# Jet-driven galaxy-scale gas outflows in the hyper-luminous quasar 3C273

**Authors:** B. Husemann, V. N. Bennert, K. Jahnke, T. A. Davis, J.-H. Woo, J., Scharw\"achter, A. Schulze, M. Gaspari, M. Zwaan

arXiv: 1905.10387 · 2019-07-17

## TL;DR

This study uses advanced optical and radio observations to reveal complex gas outflows and morphology around the hyper-luminous quasar 3C273, challenging simple outflow models and highlighting observational limitations.

## Contribution

It provides detailed morphological and kinematic analysis of the ENLR and molecular gas in 3C273, proposing a new model involving jet-impacted hot gas cocoon affecting gas dynamics.

## Key findings

- ENLR size extends to 12.1 kpc, consistent with size-luminosity relation.
- Ionized gas shows high-velocity disturbances aligned with the jet.
- Complex line broadening caused by multiple gas clouds with different velocities.

## Abstract

We present an unprecedented view on the morphology and kinematics of the extended narrow-line region (ENLR) and molecular gas around the prototypical hyper-luminous quasar 3C273 ($L\sim10^{47}$ erg/s at z=0.158) based on VLT-MUSE optical 3D spectroscopy and ALMA observations. We find that: 1) The ENLR size of 12.1$\pm$0.2kpc implies a smooth continuation of the size-luminosity relation out to large radii or a much larger break radius as previously proposed. 2) The kinematically disturbed ionized gas with line splits reaching 1000km/s out to 6.1$\pm$1.5kpc is aligned along the jet axis. 3) The extreme line broadening on kpc scales is caused by spatial and spectral blending of many distinct gas clouds separated on sub-arcsecond scales with different line-of-sight velocities. The ENLR velocity field combined with the known jet orientation rule out a simple scenario of a radiatively-driven radial expansion of the outflow. Instead we propose that a pressurized expanding hot gas cocoon created by the radio jet is impacting on an inclined gas disk leading to transverse and/or backflow motion with respect to our line-of-sight. The molecular gas morphology may either be explained by a density wave at the front of the outflow expanding along the jet direction as predicted by positive feedback scenario or the cold gas may be trapped in a stellar over-density caused by a recent merger event. Using 3C273 as a template for observations of high-redshift hyper-luminous AGN reveals that large-scale ENLRs and kpc scale outflows may often be missed due to the brightness of the nuclei and the limited sensitivity of current near-IR instrumentation.

## Full text

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## Figures

6 figures with captions in the complete paper: https://tomesphere.com/paper/1905.10387/full.md

## References

122 references — full list in the complete paper: https://tomesphere.com/paper/1905.10387/full.md

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Source: https://tomesphere.com/paper/1905.10387