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XRISM Spectroscopy of Accretion-Driven Wind Feedback in NGC 4151

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena 2025-07-15 v1

Abstract

The hottest, most ionized, and fastest winds driven by accretion onto massive black holes have the potential to reshape their host galaxies. Calorimeter-resolution X-ray spectroscopy is the ideal tool to understand this feedback mode, as it enables accurate estimates of physical characteristics needed to determine the wind's kinetic power. We report on a photoionization analysis of five observations of the Seyfert-1.5 galaxy NGC 4151, obtained with XRISM/Resolve in 2023 and 2024. In the Fe K band, individual spectra require as many as six wind absorption components. Slow "warm absorbers" (WAs, vout1001000 km s1v_{\mathrm{out}} \sim 100 - 1000~\mathrm{km~s^{-1}}), very fast outflows (VFOs, vout103 km s1104 km s1v_{\mathrm{out}} \sim 10^3~{\rm km}~{\rm s}^{-1} - 10^4~{\rm km}~{\rm s}^{-1}), and ultra-fast outflows (UFOs, vout104 km s1105 km s1v_{\mathrm{out}} \sim 10^4~{\rm km}~{\rm s}^{-1} - 10^5~{\rm km}~{\rm s}^{-1} or 0.0330.33 c0.033 - 0.33~c) are detected simultaneously, and indicate a stratified, multiphase wind. Fast and variable emission components suggest that the wind is axially asymmetric. All of the wind components have mass flow rates comparable to or in excess of the mass accretion rate, though the slowest zones may be "failed" winds that do not escape. Two UFO components have kinetic luminosities that exceed the theoretical threshold of Lkin0.5%LEddL_{kin} \geq 0.5\% L_{Edd} necessary to strip the host bulge of gas and halt star formation, even after corrections for plausible filling factors. The bulk properties of the observed winds are consistent with magnetocentrifugal driving, where the density depends on radius as nr1.5n \propto r^{-1.5}, but radiative driving and other mechanisms may also be important. Numerous complexities and variability require further analysis.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2507.09210,
  title  = {XRISM Spectroscopy of Accretion-Driven Wind Feedback in NGC 4151},
  author = {Xin Xiang and Jon M. Miller and Ehud Behar and Rozenn Boissay-Malaquin and Laura Brenneman and Margaret Buhariwalla and Doyee Byun and Chris Done and Luigi Gallo and Dimitra Gerolymatou and Scott Hagen and Jelle Kaastra and Stephane Paltani and Frederick S. Porter and Richard Mushotzky and Hirofumi Noda and Missagh Mehdipour and Takeo Minezaki and Makoto Tashiro and Abderahmen Zoghbi},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2507.09210},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

Accepted for publication in ApJL