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Register a new userThe Complete Ultraviolet Spectrum of the Archetypal Wind-Dominated Quasar Mrk~231: Absorption and Emission from a High-Speed Dusty Nuclear Outflow
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New near- and far-ultraviolet (NUV and FUV) HST spectra of Mrk 231, the nearest quasar known, are combined with ground-based optical spectra to study the remarkable dichotomy between the FUV and NUV-optical spectral regions in this object. The FUV emission-line features are faint, broad, and highly blueshifted (up to ~7000 km/s), with no significant accompanying absorption. In contrast, the profiles of the NUV absorption features resemble those of the optical Na I D, He I, and Ca II H and K lines, exhibiting broad blue-shifted troughs that overlap in velocity space with the FUV emission-line features and indicate a dusty, high-density and patchy broad absorption line (BAL) screen covering ~90% of the observed continuum source at a distance less than ~2 - 20 pc. The FUV continuum emission does not show the presence of any obvious stellar features and is remarkably flat compared with the steeply declining NUV continuum. The NUV (FUV) features and continuum emission have not varied significantly over the past ~22 (3) years and are unresolved on scales ~40 (170) pc. These results favor an AGN origin for the NUV - FUV line and continuum emission. The observed FUV line emission is produced in the outflowing BAL cloud system, while the Balmer lines arise primarily from the standard broad line region seen through the dusty BAL screen. Our data are inconsistent with the recently proposed binary black hole model. We argue instead that Mrk~231 is the nearest example of weak-lined wind-dominated quasars with high Eddington ratios and geometrically thick (slim) accretion disks; these quasars are likely more common in the early universe.
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Only a handful of quasars have been identified as kinetically dominated, their long term time averaged jet power, $overline{Q}$, exceeds the bolometric thermal emission, $L_{bol}$, associated with the accretion flow. This letter presents the first extreme ultraviolet (EUV) spectrum of a kinetically dominated quasar, 3C 270.1. The EUV continuum flux density of 3C 270.1 is very steep, $F_{ u} sim u^{-alpha_{EUV}}$, $alpha_{EUV} =2.98pm 0.15$. This value is consistent with the correlation of $overline{Q}/L_{bol}$ and $alpha_{EUV}$ found in previous studies of the EUV continuum of quasars, the EUV deficit of radio loud quasars. Curiously, although ultraviolet broad absorption line (BAL) troughs in quasar spectra are anti-correlated with $overline{Q}$, 3C 270.1 has been considered a BAL quasar based on an SDSS spectrum. This claim is examined in terms of the EUV spectrum of OVI 1and the highest resolution CIV spectrum in the archival data and the SDSS spectrum. First, from [OIII]4959,5007 (IR) observations and the UV spectral lines, it is concluded that the correct redshift for 3C 270.1 is 1.5266. It is then found that the standard measure of broad absorption, BALnicity = 0, for MgII 2800, CIV 1549 and OVI 1032 in all epochs.
We report on the Herschel/PACS observations of OH in Mrk 231, with detections in 9 doublets observed within the PACS range, and present radiative transfer models for the outflowing OH. Signatures of outflowing gas are found in up to 6 OH doublets with different excitation requirements. At least two outflowing components are identified, one with OH radiatively excited, and the other with low excitation, presumably spatially extended. Particularly prominent, the blue wing of the absorption detected in the in-ladder 2Pi_{3/2} J=9/2-7/2 OH doublet at 65 um, with E_lower=290 K, indicates that the excited outflowing gas is generated in a compact and warm (circum)nuclear region. Because the excited, outflowing OH gas in Mrk 231 is associated with the warm, far-IR continuum source, it is likely more compact (diameter of 200-300 pc) than that probed by CO and HCN. Nevertheless, its mass-outflow rate per unit of solid angle as inferred from OH is similar to that previously derived from CO, >~70x(2.5x10^{-6}/X_{OH}) Msun yr^{-1} sr^{-1}, where X_{OH} is the OH abundance relative to H nuclei. In spherical symmetry, this would correspond to >~850x(2.5x10^{-6}/X_{OH}) Msun yr^{-1}, though significant collimation is inferred from the line profiles. The momentum flux of the excited component attains ~15 L_{AGN}/c, with an OH column density of (1.5-3)x10^{17} cm^-2 and a mechanical luminosity of ~10^{11} Lsun. The detection of very excited OH peaking at central velocities indicates the presence of a nuclear reservoir of gas rich in OH, plausibly the 130-pc scale circumnuclear torus previously detected in OH megamaser emission, that may be feeding the outflow. An exceptional ^{18}OH enhancement, with OH/^{18}OH<~30 at both central and blueshifted velocities, is likely the result of interstellar-medium processing by recent starburst/SNe activity.
Aims: Our goal is to study the chemical composition of the outflows of active galactic nuclei and starburst galaxies. Methods: We obtained high-resolution interferometric observations of HCN and HCO$^+$ $J=1rightarrow0$ and $J=2rightarrow1$ of the ultraluminous infrared galaxy Mrk~231 with the IRAM Plateau de Bure Interferometer. We also use previously published observations of HCN and HCO$^+$ $J=1rightarrow0$ and $J=3rightarrow2$, and HNC $J=1rightarrow0$ in the same source. Results: In the line wings of the HCN, HCO$^+$, and HNC emission, we find that these three molecular species exhibit features at distinct velocities which differ between the species. The features are not consistent with emission lines of other molecular species. Through radiative transfer modelling of the HCN and HCO$^+$ outflow emission we find an average abundance ratio $X(mathrm{HCN})/X(mathrm{HCO}^+)gtrsim1000$. Assuming a clumpy outflow, modelling of the HCN and HCO$^+$ emission produces strongly inconsistent outflow masses. Conclusions: Both the anti-correlated outflow features of HCN and HCO$^+$ and the different outflow masses calculated from the radiative transfer models of the HCN and HCO$^+$ emission suggest that the outflow is chemically differentiated. The separation between HCN and HCO$^+$ could be an indicator of shock fronts present in the outflow, since the HCN/HCO$^+$ ratio is expected to be elevated in shocked regions. Our result shows that studies of the chemistry in large-scale galactic outflows can be used to better understand the physical properties of these outflows and their effects on the interstellar medium (ISM) in the galaxy.
Giant lobes of plasma extend 55 degrees above and below the Galactic Center, glowing in emission from gamma rays (the Fermi Bubbles) to microwaves (the WMAP haze) and polarized radio waves. We use ultraviolet absorption-line spectra from the Hubble Space Telescope to constrain the velocity of the outflowing gas within these regions, targeting the quasar PDS 456 (Galactic coordinates l,b=10.4, +11.2 degrees). This sightline passes through a clear biconical structure seen in hard X-ray and gamma-ray emission near the base of the northern Fermi Bubble. We report two high-velocity metal absorption components, at v_LSR=-235 and +250 km/s, which cannot be explained by co-rotating gas in the Galactic disk or halo. Their velocities are suggestive of an origin on the front and back side of an expanding biconical outflow emanating from the Galactic Center. We develop simple kinematic biconical outflow models that can explain these observed profiles with an outflow velocity of ~900 km/s and a full opening angle of ~110 degrees (matching the X-ray bicone). This indicates Galactic Center activity over the last ~2.5-4.0 Myr, in line with age estimates of the Fermi Bubbles. The observations illustrate the use of UV absorption-line spectroscopy to probe the properties of swept-up gas venting into the Fermi Bubbles.
Quasar outflows are fundamental components of quasar environments that might play an important role in feedback to galaxy evolution. We report on the emergence of a remarkable new outflow absorption-line system in the quasar PG1411+442 (redshift ~0.089) detected in the UV and visible with the Hubble Space Telescope Cosmic Origins Spectrograph and the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph, respectively. This new transient system contains thousands of lines, including FeII and FeII* from excited states up to 3.89 eV, HI* Balmer lines, NaI D 5890,5896, and the first detection of HeI* 5876 in a quasar. The transient absorber is spatially inhomogeneous and compact, with sizes ~<0.003 pc, based on covering fractions on the quasar continuum source ranging from ~0.45 in strong UV lines to ~0.04 in NaI D. Cloudy photoionization simulations show that large total column densities log N_H(cm^-2) >~ 23.4 and an intense radiation field ~<0.4~pc from the quasar are needed to produce the observed lines in thick zones of both fully-ionised and partially-ionised gas. The densities are conservatively log n_H(cm-3) >~ 7 based on FeII*, HI*, and HeI* but they might reach log n_H(cm^-3) >~ 10 based on NaI D. The transient lines appear at roughly the same velocity shift, v ~ -1900 km/s, as a mini-BAL outflow detected previously, but with narrower Doppler widths, b ~ 100 km/s, and larger column densities in more compact outflow structures. We propose that the transient lines identify a clumpy outflow from the broad emission-line region that, at its current speed and location, is still gravitationally bound to the central black hole.
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