A Galaxy-scale Fountain of Cold Molecular Gas Pumped by a Black Hole

Tremblay, G. R.; Combes, F.; Oonk, J. B. R.; Russell, H. R.; McDonald, Michael; Gaspari, M.; Husemann, B.; Nulsen, P. E. J.; McNamara, B. R.; Hamer, Stephen; O’Dea, C. P.; Baum, Stefi A.; Davis, Timothy A.; Donahue, M.; Voit, G. Mark; Edge, A. C.; Blanton, E. L.; Bremer, M. N.; Bulbul, Esra; Clarke, T. E.; David, L. P.; Edwards, Louise O. V.; Eggerman, D.; Fabian, A. C.; Forman, W.; Jones, C.; Kerman, N.; Kraft, Ralph; Li, Y.; Powell, Meredith C.; Randall, Scott W.; Salomé, P.; Simionescu, A.; Su, Yuanyuan; Sun, Ming; Urry, C. Megan; Vantyghem, A. N.; Wilkes, B. J.; ZuHone, John

doi:10.3847/1538-4357/aad6dd

Cited by 111 publications

(84 citation statements)

References 205 publications

(244 reference statements)

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“…In this case, according to the chaotic cold accretion model (e.g. Gaspari & Sadowski 2017;Tremblay et al 2016;Tremblay et al 2018) and as predicted by recent theory (e.g. Pizzolato & Soker 2005;Voit et al 2015a;Voit et al 2015b) and simulations (e.g.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 81%

Inquiring into the nature of the Abell 2667 brightest cluster galaxy: physical properties from MUSE

Iani

Rodighiero

Fritz³

et al. 2019

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Based on HST and MUSE data, we probe the stellar and gas properties (i.e. kinematics, stellar mass, star formation rate) of the radio-loud brightest cluster galaxy (BCG) located at the centre of the X-ray luminous cool core cluster Abell 2667 (z = 0.2343). The bi-dimensional modelling of the BCG surface brightness profile reveals the presence of a complex system of substructures extending all around the galaxy. Clumps of different size and shape plunged into a more diffuse component constitute these substructures, whose intense 'blue' optical colour hints to the presence of a young stellar population. Our results depict the BCG as a massive (M 1.38 × 10 11 M ) dispersion-supported spheroid (∆v ≤ 150 km s −1 , σ 0 ∼ 216 km s −1 ) hosting an active supermassive black hole (M S M BH 3.8 × 10 9 M ) whose optical features are typical of low ionisation nuclear emission line regions. Although the velocity pattern of the stars in the BCG is irregular, the stellar kinematics in the regions of the clumps show a positive velocity of ∼ 100 km s −1 , similarly to the gas component. An analysis of the mechanism giving rise to the observed lines in the clumps through empirical diagnostic diagrams points out that the emission is composite, suggesting the contribution from both star formation and AGN. We conclude our analysis describing how scenarios of both chaotic cold accretion and merging with a gas-rich disc galaxy can efficaciously explain the phenomena the BCG is undergoing.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 81%

Inquiring into the nature of the Abell 2667 brightest cluster galaxy: physical properties from MUSE

Iani

Rodighiero

Fritz³

et al. 2019

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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“…The [NII] 6584 / Hα ratio is ∼0.8, which is too high for HII regions so the ionization source is not young stars. This ratio is typical of many emission-line nebulae in cool cores (e.g., Tremblay et al 2018). With the line ratios from the DIS data ([NII]6583/Hα = 0.8 and [NII]6548/[NII]6583 = 1/3), the total Hα luminosity of this blob is 3.1×10 39 erg s −1 .…”

Section: Multiphase Gas In the Coresmentioning

confidence: 55%

Building a cluster: shocks, cavities, and cooling filaments in the group–group merger NGC 6338

O’Sullivan

Schellenberger

Burke

et al. 2019

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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We present deep Chandra, XMM-Newton, Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope and Hα observations of the group-group merger NGC 6338. X-ray imaging and spectral mapping show that as well as trailing tails of cool, enriched gas, the two cool cores are embedded in an extensive region of shock heated gas with temperatures rising to ∼5 keV. The velocity distribution of the member galaxies show that the merger is occurring primarily along the line of sight, and we estimate that the collision has produced shocks of Mach number M=2.3 or greater, making this one of the most violent mergers yet observed between galaxy groups. Both cool cores host potential AGN cavities and Hα nebulae, indicating rapid radiative cooling. In the southern cool core around NGC 6338, we find that the X-ray filaments associated with the Hα nebula have low entropies (<10 keV cm 2 ) and short cooling times (∼200-300 Myr). In the northern core we identify an Hα cloud associated with a bar of dense, cool X-ray gas offset from the dominant galaxy. We find no evidence of current jet activity in either core. We estimate the total mass of the system and find that the product of this group-group merger will likely be a galaxy cluster.

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“…• Abell 2597 is a giant elliptical brightest cluster galaxy surrounded by a dense halo of hot, X-ray bright plasma of megaparsec scales. Observations by Tremblay et al (2016); Tremblay et al (2018) show CO(2-1) emission at the systemic velocity of the galaxy. There are also three distinct regions of CO(1-2) absorbing molecular gas along the line of sight to the galaxy's radio core, with optical depths of τ ∼ 0.2 − 0.3 and velocities of 240 − 335 km s −1 .…”

Section: Target Sample and Observed Linesmentioning

confidence: 97%

Constraining cold accretion on to supermassive black holes: molecular gas in the cores of eight brightest cluster galaxies revealed by joint CO and CN absorption

Rose

Edge

Combes

et al. 2019

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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To advance our understanding of the fuelling and feedback processes which power the Universe's most massive black holes, we require a significant increase in our knowledge of the molecular gas which exists in their immediate surroundings. However, the behaviour of this gas is poorly understood due to the difficulties associated with observing it directly. We report on a survey of 18 brightest cluster galaxies lying in cool cores, from which we detect molecular gas in the core regions of eight via carbon monoxide (CO), cyanide (CN) and silicon monoxide (SiO) absorption lines. These absorption lines are produced by cold molecular gas clouds which lie along the line of sight to the bright continuum sources at the galaxy centres. As such, they can be used to determine many properties of the molecular gas which may go on to fuel supermassive black hole accretion and AGN feedback mechanisms. The absorption regions detected have velocities ranging from -45 to 283 km s −1 relative to the systemic velocity of the galaxy, and have a bias for motion towards the host supermassive black hole. We find that the CN N = 0 -1 absorption lines are typically 10 times stronger than those of CO J = 0 -1. This is due to the higher electric dipole moment of the CN molecule, which enhances its absorption strength. In terms of molecular number density CO remains the more prevalent molecule with a ratio of CO/CN ∼ 10, similar to that of nearby galaxies. Comparison of CO, CN and H I observations for these systems shows many different combinations of these absorption lines being detected.the behaviour of this molecular gas across a wide range of spatial scales, observational studies typically focus on emission, which probes gas within relatively large collections of molecular clouds and struggles to reveal how it behaves in more compact regions. This includes areas of particular interest, such as the surroundings of the most massive supermassive black holes. As a result of this observational shortfall, there exists a significant gap in our knowledge concerning the behaviour and properties of the molecular gas surrounding active galactic nuclei (AGN). While observations have been absent at this level, simulations such as chaotic cold accretion have predicted that the large reservoirs of molecular gas we see observationally (e.g. Edge 2001), exist 1 Assuming a carbon abundance equal to that of the Milky Way gas phase, and that all gas phase carbon exists in CO molecules, the ratio of carbon monoxide to molecular hydrogen is CO/H 2 = 3.2 × 10 −4 (Sofia et al. 2004).

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A Galaxy-scale Fountain of Cold Molecular Gas Pumped by a Black Hole

Cited by 111 publications

References 205 publications

Inquiring into the nature of the Abell 2667 brightest cluster galaxy: physical properties from MUSE

Inquiring into the nature of the Abell 2667 brightest cluster galaxy: physical properties from MUSE

Building a cluster: shocks, cavities, and cooling filaments in the group–group merger NGC 6338

Constraining cold accretion on to supermassive black holes: molecular gas in the cores of eight brightest cluster galaxies revealed by joint CO and CN absorption

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