Empirical constraints on the turbulence in QSO host nebulae from velocity structure function measurements

Abstract

We present the first empirical constraints on the turbulent velocity field of the diffuse circumgalactic medium around four luminous QSOs at $z\approx 0.5$--1.1. Spatially extended nebulae of $\approx 50$--100 physical kpc in diameter centered on the QSOs are revealed in [OII]$\lambda \lambda 3727,3729$ and/or [OIII]$\lambda 5008$ emission lines in integral field spectroscopic observations obtained using MUSE on the VLT. We measure the second- and third-order velocity structure functions (VSFs) over a range of scales, from $\lesssim 5$ kpc to $\approx 20$--50 kpc, to quantify the turbulent energy transfer between different scales in these nebulae. While no constraints on the energy injection and dissipation scales can be obtained from the current data, we show that robust constraints on the power-law slope of the VSFs can be determined after accounting for the effects of atmospheric seeing, spatial smoothing, and large-scale bulk flows. Out of the four QSO nebulae studied, one exhibits VSFs in spectacular agreement with the Kolmogorov law, expected for isotropic, homogeneous, and incompressible turbulent flows. The other three fields exhibit a shallower decline in the VSFs from large to small scales. However, with a limited dynamic range in the spatial scales in seeing-limited data, no constraints can be obtained for the VSF slopes of these three nebulae. For the QSO nebula consistent with the Kolmogorov law, we determine a turbulence energy cascade rate of $\approx 0.2$ cm${}^2$ s${}^{-3}$. We discuss the implication of the observed VSFs in the context of QSO feeding and feedback in the circumgalactic medium.

20 pages, 6 figures in main text + 9 figures in appendix, 4 tables; accepted by MNRAS

References in corpus (28)

• Heating Hot Atmospheres with Active Galactic Nuclei
• The Circumgalactic Medium
• The MUSE second-generation VLT instrument
• Two accreting protoplanets around the young star PDS 70
• The Data Processing Pipeline for the MUSE Instrument
• The MUSE Hubble Ultra Deep Field Survey: I. Survey description, data reduction and source detection
• Turbulent Heating in Galaxy Clusters Brightest in X-rays
• Markov Chain Monte Carlo Methods for Bayesian Data Analysis in Astronomy
• Quasar-Mode Feedback in Nearby Type 1 Quasars: Ubiquitous Kiloparsec-Scale Outflows and Correlations with Black Hole Properties
• A 100-kiloparsec wind feeding the circumgalactic medium of a massive compact galaxy
• Survival and mass growth of cold gas in a turbulent, multiphase medium
• Sizes and Kinematics of Extended Narrow-Line Regions in Luminous Obscured AGN Selected by Broadband Images
• Direct Detection of Black Hole-Driven Turbulence in the Centers of Galaxy Clusters
• Multi-phase Circum-Galactic Medium probed with MUSE and ALMA
• The Cosmic Ultraviolet Baryon Survey (CUBS) -- III. Physical properties and elemental abundances of Lyman limit systems at $z<1$
• Velocity structure functions in multiphase turbulence: interpreting kinematics of H$\alpha$ filaments in cool core clusters
• Measuring Turbulence with Young Stars in the Orion Complex
• Searching for proto-planets with MUSE
• Turbulence in Milky Way Star-Forming Regions Traced by Young Stars and Gas
• Turbulence in the Ionized Gas of the Orion Nebula
• The Cosmic Ultraviolet Baryon Survey (CUBS) IV: The Complex Multiphase Circumgalactic Medium as Revealed by Partial Lyman Limit Systems
• How gas flows shape the stellar-halo mass relation in the EAGLE simulation
• Bubble-driven Gas Uplift in Galaxy Clusters and its Velocity Features
• The Velocity Statistics of Turbulent Clouds in the Presence of Gravity, Magnetic fields, Radiation, and Outflow Feedback
• As a matter of tension -- kinetic energy spectra in MHD turbulence
• Mapping the Morphology and Kinematics of a Lyman-alpha-selected Nebula at z=3.15 with MUSE
• Projected velocity statistics of interstellar turbulence
• Resolved galactic superwinds reconstructed around their host galaxies at z>3

Cited by in corpus (10)

• An Atlas of Gas Motions in the TNG-Cluster Simulation: from Cluster Cores to the Outskirts
• Directly tracing cool filamentary accretion over >100 kpc into the interstellar medium of a quasar host at z=1
• Measuring the hot ICM velocity structure function using XMM-Newton observations
• Turbulence in the Tail of a Jellyfish Galaxy
• MAGIC: Muse gAlaxy Groups In Cosmos -- A survey to probe the impact of environment on galaxy evolution over the last 8 Gyr
• On the impact of AGN feedback modes onto the turbulent properties of the multiphase ICM
• XMAGNET: Velocity structure functions of active galactic nucleus-driven turbulence in the multiphase intracluster medium
• Microphysics of Circumgalactic Turbulence Probed by Fast Radio Bursts and Quasars
• Simulating High-Velocity Clouds in the Observational Plane: An Initial Study with the Smith Cloud
• Observations of AGN-driven feedback: dynamics and ionization of the filaments in M87