English

A plausible link between dynamically unsettled molecular gas and the radio jet in NGC 6328

Astrophysics of Galaxies 2023-11-29 v1

Abstract

We report the detection of outflowing molecular gas at the center of the nearby radio galaxy NGC6328 (z=0.014), which has a gigahertz-peaked spectrum radio core and a compact (2 pc) young double radio lobe tracing jet. Utilizing Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) CO(2-1) and CO(3-2) observations, as well as a novel code developed to fit the 3D gas distribution and kinematics, to study the molecular gas kinematics, we find that the bulk of the gas is situated within a highly warped disk structure, most likely the result of a past merger event. Our analysis further uncovers, within the inner regions of the gas distribution (R<300 pc) and at a position angle aligning with that of the radio jet (150 degrees), the existence of two anti-diametric molecular gas structures kinematically detached from the main disk. These structures most likely trace a jet-induced cold gas outflow with a total lower limit mass of 2×106M2\times 10^6\,\mathrm{M_\odot} mass, corresponding to an outflow rate of 2Myr12\,\mathrm{M_\odot\,yr^{-1}} and a kinetic power of 2.7×1040ergs12.7\times 10^{40}\,\mathrm{erg\,s^{-1}}. The energy required to maintain such a molecular outflow is aligned with the mechanical power of the jet.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2310.02033,
  title  = {A plausible link between dynamically unsettled molecular gas and the radio jet in NGC 6328},
  author = {Michalis Papachristou and Kalliopi Maria Dasyra and Juan Antonio Fernández-Ontiveros and Anelise Audibert and Ilaria Ruffa and Francoise Combes and Markos Polkas and Athanasia Gkogkou},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2310.02033},
  year   = {2023}
}

Comments

19 pages, 13 figures, Accepted for publication in A&