Search

We report the detection of [O I]145.5um in the BR 1202-0725 system, a compact group at z=4.7 consisting of a quasar (QSO), a submillimeter-bright galaxy (SMG), and three faint Lya emitters. By taking into account the previous detections and upper limits, the [O I]/[C II] line ratios of the now five known high-z galaxies are higher than or on the high-end of the observed values in local galaxies ([O I]/[C II]$\gtrsim$0.13). The high [O I]/[C II] ratios and the joint analysis with the previous detection of [N II] lines for both the QSO and the SMG suggest the presence of warm and dense neutral gas in these highly star-forming galaxies. This is further supported by new CO (12-11) line detections and a comparison with cosmological simulations. There is a possible positive correlation between the [NII]122/205 line ratio and the [O I]/[C II] ratio when all local and high-z sources are taken into account, indicating that the denser the ionized gas, the denser and warmer the neutral gas (or vice versa). The detection of the [O I] line in the BR1202-0725 system with a relatively short amount of integration with ALMA demonstrates the great potential of this line as a dense gas tracer for high-z galaxies., STFC ERC

We used MUSE adaptive optics data in narrow field mode to study the properties of the ionised gas in MR 2251-178 and PG 1126-041, two nearby (z0.06) bright quasars (QSOs) hosting sub-pc scale ultra-fast outflows (UFOs) detected in the X-ray band. We decomposed the optical emission from diffuse gas into a low- and a high-velocity components. The former is characterised by a clean, regular velocity field and a low (∼80 km s-1) velocity dispersion. It traces regularly rotating gas in PG 1126-041, while in MR 2251-178 it is possibly associated with tidal debris from a recent merger or flyby. The other component is found to be extended up to a few kpc from the nuclei, and shows a high (∼800 km s-1) velocity dispersion and a blue-shifted mean velocity, as is expected from outflows driven by active galactic nuclei (AGN). We estimate mass outflow rates up to a few Mpdbl yr-1 and kinetic efficiencies LKIN/LBOL between 1-4 × 10-4, in line with those of galaxies hosting AGN of similar luminosities. The momentum rates of these ionised outflows are comparable to those measured for the UFOs at sub-pc scales, which is consistent with a momentum-driven wind propagation. Pure energy-driven winds are excluded unless about 100× additional momentum is locked in massive molecular winds. In comparing the outflow properties of our sources with those of a small sample of well-studied QSOs hosting UFOs from the literature, we find that winds seem to systematically lie either in a momentum-driven or an energy-driven regime, indicating that these two theoretical models bracket the physics of AGN-driven winds very well., Marasco, A.; Cresci, G.; Nardini, E.; Mannucci, F.; Marconi, A.; Tozzi, P.; Tozzi, G.; Amiri, A.; Venturi, G.; Piconcelli, E.; Lanzuisi, G.; Tombesi, F.; Mingozzi, M.; Perna, M.; Carniani, S.; Brusa, M.; DI Serego Alighieri, S.

Context. The existence of tight correlations between supermassive black holes (BHs) and their host galaxies' properties in the local Universe suggests a closely linked evolution. Investigating these relations up to the high redshifts (z ≳ 6) is crucial in order to understand the interplay between star formation and BH growth across the cosmic time and to set constraints on galaxy formation and evolution models. In this work, we focus on the relation between BH mass (MBH) and the dynamical mass (Mdyn) of the host galaxy. Aims. Previous works suggest an evolution of the MBH-Mdyn relation with redshift indicating that BH growth precedes the galaxy mass assembly during their co-evolution at z > 3. However, dynamical galaxy masses at high redshift are often estimated through the virial theorem, thus introducing significant uncertainties. Within the scope of this work, our aim is to study the MBH-Mdyn relation of a sample of 2 < z < 7 quasars by constraining their galaxy masses through a full kinematical modelling of the cold gas kinematics, thus avoiding all possible biases and effects introduced by the rough estimates usually adopted so far. Methods. For this purpose, we retrieved public observations of 72 quasar host galaxies observed in [CII]158 μm or CO transitions with the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA). We then selected those quasars whose line emission is spatially resolved, and performed a kinematic analysis on ALMA observations. We estimated the dynamical mass of the systems by modelling the gas kinematics with a rotating disc, taking into account geometrical and instrumental effects. Our dynamical mass estimates, combined with MBH obtained from literature and our own new CIVλ1550 observations allowed us to investigate the MBH/Mdyn in the early Universe. Results. Overall, we obtained a sample of ten quasars at z ∼ 2-7, in which line emission is detected with high S/N (≳ 5-10) and the gas kinematics are spatially resolved and dominated by ordered rotation. The estimated dynamical masses place six out of ten quasars above the local relation yielding to MBH/Mdyn ratios ∼10× higher than those estimated in low-z galaxies. On the other hand, we found that four quasars at z ∼ 4-6 have dynamical-to-BH-mass ratios consistent with what is observed in early-type galaxies in the local Universe., With funding from the Spanish government through the "María de Maeztu Unit of Excellence" accreditation (MDM-2017-0737)

The SINFONI survey for Unveiling the Physics and Effect of Radiative feedback (SUPER) aims at tracing and characterizing ionized gas outflows and their impact on star formation in a statistical sample of X-ray selected Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) at z$\sim$2. We present the first SINFONI results for a sample of 21 Type-1 AGN spanning a wide range in bolometric luminosity (log $\mathrm{L_{bol}}$ = 45.4-47.9 erg/s). The main aims of this paper are determining the extension of the ionized gas, characterizing the occurrence of AGN-driven outflows, and linking the properties of such outflows with those of the AGN. We use Adaptive Optics-assisted SINFONI observations to trace ionized gas in the extended narrow line region using the [OIII]5007 line. We classify a target as hosting an outflow if its non-parametric velocity of the [OIII] line, $\mathrm{w_{80}}$, is larger than 600 km/s. We study the presence of extended emission using dedicated point-spread function (PSF) observations, after modelling the PSF from the Balmer lines originating from the Broad Line Region. We detect outflows in all the Type-1 AGN sample based on the $\mathrm{w_{80}}$ value from the integrated spectrum, which is in the range 650-2700 km/s. There is a clear positive correlation between $\mathrm{w_{80}}$ and the AGN bolometric luminosity (99% correlation probability), but a weaker correlation with the black hole mass (80% correlation probability). A comparison of the PSF and the [OIII] radial profile shows that the [OIII] emission is spatially resolved for $\sim$35% of the Type-1 sample and the outflows show an extension up to $\sim$6 kpc. The relation between maximum velocity and the bolometric luminosity is consistent with model predictions for shocks from an AGN driven outflow. The escape fraction of the outflowing gas increase with the AGN luminosity, although for most galaxies, this fraction is less than 10%., Accepted for publication in A&A, 34 pages, 14 figures and 5 tables

Outflows driven by active galactic nuclei (AGN) are expected to have a significant impact on the host galaxy evolution, but it is still debated how they are accelerated and propagate on galaxy-wide scales. This work addresses these questions by studying the link between X-ray, nuclear ultra-fast outflows (UFOs) and extended ionised outflows, for the first time in two quasars close to the peak of AGN activity ($z\sim2$), where AGN feedback is expected to be more effective. As targets, we selected two multiple-lensed quasars at $z\sim1.5$, HS 0810+2554 and SDSS J1353+1138, known to host UFOs and observed with the near-IR integral field spectrometer SINFONI at the VLT. We performed a kinematical analysis of the [O III]$\lambda$5007 optical emission line, in order to trace the presence of ionised outflows. We detected spatially resolved ionised outflows in both galaxies, extended more than 8 kpc and moving up to $v>2000$ km/s. We derived mass outflow rates of $\sim$12 M$_{sun}$/yr and $\sim$2 M$_{sun}$/yr for HS 0810+2554 and SDSS J1353+1138. Comparing with the co-hosted UFO energetics, the ionised outflow energetics in HS 0810+2554 is broadly consistent with a momentum-driven regime of wind propagation, while in SDSS J1353+1138 it differs by a factor of $\sim$100 from theoretical predictions, requiring either a massive molecular outflow or a high variability of the AGN activity to account for such a discrepancy. By additionally considering our results with those from the small sample of well-studied objects (all local but one), with both UFO and extended (ionised/atomic/molecular) outflow detections, we found that in 10 out of 12 galaxies the large-scale outflow energetics is consistent with the theoretical predictions of either a momentum- or an energy-driven scenario. This suggests that such models explain relatively well the acceleration mechanism of AGN-driven winds on large scales., Comment: 19 pages, 9 figures. Accepted for publication in A&A

We present 1.4 pc resolution observations of 256 GHz nuclear radio continuum and HCN ($J=3 \to 2$) in the molecular torus of NGC 1068. The integrated radio continuum emission has a flat spectrum consistent with free-free emission and resolves into an X-shaped structure resembling an edge-brightened bicone. HCN is detected in absorption against the continuum, and the absorption spectrum shows a pronounced blue wing that suggests a high-velocity molecular outflow with speeds reaching 450 km/s. Analysis of the off-nucleus emission line kinematics and morphology reveals two nested, rotating disk components. The inner disk, inside $r\sim 1.2$ pc, has kinematics consistent with the nearly edge-on, geometrically thin water megamaser disk in Keplerian rotation around a central mass of $1.66\times 10^7\,\mbox{M}_\odot$. The outer disk, which extends to $\sim 7$~pc radius, counter-rotates relative to the inner disk. The rotation curve of the outer disk is consistent with rotation around the same central mass as the megamaser disk but in the opposite sense. The morphology of the molecular gas is asymmetric around the nuclear continuum source. We speculate that the outer disk formed from more recently introduced molecular gas falling out of the host galaxy or from a captured dwarf satellite galaxy. In NGC 1068, we find direct evidence that the molecular torus consists of counter-rotating and misaligned disks on parsec scales., 8 pages, 4 figures; accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Letters

We report the discovery of Serenity-18, a galaxy at z=5.939 for which we could measure the content of molecular gas, M(H_2)~ 5 x10^9 M_sun, traced by the CO(6-5) emission, together with the metal-poor ([Fe/H]=-3.08 +- 0.12, [Si/H]=-2.86 +- 0.14) gas clump/filament which is possibly feeding its growth. The galaxy has an estimated star formation rate of ~100 M_sun yr^{-1}, implying that it is a typical main sequence galaxy at these redshifts. The metal-poor gas is detected through a damped Lyman-alpha absorber (DLA) observed at a spatial separation of 40 kpc and at the same redshift of Serenity-18, along the line of sight to the quasar SDSS J2310+1855 (z_em = 6.0025). The chemical abundances measured for the damped Lyman-alpha system are in very good agreement with those measured for other DLAs discovered at similar redshifts, indicating an enrichment due to massive PopII stars. The galaxy/Damped system we discovered is a direct observational evidence of the assembly of a galaxy at the edge of the reionization epoch., Paper published in ApJ Letters. Version corresponding to the published one

We have detected in ALMA observations CO J = 6 - 5 emission from the nucleus of the Seyfert galaxy NGC 1068. The low-velocity (up to +/- 70 km/s relative to systemic) CO emission resolves into a 12x7 pc structure, roughly aligned with the nuclear radio source. Higher-velocity emission (up to +/- 400 km/s) is consistent with a bipolar outflow in a direction nearly perpendicular (roughly 80 degrees) to the nuclear disk. The position-velocity diagram shows that in addition to the outflow, the velocity field may also contain rotation about the disk axis. These observations provide compelling evidence in support of the disk-wind scenario for the AGN obscuring torus., FONDECYT (Grant ID: 3140436), Science and Technology Facilities Council, This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Institute of Physics Publishing via http://dx.doi.org/10.3847/2041-8205/829/1/L7