Far-infrared emission in luminous quasars accompanied by nuclear outflows

Combining large-area optical quasar surveys with the new far-infrared (FIR) Herschel-ATLAS Data Release 1, we search for an observational signature associated with the minority of quasars possessing bright FIR luminosities. We find that FIR-bright quasars show broad C IV emission-line blueshifts in...

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Main Authors: Maddox, Natasha, Jarvis, M.J., Banerji, M., Hewett, P.C., Bourne, N., Dunne, L., Dye, S., Eales, S., Furlanetto, C., Maddox, S.J., Smith, M.W.L., Valiante, E.
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Published: Oxford University Press 2017
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Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/45139/
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author Maddox, Natasha
Jarvis, M.J.
Banerji, M.
Hewett, P.C.
Bourne, N.
Dunne, L.
Dye, S.
Eales, S.
Furlanetto, C.
Maddox, S.J.
Smith, M.W.L.
Valiante, E.
author_facet Maddox, Natasha
Jarvis, M.J.
Banerji, M.
Hewett, P.C.
Bourne, N.
Dunne, L.
Dye, S.
Eales, S.
Furlanetto, C.
Maddox, S.J.
Smith, M.W.L.
Valiante, E.
author_sort Maddox, Natasha
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description Combining large-area optical quasar surveys with the new far-infrared (FIR) Herschel-ATLAS Data Release 1, we search for an observational signature associated with the minority of quasars possessing bright FIR luminosities. We find that FIR-bright quasars show broad C IV emission-line blueshifts in excess of that expected from the optical luminosity alone, indicating particularly powerful nuclear outflows. The quasars show no signs of having redder optical colours than the general ensemble of optically selected quasars, ruling out differences in line-of-sight dust within the host galaxies. We postulate that these objects may be caught in a special evolutionary phase, with unobscured, high black hole accretion rates and correspondingly strong nuclear outflows. The high FIR emission found in these objects is then either a result of star formation related to the outflow, or is due to dust within the host galaxy illuminated by the quasar. We are thus directly witnessing coincident small-scale nuclear processes and galaxy-wide activity, commonly invoked in galaxy simulations that rely on feedback from quasars to influence galaxy evolution.
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spelling nottingham-451392020-05-04T18:49:45Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/45139/ Far-infrared emission in luminous quasars accompanied by nuclear outflows Maddox, Natasha Jarvis, M.J. Banerji, M. Hewett, P.C. Bourne, N. Dunne, L. Dye, S. Eales, S. Furlanetto, C. Maddox, S.J. Smith, M.W.L. Valiante, E. Combining large-area optical quasar surveys with the new far-infrared (FIR) Herschel-ATLAS Data Release 1, we search for an observational signature associated with the minority of quasars possessing bright FIR luminosities. We find that FIR-bright quasars show broad C IV emission-line blueshifts in excess of that expected from the optical luminosity alone, indicating particularly powerful nuclear outflows. The quasars show no signs of having redder optical colours than the general ensemble of optically selected quasars, ruling out differences in line-of-sight dust within the host galaxies. We postulate that these objects may be caught in a special evolutionary phase, with unobscured, high black hole accretion rates and correspondingly strong nuclear outflows. The high FIR emission found in these objects is then either a result of star formation related to the outflow, or is due to dust within the host galaxy illuminated by the quasar. We are thus directly witnessing coincident small-scale nuclear processes and galaxy-wide activity, commonly invoked in galaxy simulations that rely on feedback from quasars to influence galaxy evolution. Oxford University Press 2017-06-12 Article PeerReviewed Maddox, Natasha, Jarvis, M.J., Banerji, M., Hewett, P.C., Bourne, N., Dunne, L., Dye, S., Eales, S., Furlanetto, C., Maddox, S.J., Smith, M.W.L. and Valiante, E. (2017) Far-infrared emission in luminous quasars accompanied by nuclear outflows. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 470 (2). pp. 2314-2319. ISSN 1365-2966 surveys – galaxies: evolution – quasars: general – galaxies: star formation – infrared: galaxies https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article-lookup/doi/10.1093/mnras/stx1416 doi:10.1093/mnras/stx1416 doi:10.1093/mnras/stx1416
spellingShingle surveys – galaxies: evolution – quasars: general – galaxies: star formation – infrared: galaxies
Maddox, Natasha
Jarvis, M.J.
Banerji, M.
Hewett, P.C.
Bourne, N.
Dunne, L.
Dye, S.
Eales, S.
Furlanetto, C.
Maddox, S.J.
Smith, M.W.L.
Valiante, E.
Far-infrared emission in luminous quasars accompanied by nuclear outflows
title Far-infrared emission in luminous quasars accompanied by nuclear outflows
title_full Far-infrared emission in luminous quasars accompanied by nuclear outflows
title_fullStr Far-infrared emission in luminous quasars accompanied by nuclear outflows
title_full_unstemmed Far-infrared emission in luminous quasars accompanied by nuclear outflows
title_short Far-infrared emission in luminous quasars accompanied by nuclear outflows
title_sort far-infrared emission in luminous quasars accompanied by nuclear outflows
topic surveys – galaxies: evolution – quasars: general – galaxies: star formation – infrared: galaxies
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/45139/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/45139/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/45139/