The Close AGN Reference Survey (CARS). A parsec scale multi-phase outflow in the super-Eddington NLS1 Mrk 1044

TL;DR

This study uses spectroastrometry to map and analyze a multi-phase, parsec-scale outflow in the super-Eddington NLS1 galaxy Mrk 1044, revealing complex feedback processes occurring close to the galaxy nucleus.

Contribution

It presents the first detailed mapping of unresolved multi-phase outflows in Mrk 1044 using spectroastrometry, providing new insights into early AGN feedback mechanisms.

Findings

Identified two unresolved ionised gas outflows with velocities of -560 km/s and -144 km/s.

Detected a spatially resolved outflow with a velocity of -211 km/s and size of 4.6 pc.

Estimated the outflow was launched less than 10,000 years ago.

Abstract

The interaction between Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) and their host galaxies is scarcely resolved. Narrow-line Seyfert 1 (NLS1) galaxies are believed to represent AGN at early stages of their evolution and allow to observe AGN feeding and feedback processes at high accretion rates. We apply a spectroastrometric analysis to VLT MUSE NFM-AO observations of Mrk 1044, a nearby super-Eddington accreting NLS1. This allows us to map two ionised gas outflows traced by [O$\,$III] which have velocities of $-560\pm20\,{\rm km\:s}^{-1}$ and $-144 \pm 5 \,{\rm km\:s}^{-1}$. Both outflows are spatially unresolved and located close to the galaxy nucleus ($<1\,{\rm pc}$). They have gas densities higher than $10^5\,{\rm cm}^{-3}$, which implies that the BPT diagnostic cannot be used to constrain the underlying ionisation mechanism. We explore whether an expanding shell model can describe the velocity structure of Mrk 1044's unresolved multi-phase outflow. A kinematic analysis suggests that significant turbulence may be present in the ISM around the nucleus, which may lead to a condensation rain, potentially explaining the efficient feeding of Mrk 1044's AGN. We identify an additional ionised gas outflowing component that is spatially resolved. It has a velocity of $-211 \pm 22 \,{\rm km\:s}^{-1}$ and a projected size of $4.6 \pm 0.6 \,{\rm pc}$. Within the innermost 0.5" (160$\,{\rm pc}$) around the nucleus we detect modest star formation hidden by the beam-smeared emission from the outflow, which suggests that Mrk 1044's AGN phase set on recently. We estimate that the multi-phase outflow has been launched $<10^4 \,{\rm yrs}$ ago. It carries enough mass and energy to impact the host galaxy star formation on different spatial scales, highlighting the complexity of the AGN feeding and feedback cycle in its early stages.