The multi-phase environment in the centre of Centaurus A

Abstract

We study the multi-phase medium in the vicinity of the active galactic nucleus Centaurus A (Cen A). Combined high-resolution observations with the ALMA and Chandra observatories indicate that the hot X-ray emitting plasma coexists with the warm and cold media in Cen A. This complex environment is a source of CO lines with great impact for its diagnostics. We present the images from the two above-mentioned instruments covering the nuclear region (diameter of 10'' i.e., ~180 pc), and we study the conditions for plasma thermal equilibrium and possible coexistence of cool clouds embedded within the hot X-ray emitting gas. Further, we demonstrate that the multi-phase medium originates naturally by the thermal instability (TI) arising due to the interaction of the high-energy radiation field from the nucleus with the ambient gas and dust. We demonstrate that cold gas clouds can coexist in the mutual contact with hot plasma, but even colder dusty molecular clouds have to be distanced by several hundred pc from the hot region. Finally, we propose a 3-D model of the appearance of the hot plasma and the CO line-emitting regions consistent with the Chandra image and we derive the integrated emissivity in specific molecular lines observed by ALMA from this model. To reproduce the observed images and the CO line luminosity the dusty shell has to be ~420 pc thick and located at ~1000 pc from the centre.

arXiv comment16 pages, 16 figures, Accepted for publication in MNRAS

References in corpus (63)

• Astropy: A Community Python Package for Astronomy
• The Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) Mission
• A computer program for fast non-LTE analysis of interstellar line spectra
• The Molecular Interstellar Medium in Ultraluminous Infrared Galaxies
• The Critical Density and the Effective Excitation Density of Commonly Observed Molecular Dense Gas Tracers
• Diagnostics of irradiated gas in galaxy nuclei. I: A Far-ultraviolet and X-ray dominated region code
• Diagnostics of irradiated dense gas in galaxy nuclei. II. A grid of XDR and PDR models
• Ubiquitous variability of X-ray absorbing column densities in Seyfert 2 Galaxies
• Universal bolometric corrections for AGN over 7 luminosity decades
• Centaurus A - NGC 5128
• Calibration of the NuSTAR High Energy Focusing X-ray Telescope
• Radio and X-ray observations of the jet in Centaurus A
• The Distance to NGC 5128 (Centaurus A)
• X-ray Emission from the Hot ISM and SW Radio Lobe of the Nearby Radio Galaxy Centaurus A
• Fermi Large Area Telescope View of the Core of the Radio Galaxy Centaurus A
• The distance to the giant elliptical galaxy NGC 5128
• A Dynamical Model for Hot Gas in the Galactic Center
• High-energy particle acceleration at the radio-lobe shock of Centaurus A
• The central parsecs of Centaurus A: High Excitation Gas, a Molecular Disk, and the Mass of the Black Hole
• Winds driven by super-star clusters: The self-consistent radiative solution
• The mass of the black hole in Centaurus A from SINFONI AO-assisted integral-field observations of stellar kinematics
• Resolving the innermost parsec of Centaurus A at mid-infrared wavelengths
• Chandra and XMM-Newton Observations of the Nucleus of Centaurus A
• Irradiated ISM: Discriminating between Cosmic Rays and X-rays
• New results on particle acceleration in the Centaurus A jet and counterjet from a deep Chandra observation
• Radiation pressure confinement - II. Application to the broad line region in active galactic nuclei
• Gemini Near Infrared Spectrograph observations of the central supermassive black hole in Centaurus A
• The supermassive black hole in Centaurus A: a benchmark for gas kinematical measurements
• Triggered star-formation in the inner filament of Centaurus A
• The Supermassive Black Hole at the Heart of Centaurus A: Revealed by Gas- and Stellar Kinematics
• The Suzaku Observation of the Nucleus of the Radio-Loud Active Galaxy Centaurus A: Constraints on Abundances of the Accreting Material
• Gemini Imaging of Mid-IR Emission from the Nuclear Region of Centaurus A
• Diagnostics of the Molecular Component of PDRs with Mechanical Heating
• Long Term Monitoring of the Dynamics and Particle Acceleration of Knots in the Jet of Centaurus A
• Multiphase, non-spherical gas accretion onto a black hole
• NuSTAR and XMM-Newton Observations of the Hard X-Ray Spectrum of Centaurus A
• Clumpy AGN outflows due to thermal instability
• Non-isobaric Thermal Instability
• Disentangling the Circumnuclear Environs of Centaurus A: III. An Inner Molecular Ring, Nuclear Shocks and the CO to warm H2 interface
• Twelve and a Half Years of Observations of Centaurus A with RXTE
• An Occultation Event in Centaurus A and the Clumpy Torus Model
• Variability and Proper Motion of X-ray Knots in the Jet of Centaurus A
• Where Centaurus A gets its X-ray knottiness
• Integral-field spectroscopy of Centaurus A nucleus
• Suzaku view of X-ray Spectral Variability of the Radio Galaxy Centaurus A : Partial Covering Absorber, Reflector, and Possible Jet Component
• Disentangling the circumnuclear environs of Centaurus A: I. High resolution molecular gas imaging
• Correlation between X-ray and radio absorption in compact radio galaxies
• SPH Simulations of Black Hole Accretion: A Step to Model Black Hole Feedback in Galaxies
• A Chandra and ALMA Study of X-ray-irradiated Gas in the Central ~100 pc of the Circinus Galaxy
• Evidence for Non-Hydrostatic Gas Motions in the Hot ISM of Centaurus A
• Absorption Measure Distribution in Mrk 509
• Disentangling the circumnuclear environs of Centaurus A: II. On the nature of the broad absorption line
• Intermediate-line Emission in AGNs: The Effect of Prescription of the Gas Density
• AGN X-ray irradiation of CO gas in NGC 2110 revealed by $Chandra$ and ALMA
• Multiple accretion events as a trigger for Sgr A* activity
• What shapes the Absorption Measure Distribution in AGN outflows
• ALMA Observations of the Physical and Chemical Conditions in Centaurus A
• Parsec-scale shocks in the kiloparsec-scale jet of Centaurus A
• Multi-phase environment of compact galactic nuclei: the role of the Nuclear Star Cluster
• Spherically-symmetric Accretion onto a Black Hole at the Center of a Young Stellar Cluster
• Spectral Properties of X-ray Binaries in Centaurus A
• Modelling Mechanical Heating in Star-Forming Galaxies: CO and 13CO Line Ratios as Sensitive Probes
• Molecular properties of (U)LIRGs: CO, HCN, HNC and HCO+

Cited by in corpus (5)

• Multiphase AGN winds from X-ray irradiated disk atmospheres
• Dusty plasma in active galactic nuclei
• Multi-epoch X-ray spectral analysis of Centaurus A: revealing new constraints on iron emission line origins
• Linking {\it Fermi} blazars and radio galaxies through accretion and jet radiation mechanisms
• MICONIC: JWST/MIRI-MRS reveals heavily reprocessed PAH emission in the circum-nuclear disc of Centaurus A