The Three Dimensional Properties and Energetics of Radio Jet Driven Outflows

TL;DR

This study investigates the three-dimensional structure and energetics of emission-line outflows around radio loud AGNs, revealing biconical gas distributions, substantial outflow rates, and complex kinematics independent of jet orientation.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the 3D morphology, mass, and energetics of EELRs in radio loud AGNs using integral field spectroscopy, highlighting their biconical shapes and similar properties across different orientations.

Findings

EELRs have biconical shapes with wide opening angles.

Average EELR extent is approximately 18.5 kpc.

Mass outflow rate is around 30 solar masses per year.

Abstract

Extended emission-line regions (EELRs), found around radio loud sources, are likely outflows driven by one form of powerful AGN feedback mechanism. We seek to constrain the three-dimensional gas properties and the outflow energetics of the EELRs in this study. We used an integral field unit to observe EELRs around two samples of of radio loud AGNs with similar radio properties but different orientations: a sample of quasars and a sample of radio galaxies. A morphological comparison suggests a scenario where the three-dimensional EELR gas distribution follows rough biconical shapes with wide opening angles. The average extent of the EELRs is $\sim 18.5$ kpc. The estimated average mass of the EELRs, with reasonable assumptions for gas densities, is $\sim 3 \times 10^8$ M$_\odot$, and the average mass outflow rate is $\sim 30$ M$_\odot$/yr. The EELRs around quasars and radio galaxies share similar kinematic properties. Both samples have velocity structures that display a range of complexities and they do not appear to correlate with the jet orientations, and both span a similar range of velocity dispersions. Around 30\% of the detected EELRs show large scale rotational motions, which may have originated from recent mergers involving gas-rich disk galaxies.