اشترك بالحزمة الذهبية واحصل على وصول غير محدود شمرا أكاديميا
تسجيل مستخدم جديدSDSS J1254+0846: A Binary Quasar Caught in the Act of Merging
155
0
0.0
(
0
)
تأليف
Paul J. Green
اسأل ChatGPT حول البحث
ﻻ يوجد ملخص باللغة العربية
We present the first luminous, spatially resolved binary quasar that clearly inhabits an ongoing galaxy merger. SDSS J125455.09+084653.9 and SDSS J125454.87+084652.1 (SDSS J1254+0846 hereafter) are two luminous z=0.44 radio quiet quasars, with a radial velocity difference of just 215 km/s, separated on the sky by 21 kpc in a disturbed host galaxy merger showing obvious tidal tails. The pair was targeted as part of a complete sample of binary quasar candidates with small transverse separations drawn from SDSS DR6 photometry. We present follow-up optical imaging which shows broad, symmetrical tidal arm features spanning some 75 kpc at the quasars redshift. Numerical modeling suggests that the system consists of two massive disk galaxies prograde to their mutual orbit, caught during the first passage of an active merger. This demonstrates rapid black hole growth during the early stages of a merger between galaxies with pre-existing bulges. Neither of the two luminous nuclei show significant instrinsic absorption by gas or dust in our optical or X-ray observations, illustrating that not all merging quasars will be in an obscured, ultraluminous phase. We find that the Eddington ratio for the fainter component B is rather normal, while for the A component L/LEdd is quite (>3sigma) high compared to quasars of similar luminosity and redshift, possibly evidence for strong merger-triggered accretion. More such mergers should be identifiable at higher redshifts using binary quasars as tracers.
قيم البحث
اقرأ أيضاً
We report the discovery of SDSS J0849+1114 as the first known triple Type 2 Seyfert nucleus. It represents three active black holes that are identified from new spatially resolved optical slit spectroscopy using the Dual Imaging Spectrograph on the 3
.5 m telescope at the Apache Point Observatory. We also present new complementary observations including the Hubble Space Telescope Wide Field Camera 3 U- and Y-band imaging, Chandra Advanced CCD Imaging Spectrometer S-array X-ray 0.5--8 keV imaging spectroscopy, and NSF Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array radio 9.0 GHz imaging in its most extended A configuration. These comprehensive multiwavelength observations, when combined together, strongly suggest that all three nuclei are active galactic nuclei. While they are now still at kiloparsec-scale separations, where the host-galaxy gravitational potential dominates, the black holes may evolve into a bound triple system in $lesssim$2 Gyr. These triple merger systems may explain the overly massive stellar cores that have been observed in some elliptical galaxies such as M87, which are expected to be unique gravitational wave sources. Similar systems may be more common in the early universe, when galaxy mergers are thought to have been more frequent.
We report the discovery of six spatially extended (10-100 kpc) line-emitting nebulae in the z=0.57 galaxy group hosting PKS0405-123, one of the most luminous quasars at z<1. The discovery is enabled by the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) and
provides tantalizing evidence connecting large-scale gas streams with nuclear activity on scales of <10 proper kpc (pkpc). One of the nebulae exhibits a narrow, filamentary morphology extending over 50 pkpc toward the quasar with narrow internal velocity dispersion (50 km/s) and is not associated with any detected galaxies, consistent with a cool intragroup medium (IGrM) filament. Two of the nebulae are 10 pkpc North and South of the quasar with tidal arm like morphologies. These two nebulae, along with a continuum emitting arm extending 60 pkpc from the quasar are signatures of interactions which are expected to redistribute angular momentum in the host interstellar medium (ISM) to facilitate star formation and quasar fueling in the nucleus. The three remaining nebulae are among the largest and most luminous [O III] emitting `blobs known (1400-2400 pkpc^2) and correspond both kinematically and morphologically with interacting galaxy pairs in the quasar host group, consistent with arising from stripped ISM rather than large-scale quasar outflows. The presence of these large- and small-scale nebulae in the vicinity of a luminous quasar bears significantly on the effect of large-scale environment on galaxy and black hole fueling, providing a natural explanation for the previously known correlation between quasar luminosity and cool circumgalactic medium (CGM).
The majority of massive disk galaxies, including our own, have stellar bars with vertically thick inner regions -- so-called boxy/peanut-shaped (B/P) bulges. The most commonly suggested mechanism for the formation of B/P bulges is a violent vertical
buckling instability in the bar, something that has been seen in N-body simulations for over twenty years, but never identified in real galaxies. Here, we present the first direct observational evidence for ongoing buckling in two nearby galaxies (NGC 3227 and NGC 4569), including characteristic asymmetric isophotes and (in NGC 4569) stellar-kinematic asymmetries that match buckling in simulations. This confirms that the buckling instability takes place and produces B/P bulges in real galaxies. A toy model of bar evolution yields a local fraction of buckling bars consistent with observations if the buckling phase lasts ~0.5--1 Gyr, in agreement with simulations.
Direct evidence of stellar material from galaxy disruption in the intra-cluster medium (ICM) relies on challenging observations of individual stars, planetary nebulae and diffuse optical light. Here we show that the ultra-compact dwarf galaxies (UCDs
) we have discovered in the Fornax Cluster are a new and easy-to-measure probe of disruption in the ICM. We present spectroscopic observations supporting the hypothesis that the UCDs are the remnant nuclei of tidally ``threshed dwarf galaxies. Deep optical imaging of the cluster has revealed a 43-kpc long arc of tidal debris, flanking a nucleated dwarf elliptical (dE,N) cluster member. We may be witnessing galaxy threshing in action.
We report the discovery of a quasar at z=3.050+/-0.003, closely coincident in redshift with the isolated low-opacity feature seen near z~3.056 in the otherwise black portion of the HeII Gunn-Peterson absorption trough seen toward the z=3.286 backgrou
nd quasar Q0302-003, located 6.5 away on the sky. We explore plausible models for the HeIII ionization zone created by this neighboring quasar and its interception with the line of sight toward Q0302-003. At its present brightness of V=20.5 and separation of D=3.2 Mpc, the quasar can readily account for the opacity gap in the HeII absorption spectrum of Q0302-003, provided it has been active for t_Q > 10^7 y. This is the first clear detection of the `transverse proximity effect and imprint of a quasar on the intervening absorption detected along an adjacent line of sight.
سجل دخول لتتمكن من نشر تعليقات
التعليقات
جاري جلب التعليقات
سجل دخول لتتمكن من متابعة معايير البحث التي قمت باختيارها
