posted on 2019-06-21, 14:36authored byKastytis Zubovas, Andrew King
Warm absorbers are found in many active galactic nuclei (AGN) and consist of clouds moving
at moderate radial velocities, showing complex ionization structures and having moderate to
large column densities. Using 1D numerical calculations, we confirm earlier suggestions that
the energy released by an AGN pushes the surrounding gas outward in a bubble until this
reaches transparency. Typical AGN episode durations of 5 × 10^4 yr supply enough energy for
this, except in very gas-rich and/or very compact galaxies, such as those in the early Universe.
In those galaxies, the AGN might remain hidden for many periods of activity, hiding the black
hole growth. The typical radii of 0.1−1 kpc, velocities of 100–1000 km s^−1, and resulting
optical depths are consistent with observations of warm absorbers. The resulting structure is
a natural outcome of outflows driven by AGN buried in an optically thick gas envelope, and
has a total mass comparable to the final M − σ mass the central supermassive black hole will
eventually reach. These results suggest that AGN can feed very efficiently by agitating this
surrounding dense material. This may not be easy to observe, as this gas is Compton thick
along many sightlines. The infall may produce episodic star formation in the centre, building
up nuclear star clusters simultaneously with the growth of the central black hole.
Funding
KZ is funded by the Research Council Lithuania grant no. MIP-17-78. ARK acknowledges support from the UK STFC.
History
Citation
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 2019, 484(2), pp. 1829–1837
Author affiliation
/Organisation/COLLEGE OF SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING/Department of Physics and Astronomy
Version
VoR (Version of Record)
Published in
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Publisher
Oxford University Press (OUP), Royal Astronomical Society