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arXiv · 2312.09649

Revisiting the Dragonfly Galaxy II. Young, radiatively efficient radio-loud AGN drives massive molecular outflow in a starburst merger at z=1.92

Yuxing Zhong·Akio K. Inoue·Yuma Sugahara·Kana Morokuma-Matsui·Shinya Komugi·Hiroyuki Kaneko·Yoshinobu Fudamoto
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Abstract

Radio-loud active galactic nuclei (RLAGNs) are a unique AGN population and were thought to be preferentially associated with supermassive black holes (SMBHs) at low accretion rates. They could impact the host galaxy evolution by expelling cold gas through the jet-mode feedback. In this work, we studied CO(6-5) line emission in a high-redshift radio galaxy, MRC 0152-209, at z=1.92 using ALMA up to a $0.024''$-resolution (corresponding to ~200 pc). This system is a starburst major merger constituted of two galaxies: the northwest (NW) one hosting the RLAGN with jet kinetic power $L_{\rm jet}\gtrsim2\times10^{46}$ erg/s and the southeast (SE) one. Based on the SED fitting for the entire system (NW+SE galaxies), we found AGN bolometric luminosity $L_{\rm AGN,bol}\sim(0.9-3)\times10^{46}$ erg/s for the RLAGN. We estimated BH mass through $M_{\rm BH}-M_\star$ scaling relations and found an Eddington ratio of $\sim0.7-4$ conservatively. These results suggest that the RLAGN is radiatively efficient and the powerful jets could be launched from a super-Eddington accretion disc. ALMA reveals a massive ($M_{\rm H_2}\sim2\times10^9$ Msun), compact ($\sim500$ pc), and lopsided molecular outflow perpendicular to the jet axis. The mass outflow rate (~1200-2600 Msun/yr) is comparable with the star formation rate of ~2000-3000 Msun/yr. The outflow kinetic power/$L_{\rm AGN,bol}$ ratio of ~0.008-0.02 and momentum boost factor ~3-24 agree with the radiative-mode AGN feedback. On the other hand, the jets can also drive the molecular outflow within its lifetime of $\sim2\times10^5$ yr without additional energy supply from AGN radiation. The jets then could remove all cold gas from the host galaxy through long-term, episodic launching. Our study reveals a unique object where starburst, powerful jets, and rapid BH growth co-exist, which may represent a fundamental stage of AGN-host galaxy co-evolution.

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Yuxing Zhong, Akio K. Inoue, Yuma Sugahara, Kana Morokuma-Matsui, Shinya Komugi, Hiroyuki Kaneko, Yoshinobu Fudamoto. 2023-12-15. Revisiting the Dragonfly Galaxy II. Young, radiatively efficient radio-loud AGN drives massive molecular outflow in a starburst merger at z=1.92. https://arxiv.org/abs/2312.09649

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