2019MNRAS.487.5041H -
Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc., 487, 5041-5061 (2019/August-3)
On the emergence of THOUSANDS of absorption lines in the quasar PG 1411+442: a clumpy high-column density outflow from the broad emission-line region?
HAMANN F., TRIPP T.M., RUPKE D. and VEILLEUX S.
Abstract (from CDS):
Quasar outflows are fundamental components of quasar environments that might play an important role in feedback to galaxy evolution. We report on the emergence of a remarkable new outflow absorption-line system in the quasar PG1411+442 (redshift ∼0.089) detected in the UV and visible with the Hubble Space Telescope Cosmic Origins Spectrograph and the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph, respectively. This new 'transient' system contains thousands of lines, including Fe II and Fe II* from excited states up to 3.89 eV, H I* Balmer lines, Na I D λλ5890, 5896, and the first detection of He I* λ5876 in a quasar. The transient absorber is spatially inhomogeneous and compact, with sizes <=0.003 pc, based on covering fractions on the quasar continuum source ranging from ∼0.45 in strong UV lines to ∼0.04 in Na I D. CLOUDY photoionization simulations show that large total column densities log NH(cm–2) >= 23.4 and an intense radiation field <=0.4 pc from the quasar are needed to produce the observed lines in thick zones of both fully ionized and partially ionized gas. The densities are conservatively log nH(cm–3) >= 7 based on Fe II*, H I*, and He I* but they might reach log nH(cm–3) >= 10 based on Na I D. The transient lines appear at roughly the same velocity shift, v ∼ -1900 km s–1, as a 'mini-BAL' outflow detected previously, but with narrower Doppler widths, b ∼ 100 km s–1, and larger column densities in more compact outflow structures. We propose that the transient lines identify a clumpy outflow from the broad emission-line region that, at its current speed and location, is still gravitationally bound to the central black hole.
Abstract Copyright:
© 2019 The Author(s) Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society
Journal keyword(s):
line: formation - line: identification - quasars: absorption lines - quasars: general - quasars: individual: PG 1411+442
Simbad objects:
4
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