NGC 2992: Interplay between the multiphase disc, wind, and radio bubbles

Abstract

We present an analysis of the gas kinematics in NGC 2992 based on VLT/MUSE, ALMA, and VLA data. Our aim is to characterise the disc, the wind, and their interplay in the cold molecular and warm ionised phases. NGC 2992 is a changing-look Seyfert known to host both a nuclear ultrafast outflow (UFO), and an AGN-driven kiloparsec-scale ionised wind. CO(2−1) and Hα arise from a multiphase disc with an inclination of 80 deg and radii of 1.5 and 1.8 kpc, respectively. By modelling the gas kinematics, we find that the velocity dispersion of the cold molecular phase, σgas, is consistent with that of star forming galaxies at the same redshift, except in the inner 600 pc region, and in the region between the cone walls and the disc, where σgas is a factor of 3−4 larger than in star forming galaxies for both the cold molecular and the warm ionised phases. This suggests that a disc–wind interaction locally boosts the gas turbulence. We detect a clumpy ionised wind in Hβ, [O III], Hα, and [N II] distributed in two wide-opening-angle ionisation cones reaching scales of 7 kpc (40 arcsec). The [O III] wind expands with a velocity exceeding −1000 km s−1 in the inner 600 pc, which is a factor of approximately five greater than the previously reported wind velocity. Based on spatially resolved electron density and ionisation parameter maps, we infer an ionised outflow mass of Mof, ion = (3.2 ± 0.3)×107 M⊙, and a total ionised outflow rate of Ṁof,ion = 13.5 ± 1 M⊙ yr−1. We detected ten clumps of cold molecular gas located above and below the disc in the ionisation cones, reaching maximum projected distances of 1.7 kpc and showing projected bulk velocities of up to 200 km s−1. On these scales, the wind is multiphase, with a fast ionised component and a slower molecular one, and a total mass of Mof, ion + mol = 5.8 × 107 M⊙, of which the molecular component carries the bulk of the mass, namely Mof, mol = 4.3 × 107 M⊙. The dusty molecular outflowing clumps and the turbulent ionised gas are located at the edges of the radio bubbles, suggesting that the bubbles interact with the surrounding medium through shocks, as also supported by the [O I]/Hα ratio. Conversely, both the large opening angle and the dynamical timescale of the ionised wind detected in the ionisation cones on 7 kpc scales indicate that this is not related to the radio bubbles but instead likely associated with a previous AGN episode. Finally, we detect a dust reservoir that is co-spatial with the molecular disc, with a cold dust mass of Mdust = (4.04 ± 0.03)×106 M⊙, which is likely responsible for the extended Fe Kα emission seen on 200 pc scales in hard X-rays and interpreted as reflection by cold dust.

Multiphase Black Hole Feedback and a Bright [C ii] Halo in a LoBAL Quasar at z ∼ 6.6

“…It could also be interpreted as the BAL having a small impact on the ISM because of the relatively low opening angle of the wind (e.g., Menci et al 2019;Bischetti et al 2019a). Zanchettin et al (2021Zanchettin et al ( , 2023. The estimates for the comparison BAL outflows were also calculated assuming a thin-shell scenario.…”

“…We compare our results with [C II] outflows from Bischetti et al (2019a), Izumi et al (2021), and Tripodi et al (2022) and BAL outflows from Choi et al (2020, 2022b; diamonds) and Miller et al (2020; squares). We also include the compilation of BH-driven molecular outflows from Bischetti et al (2019b, and references therein) and recent measurements by Ramos Almeida et al (2022) andZanchettin et al (2021Zanchettin et al ( , 2023. The estimates for the comparison BAL outflows were also calculated assuming a thin-shell scenario.…”

The Resolved Star Formation Law in NGC 7469 from JWST, ALMA, and VLA

“…Figure 4 shows the spatially resolved SF law on a ∼300 pc scale for NGC 7469. The plot also includes NGC 2992 measurements obtained with a similar method on ∼200 pc scales (Zanchettin et al 2023), and the relations derived for compilation of local AGN (Casasola et al 2015) 4). The slope of this relation is consistent with that obtained by fitting the SB ring alone, while we find a flatter slope for the fit of the outer region (n = 0.5 ± 0.1).…”

“…In Figure 4, we report the characteristic gas depletion timescales: the NGC 7469 data points show an average τ dep,mean = (0.66 ± 0.02) Gyr, where the uncertainty is the standard error of the mean. The measurements of the circumnuclear region of NGC 2992 (black triangles; Zanchettin et al 2023), derived with a spatial resolution of 200 pc, populate regions of the SF law chart characterized by both relatively lower log SFR S and log H2…”