paper

Jet-driven galaxy-scale gas outflows in the hyper-luminous quasar 3C273

arXiv:1905.10387 · doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ab24bc

Abstract

We present an unprecedented view on the morphology and kinematics of the extended narrow-line region (ENLR) and molecular gas around the prototypical hyper-luminous quasar 3C273 ( erg/s at z=0.158) based on VLT-MUSE optical 3D spectroscopy and ALMA observations. We find that: 1) The ENLR size of 12.10.2kpc implies a smooth continuation of the size-luminosity relation out to large radii or a much larger break radius as previously proposed. 2) The kinematically disturbed ionized gas with line splits reaching 1000km/s out to 6.11.5kpc is aligned along the jet axis. 3) The extreme line broadening on kpc scales is caused by spatial and spectral blending of many distinct gas clouds separated on sub-arcsecond scales with different line-of-sight velocities. The ENLR velocity field combined with the known jet orientation rule out a simple scenario of a radiatively-driven radial expansion of the outflow. Instead we propose that a pressurized expanding hot gas cocoon created by the radio jet is impacting on an inclined gas disk leading to transverse and/or backflow motion with respect to our line-of-sight. The molecular gas morphology may either be explained by a density wave at the front of the outflow expanding along the jet direction as predicted by positive feedback scenario or the cold gas may be trapped in a stellar over-density caused by a recent merger event. Using 3C273 as a template for observations of high-redshift hyper-luminous AGN reveals that large-scale ENLRs and kpc scale outflows may often be missed due to the brightness of the nuclei and the limited sensitivity of current near-IR instrumentation.

15 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ

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