ALMA observations of a candidate molecular outflow in an obscured quasar
- Department of Astrophysics, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08540 (United States)
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Bloomberg Center, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218 (United States)
- Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale, CNRS, Université Paris-Sud, Bat. 120-121, F-91405 Orsay (France)
We present Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array CO (1-0) and CO (3-2) observations of SDSS J135646.10+102609.0, an obscured quasar and ultra-luminous infrared galaxy with two merging nuclei and a known 20 kpc scale ionized outflow. The total molecular gas mass is M{sub mol}≈9{sub −6}{sup +19}×10{sup 8} M{sub ☉}, mostly distributed in a compact rotating disk at the primary nucleus (M{sub mol} ≈ 3 × 10{sup 8} M{sub ☉}) and an extended tidal arm (M{sub mol} ≈ 5 × 10{sup 8} M{sub ☉}). The tidal arm is one of the most massive molecular tidal features known; we suggest that it is due to the lower chance of shock dissociation in this elliptical/disk galaxy merger. In the spatially resolved CO (3-2) data, we find a compact (r ≈ 0.3 kpc) high-velocity (v ≈ 500 km s{sup –1}) redshifted feature in addition to the rotation at the N nucleus. We propose a molecular outflow as the most likely explanation for the high-velocity gas. The outflowing mass of M{sub mol} ≈ 7 × 10{sup 7} M{sub ☉} and the short dynamical time of t{sub dyn} ≈ 0.6 Myr yield a very high outflow rate of M-dot{sub mol}≈350 M{sub ☉} yr{sup –1} and can deplete the gas in a million years. We find a low star formation rate (<16 M{sub ☉} yr{sup –1} from the molecular content and <21 M{sub ☉} yr{sup –1} from the far-infrared spectral energy distribution decomposition) that is inadequate to supply the kinetic luminosity of the outflow ( E-dot ≈3×10{sup 43} erg s{sup –1}). Therefore, the active galactic nucleus (AGN), with a bolometric luminosity of 10{sup 46} erg s{sup –1}, likely powers the outflow. The momentum boost rate of the outflow ( p-dot /(L{sub bol}/c)≈3) is lower than typical molecular outflows associated with AGNs, which may be related to its compactness. The molecular and ionized outflows are likely two distinct bursts induced by episodic AGN activity which varies on a timescale of 10{sup 7} yr.
- OSTI ID:
- 22365450
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 790, Issue 2; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
A 10{sup 10} solar mass flow of molecular gas in the A1835 brightest cluster galaxy
Detection of a high brightness temperature radio core in the active-galactic-nucleus-driven molecular outflow candidate NGC 1266