Quantifying the AGN-driven outflows in ULIRGs (QUADROS) - II. Evidencefor compact outflow regions from HST [O III] imaging observations

Tadhunter, C.; Rodríguez Zaurín, J.; Rose, M.; Spence, R. A. W.; Batcheldor, D.; Berg, M. A.; Ramos Almeida, C.; Spoon, H. W. W.; Sparks, W.; Chiaber, M.
Referencia bibliográfica

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 478, Issue 2, p.1558-1569

Fecha de publicación:
8
2018
Número de autores
10
Número de autores del IAC
1
Número de citas
33
Número de citas referidas
31
Descripción
The true importance of the warm, AGN-driven outflows for the evolution of galaxies remains uncertain. Measurements of the radial extents of the outflows are key for quantifying their masses and kinetic powers, and also establishing whether the AGN outflows are galaxy-wide. Therefore, as part of a larger project to investigate the significance of warm, AGN-driven outflows in the most rapidly evolving galaxies in the local universe, here we present deep Hubble Space Telescope (HST) narrow-band [O III] λ5007 observations of a complete sample of eight nearby ULIRGs with optical AGN nuclei. Combined with the complementary information provided by our ground-based spectroscopy, the HST images show that the warm gas outflows are relatively compact for most of the objects in the sample: in three objects, the outflow regions are barely resolved at the resolution of HST (0.065 < R_[O III] < 0.12 kpc); in a further four cases, the outflows are spatially resolved but with flux-weighted mean radii in the range 0.65 < R_[O III] < 1.2 kpc; and in only one object (Mrk273) is there clear evidence for a more extended outflow, with a maximum extent of R_[O III]˜ 5 kpc. Overall, our observations show little evidence for the galaxy-wide outflows predicted by some models of AGN feedback.
Proyectos relacionados
Los agujeros negros supermasivos modifican la distribución de gas molecular en la región central de las galaxias. Crédito: HST y C. Ramos Almeida.
Actividad Nuclear en Galaxias: una Perspectiva 3D del Núcleo y su Entorno
Nuestro proyecto puede dividirse en dos líneas principales de investigación. En primer lugar, el estudio de los vientos producidos por cuásares luminosos oscurecidos y del impacto que estos tienen en sus galaxias anfitrionas (retroalimentación del AGN). Para ello hemos obtenido observaciones infrarrojas y ópticas con los instrumentos del Gran
Cristina
Ramos Almeida