10^{12}\, \mathrm{M}_{\odot }$), based on the FIRE-2 subgrid models to investigate multiphase galactic outflows. We use the chimes non-equilibrium chemistry module to create synthetic spectra of common outflow tracers ([C ii]$_{158\, \mu\rm m}$, $\mathrm{CO}_{J(1-0)}$, H$\alpha$ and $[\mathrm{O}{\small III}]_{5007\, \rm{\mathring{\rm A}}}$). Using our synthetic spectra we measure the mass outflow rate, kinetic power and momentum flux using observational techniques. In [C ii]$_{158\, \mu\rm m}$ we measure outflow rates of $10^{-4}$ to 1 $\mathrm{\, {\rm M}_{\odot }\, \rm yr^{-1}}$ across an SFR range of $10^{-3}$ to 1 $\text{M}_{\odot }\text{yr}^{-1}$, which is in reasonable agreement with observations. The significant discrepancy is in $\mathrm{CO}_{J(1-0)}$, with the simulations lying $\approx 1$ dex below the observational sample. We test observational assumptions used to derive outflow properties from synthetic spectra. We find the greatest uncertainty lies in measurements of electron density, as estimates using the SII doublet can overestimate the actual electron density by up to 2 dex, which changes mass outflow rates by up to 4 dex. We also find that molecular outflows are especially sensitive to the conversion factor between CO luminosity and H2 mass, with outflow rates changing by up to 4 dex in our least massive galaxy. Comparing the outflow properties derived from the synthetic spectra to those derived directly from the simulation, we find that [C ii]$_{158\, \mu\rm m}$ probes outflows at greater distances from the disc, whilst we find that molecular gas does not survive at large distances within outflows within our modestly star-forming disc galaxies simulated in this work.
Integral field spectroscopy of nearby QSOs – I. ENLR size–luminosity relation, ongoing star formation and resolved gas-phase metallicities
Bernd Husemann,Bernd Husemann,Knud Jahnke,Sebastián F. Sánchez,Sebastián F. Sánchez,Lutz Wisotzki,D. Nugroho,D. Kupko,M. Schramm +8 more
TL;DR: In this article, an optical integral field spectroscopy for a flux-limited sample of 19 QSOs at z < 0.2 and spatially resolving their ionized gas properties at a physical resolution of 2-5kpc is presented.
A spectral stacking analysis to search for faint outflow signatures in z ̃ 6 quasars
TL;DR: In this article, the authors used spectral stacking methods to search for a faint high-velocity outflow signal in a sample of [C II] detected, z ∼ 6 quasars.
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