Quantifying the AGN-driven outflows in ULIRGs (QUADROS) I: VLT/Xshooter observations of 9 nearby objects. Rose, M., Tadhunter, C., Ramos Almeida, C., Rodriguez Zaurin, J., Santoro, F., & Spence, R. ArXiv e-prints, 1710:arXiv:1710.06600, October, 2017.
Quantifying the AGN-driven outflows in ULIRGs (QUADROS) I: VLT/Xshooter observations of 9 nearby objects [link]Paper  abstract   bibtex   
Although now routinely incorporated into hydrodynamic simulations of galaxy evolution, the true importance of the feedback effect of the outflows driven by active galactic nuclei (AGN) remains uncertain from an observational perspective. This is due to a lack of accurate information on the densities, radial scales and level of dust extinction of the outflow regions. Here we use the unique capabilities of VLT/Xshooter to investigate the warm outflows in a representative sample of 9 local (0.06 \${\textless}\$ z \${\textless}\$ 0.15) ULIRGs with AGN nuclei and, for the first time, accurately quantify the key outflow properties. We find that the outflows are compact (0.05 \${\textless}\$ R\$_\{[OIII]\}\$ \${\textless}\$ 1.2 kpc), significantly reddened (median E(B-V)\${\textbackslash}sim\$0.5 magnitudes), and have relatively high electron densities (3.4 \${\textless}\$ log\$_\{10\}\$ n\$_e\$ (cm\${\textasciicircum}\{-3\}\$) \${\textless}\$ 4.8). It is notable that the latter densities – obtained using trans-auroral [SII] and [OII] emission-line ratios – exceed those typically assumed for the warm, emission-line outflows in active galaxies, but are similar to those estimated for broad and narrow absorption line outflow systems detected in some type 1 AGN. Even if we make the most optimistic assumptions about the true (deprojected) outflow velocities, we find relatively modest mass outflow rates (\$0.07 {\textless} {\textbackslash}dot\{M\} {\textless} 11\$ M\$_\{sol\}\$ yr\${\textasciicircum}\{-1\}\$) and kinetic powers measured as a fraction of the AGN bolometric luminosities (\$4{\textbackslash}times10{\textasciicircum}\{-4\} {\textless} {\textbackslash}dot\{E\}/L_\{BOL\} {\textless}1\$%). Therefore, although warm, AGN-driven outflows have the potential to strongly affect the star formation histories in the inner bulge regions (\$r {\textbackslash}sim\$ 1kpc) of nearby ULIRGs, we lack evidence that they have a significant impact on the evolution of these rapidly evolving systems on larger scales.
@article{rose_quantifying_2017,
	title = {Quantifying the {AGN}-driven outflows in {ULIRGs} ({QUADROS}) {I}: {VLT}/{Xshooter} observations of 9 nearby objects},
	volume = {1710},
	shorttitle = {Quantifying the {AGN}-driven outflows in {ULIRGs} ({QUADROS}) {I}},
	url = {http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2017arXiv171006600R},
	abstract = {Although now routinely incorporated into hydrodynamic simulations of 
galaxy evolution, the true importance of the feedback effect of the
outflows driven by active galactic nuclei (AGN) remains uncertain from
an observational perspective. This is due to a lack of accurate
information on the densities, radial scales and level of dust extinction
of the outflow regions. Here we use the unique capabilities of
VLT/Xshooter to investigate the warm outflows in a representative sample
of 9 local (0.06 \${\textless}\$ z \${\textless}\$ 0.15) ULIRGs with AGN nuclei and, for
the first time, accurately quantify the key outflow properties. We find
that the outflows are compact (0.05 \${\textless}\$ R\$\_\{[OIII]\}\$ \${\textless}\$ 1.2 kpc),
significantly reddened (median E(B-V)\${\textbackslash}sim\$0.5 magnitudes), and have
relatively high electron densities (3.4 \${\textless}\$ log\$\_\{10\}\$ n\$\_e\$
(cm\${\textasciicircum}\{-3\}\$) \${\textless}\$ 4.8). It is notable that the latter densities --
obtained using trans-auroral [SII] and [OII] emission-line ratios --
exceed those typically assumed for the warm, emission-line outflows in
active galaxies, but are similar to those estimated for broad and narrow
absorption line outflow systems detected in some type 1 AGN. Even if we
make the most optimistic assumptions about the true (deprojected)
outflow velocities, we find relatively modest mass outflow rates (\$0.07
{\textless} {\textbackslash}dot\{M\} {\textless} 11\$ M\$\_\{sol\}\$ yr\${\textasciicircum}\{-1\}\$) and kinetic powers measured
as a fraction of the AGN bolometric luminosities (\$4{\textbackslash}times10{\textasciicircum}\{-4\} {\textless}
{\textbackslash}dot\{E\}/L\_\{BOL\} {\textless}1\$\%). Therefore, although warm, AGN-driven outflows
have the potential to strongly affect the star formation histories in
the inner bulge regions (\$r {\textbackslash}sim\$ 1kpc) of nearby ULIRGs, we lack
evidence that they have a significant impact on the evolution of these
rapidly evolving systems on larger scales.},
	journal = {ArXiv e-prints},
	author = {Rose, Marvin and Tadhunter, Clive and Ramos Almeida, Cristina and Rodriguez Zaurin, Javier and Santoro, Francesco and Spence, Robert},
	month = oct,
	year = {2017},
	keywords = {Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies},
	pages = {arXiv:1710.06600},
}

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