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Powerful quasar outflow in a massive disc galaxy at z ~ 5

Published version
Peer-reviewed

Type

Article

Change log

Authors

Curtis, M 

Abstract

There is growing observational evidence of high-redshift quasars launching energetic, fast outflows, but the effects that these have on their host galaxies is poorly understood. We employ the moving-mesh code AREPO to study the feedback from a quasar that has grown to ~10 9 M⊙ by z ~ 5 and the impact that this has on its host galaxy. Our simulations use a super-Lagrangian refinement technique to increase the accuracy with which the interface of the quasar-driven wind and the surrounding gas is resolved.We find that the feedback injected in these simulations is less efficient at removing gas from the galaxy than in an identical simulation with no super-Lagrangian refinement. This leads to the growth of a massive, rotationally supported, star-forming disc, co-existing with a powerful quasar-driven outflow. The properties of our host galaxy, including the kinematical structure of the gaseous disc and of the outflow, are in good agreement with current observations. Upcoming ALMA and JWST observations will be an excellent test of our model and will provide further clues as to the variance in properties of high-redshift quasar hosts.

Description

Keywords

black hole physics, methods: numerical, cosmology: theory

Journal Title

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

1745-3925
1745-3933

Volume Title

457

Publisher

Oxford University Press
Sponsorship
Science and Technology Facilities Council (ST/L000725/1)
Science and Technology Facilities Council (ST/M007073/1)
European Research Council (638707)
STFC (ST/M007073/1)
Science and Technology Facilities Council (ST/P002315/1)
MC is supported by the STFC and DS acknowledges support by the ERC Starting Grant 638707 ‘Black holes and their host galaxies: co-evolution across cosmic time’. This work was performed on: DiRAC Darwin Supercomputer (University of Cambridge HPCS; Higher Education Funding Council for England and STFC); DiRAC Complexity system (University of Leicester IT Services; BIS National E-Infrastructure grant ST/K000373/1 and STFC DiRAC grant ST/K0003259/1); the COSMA Data Centric system (Durham University; BIS National E-infrastructure grant ST/K00042X/1, STFC grant ST/K00087X/1, DiRAC Operations grant ST/K003267/1 and Durham University). DiRAC is part of the National E-Infrastructure.