Systemic search for gas outflows in AGNs and star-forming galaxies

  • Woo, Jong-Hak (Astronomy Program, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Seoul National University) ;
  • Son, Donghoon (Astronomy Program, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Seoul National University) ;
  • Bae, Hyun-Jin (Astronomy Program, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Seoul National University)
  • Published : 2016.04.12

Abstract

We present a census of AGN-driven gas outflows based on the kinematics of ionized gas and stars, using a large sample of ~11,000 emission line galaxies at z < 0.3, selected from SDSS. First, a broad correlation between gas and stellar velocity dispersions indicates that the bulge gravitational potential plays a main role in determining the ionized gas kinematics. However, the velocity dispersion of the [OIII] emission line is larger than stellar velocity dispersion by a factor of 1.3-1.4, suggesting that the non-gravitational (non-virial) component, i.e., outflows, is almost comparable to the gravitational component. Second, gas-to-stellar velocity dispersion ratio increases with both AGN luminosity and Eddington ratio, suggesting that non-gravitational kinematics are clearly linked to AGN accretion. The distribution in the [OIII] velocity - velocity dispersion diagram dramatically expands toward large values with increasing AGN luminosity, implying that the launching velocity of gas outflows increases with AGN luminosity. Third, the fraction of AGNs with a signature of the non-gravitational kinematics, steeply increases with AGN luminosity and Eddington ratio, while the majority of luminous AGNs presents the non-gravitational kinematics in the [OIII] profile. These results suggest that ionized gas outflows are prevalent among type 2 AGNs. On the other hand, we find no strong trend of the [OIII] kinematics with radio luminosity, once we remove the effect of the bulge gravitational potential, indicating that ionized gas outflows are not directly related to radio activity for the majority of type 2 AGNs. We will discuss the implication of these results for AGN feedback in the local universe.

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