Discovery of extreme [OIII]5007A outflows in high-redshift red quasars

TL;DR

This study reports the discovery of extreme, high-velocity [OIII] outflows in high-redshift red quasars, indicating powerful quasar feedback that could significantly influence galaxy evolution during peak formation epoch.

Contribution

First detection of extremely broad and blue-shifted [OIII] outflows in high-redshift red quasars, linking outflow properties with infrared luminosity and galaxy feedback.

Findings

[OIII] outflows reach velocities up to 5000 km/sec.

Outflows convert about 3% of bolometric luminosity into kinetic power.

[OIII] emission may extend over several kiloparsecs, affecting entire host galaxies.

Abstract

Black hole feedback is now a standard component of galaxy formation models. These models predict that the impact of black hole activity on its host galaxy likely peaked at z=2-3, the epoch of strongest star formation activity and black hole accretion activity in the Universe. We used XShooter on the Very Large Telescope to measure rest-frame optical spectra of four z~2.5 extremely red quasars with infrared luminosities ~10^47 erg/sec. We present the discovery of very broad (full width at half max= 2600-5000 km/sec), strongly blue-shifted (by up to 1500 km/sec) [OIII]5007A emission lines in these objects. In a large sample of obscured and red quasars, [OIII] kinematics are positively correlated with infrared luminosity, and the four objects in our sample are on the extreme end both in [OIII] kinematics and infrared luminosity. We estimate that ~3% of the bolometric luminosity in these objects is being converted into the kinetic power of the observed wind. Photo-ionization estimates suggest that the [OIII] emission might be extended on a few kpc scales, which would suggest that the extreme outflow is affecting the entire host galaxy of the quasar. These sources may be the signposts of the most extreme form of quasar feedback at the peak epoch of galaxy formation, and may represent an active "blow-out" phase of quasar evolution.