A radio structure resolved at the deca-parsec scale in the radio-quiet quasar PDS 456 with an extremely powerful X-ray outflow
Artikel i vetenskaplig tidskrift, 2019

Active galactic nuclei (AGNs) accreting at rates close to the Eddington limit can host radiatively driven mildly relativistic outflows. Some of these X-ray absorbing but powerful outflows can produce strong shocks, resulting in a significant non-thermal emission. This outflow-driven radio emission might be detectable in the radio-quiet quasar PDS 456, as it has a bolometric luminosity that reaches the Eddington limit and a relativistic wide-aperture X-ray outflow with a kinetic power high enough to quench the star formation in its host galaxy. To investigate this possibility, we performed very-long-baseline interferometric (VLBI) observations of the quasar with the European VLBI Network (EVN) at 5 GHz. The full-resolution EVN image reveals two faint and diffuse radio components with a projected separation of about 20 pc and an average brightness temperature of around two million Kelvin. In relation to the optical submas-accuracy position measured by the Gaia mission, the two components are very likely on opposite sides of an undetected radio core. Thus, the VLBI structure at the deca-pc scale could be either a young jet or a bidirectional radio-emitting outflow, launched in the vicinity of a strongly accreting central engine. Two diffuse components at the hecto-pc scale, likely the relic radio emission from past AGN activity, are tentatively detected on each side in the low-resolution EVN image.

Radio continuum: galaxies

Quasars: individual: PDS 456

Galaxies: active

Författare

Jun Yang

Chinese Academy of Sciences

Chalmers, Rymd-, geo- och miljövetenskap, Onsala rymdobservatorium

Tao An

Chinese Academy of Sciences

Fang Zheng

Chinese Academy of Sciences

Willem A. Baan

Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON)

Chinese Academy of Sciences

Z. Paragi

Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe (JIVE)

P. Mohan

Chinese Academy of Sciences

Z. L. Zhang

Chinese Academy of Sciences

Xiang Liu

Chinese Academy of Sciences

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

0035-8711 (ISSN) 1365-2966 (eISSN)

Vol. 482 2 1701-1705

Ämneskategorier (SSIF 2011)

Astronomi, astrofysik och kosmologi

Atom- och molekylfysik och optik

Annan fysik

DOI

10.1093/mnras/sty2798

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Senast uppdaterat

2025-03-09