English

Unveiling the warm molecular outflow component of type-2 quasars with SINFONI

Astrophysics of Galaxies 2025-03-19 v1

Abstract

We present seeing-limited (0.8 arcsec) near-infrared integral field spectroscopy data of the type-2 quasars (QSO2s) SDSS J135646.10+102609.0 (J1356) and SDSS J143029.89+133912.1 (J1430, the Teacup), both belonging to the Quasar Feedback (QSOFEED) sample. The nuclear K-band spectra (1.95-2.45 \textmu m) of these radio-quiet QSO2s reveal several H2H_2 emission lines, indicative of the presence of a warm molecular gas reservoir (T\geq1000 K). We measure nuclear masses of 5.9, 4.1, and 1.5 ×103 M\times 10^3~M_{\odot} in the inner 0.8 arcsec diameter region of the Teacup, J1356 north (J1356N), and south nuclei, respectively. The total warm H2H_2 mass budget is 4.5\sim 4.5 and 1.3×104 M\sim 1.3 \times 10^4~M_{\odot} for the Teacup and J1356N, implying warm-to-cold molecular gas ratios of 10610^{-6}. The warm molecular gas kinematics, traced with the H2H_21-0S(1) and S(2) emission lines, is consistent with that of the cold molecular phase, traced by ALMA CO emission at higher angular resolution (0.2 and 0.6 arcsec). In J1430, we detect the blue- and red-shifted sides of a compact warm molecular outflow extending up to 1.9 kpc and with velocities of 450 km/s. In J1356 only the red-shifted side is detected, with a radius of up to 2.0 kpc and velocity of 370 km/s. The outflow masses are 2.6 and 1.5 ×103 M\times 10^3~M_{\odot} for the Teacup and J1356N, and the warm-to-cold gas ratios in the outflows are 0.8 and 1 ×104\times 10^{-4}, implying that the cold molecular phase dominates the mass budget. We measure warm molecular mass outflow rates of 6.2 and 2.9 ×104 M/yr\times 10^{-4}~M_{\odot}/yr for the Teacup and J1356N, approximately 0.001\% of the total mass outflow rate. We find an enhancement of velocity dispersion in the H2H_21-0S(1) residual dispersion map of the Teacup, both along and perpendicular to the compact radio jet direction. This enhanced turbulence can be reproduced by simulations of jet-ISM interactions.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2502.12800,
  title  = {Unveiling the warm molecular outflow component of type-2 quasars with SINFONI},
  author = {M. V. Zanchettin and C. Ramos Almeida and A. Audibert and J. A. Acosta-Pulido and P. H. Cezar and E. Hicks and A. Lapi and J. Mullaney},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2502.12800},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

Accepted for publication on A&A