Feeding and feedback in the powerful radio galaxy 3C 120

Abstract

We present the spectral analysis of a 200~ks observation of the broad-line radio galaxy 3C~120 performed with the high energy transmission grating (HETG) spectrometer on board the \emph{Chandra} X-ray Observatory. We find (i) a neutral absorption component intrinsic to the source with column density of $\text{log}{N}_H=20.67\pm 0.05$~cm${}^{-2}$, (ii) no evidence for a warm absorber with an upper limit on the column density of just $\text{log}{N}_H<19.7$~cm${}^{-2}$ assuming the typical ionization parameter log$\xi$$\simeq$2.5~erg~s${}^{-1}$~cm, the warm absorber may instead be replaced by (iii) a hot emitting gas with temperature $kT\simeq 0.7$~keV observed as soft X-ray emission from ionized Fe L-shell lines which may originate from a kpc scale shocked bubble inflated by the AGN wind or jet with a shock velocity of about 1,000~km~s${}^{-1}$ determined by the emission line width, (iv) a neutral Fe K$\alpha$ line and accompanying emission lines indicative of a Compton-thick cold reflector with low reflection fraction $R\simeq 0.2$, suggesting a large opening angle of the torus, (v) a highly ionized Fe~XXV emission feature indicative of photoionized gas with ionization parameter log$\xi$$=$$3.75_{-0.38}^{+0.27}$~erg~s${}^{-1}$~cm and a column density of $\text{log}{N}_H>22$~cm${}^{-2}$ localized within $\sim$2~pc from the X-ray source, and (vi) possible signatures for a highly ionized disk wind. Together with previous evidence for intense molecular line emission, these results indicate that 3C~120 is likely a late state merger undergoing strong AGN feedback.

Accepted for publication in ApJ

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