Polarization and kinematics in Cygnus A

Abstract

From optical spectropolarimetry of Cygnus A we conclude that the scattering medium in the ionization cones in Cygnus A is moving outward at a speed of 170+-34 km/s, and that the required momentum can be supplied by the radiation pressure of an average quasar. Such a process could produce a structure resembling the observed ionization cones, which are thought to result from shadowing by a circumnuclear dust torus. We detect a polarized red wing in the [O III] emission lines arising from the central kiloparsec of Cygnus A. This wing is consistent with line emission created close to the boundary of the broad-line region.

5 pages, accepted for publication in MNRAS letters

References in corpus (3)

• Spectroscopy of the near-nuclear regions of Cygnus A: estimating the mass of the supermassive black hole
• A Chandra X-ray Study of Cygnus A - II. The Nucleus
• High-Resolution Mid-Infrared Morphology of Cygnus A

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