Alma Observations of Massive Molecular Gas Filaments Encasing Radio Bubbles in the Phoenix Cluster
Journal Article
·
· Astrophysical Journal
- Institute of Astronomy, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0HA (United Kingdom)
- Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139 (United States)
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1 (Canada)
- Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States)
- Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Batavia, IL 60510-0500 (United States)
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Missouri, Kansas City, MO 64110 (United States)
- Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637 (United States)
- Department of Physics, Durham University, Durham DH1 3LE (United Kingdom)
- Département de Physique, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC H3C 3J7 (Canada)
- Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, 933 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721 (United States)
- School of Physics, University of Melbourne, Parkville VIC 3010 (Australia)
We report new ALMA observations of the CO(3-2) line emission from the 2.1±0.3×10{sup 10} M{sub ⊙} molecular gas reservoir in the central galaxy of the Phoenix cluster. The cold molecular gas is fueling a vigorous starburst at a rate of 500--800 M{sub ⊙} yr{sup −1} and powerful black hole activity in the forms of both intense quasar radiation and radio jets. The radio jets have inflated huge bubbles filled with relativistic plasma into the hot, X-ray atmospheres surrounding the host galaxy. The ALMA observations show that extended filaments of molecular gas, each 10--20 kpc long with a mass of several billion solar masses, are located along the peripheries of the radio bubbles. The smooth velocity gradients and narrow line widths along each filament reveal massive, ordered molecular gas flows around each bubble, which are inconsistent with gravitational free-fall. The molecular clouds have been lifted directly by the radio bubbles, or formed via thermal instabilities induced in low-entropy gas lifted in the updraft of the bubbles. These new data provide compelling evidence for close coupling between the radio bubbles and the cold gas, which is essential to explain the self-regulation of feedback. The very feedback mechanism that heats hot atmospheres and suppresses star formation may also paradoxically stimulate production of the cold gas required to sustain feedback in massive galaxies.
- OSTI ID:
- 22869347
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 836; ISSN ASJOAB; ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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