Far-UV Emission Properties of FR1 Radio Galaxies

TL;DR

This study investigates the Lyman-alpha emission in nearby FR1 radio galaxies using Hubble's COS, revealing insights into their accretion processes and potential contribution to the UV background.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed analysis of Lyman-alpha emission in FR1 radio galaxies, linking emission properties to accretion and jet ionization mechanisms.

Findings

Strong Lyman-alpha emission observed in all three FR1s.

Lyman-alpha luminosities consistent with ionizing continuum and near-unity covering factor.

Relativistic beaming influences the observed Lyman-alpha strength.

Abstract

The power mechanism and accretion geometry for low-power FR1 radio galaxies is poorly understood in comparison to Seyfert galaxies and QSOs. In this paper we use the diagnostic power of the Lya recombination line observed using the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS) aboard the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) to investigate the accretion flows in three well-known, nearby FR1s: M87, NGC4696, and HydraA. The Ly$\alpha$ emission line's luminosity, velocity structure and the limited knowledge of its spatial extent provided by COS are used to assess conditions within a few parsecs of the super-massive black hole (SMBH) in these radio-mode AGN. We observe strong Ly$\alpha$ emission in all three objects with similar total luminosity to that seen in BL Lacertae objects. M87 shows a complicated emission line profile in Lya which varies spatially across the COS aperture and possibly temporally over several epochs of observation. In both NGC 4696 and M87, the Ly$\alpha$ luminosities $\sim 10^{40}$ ergs/s are closely consistent with the observed strength of the ionizing continuum in Case B recombination theory and with the assumption of near unity covering factor. It is possible that the Ly$\alpha$ emitting clouds are ionized largely by beamed radiation associated with the jets. Long-slit UV spectroscopy can be used to test this hypothesis. Hydra A and the several BL Lac objects studied in this and previous papers have Lya luminosities larger than M87 but their extrapolated, non-thermal continua are so luminous that they over-predict the observed strength of Ly$\alpha$, a clear indicator of relativistic beaming in our direction. Given their substantial space density ($\sim 4\times10^{-3} Mpc^{-3}$) the unbeamed Lyman continuum radiation of FR1s may make a substantial minority contribution (~10%) to the local UV background if all FR1s are similar to M87 in ionizing flux level.