Resolving Turbulence Drivers in Two Luminous Obscured Quasars with JWST/NIRSpec Integral Field Unit
In this Letter, we investigate the turbulence and energy injection in the extended nebulae surrounding two luminous obscured quasars, WISEA J100211.29+013706.7 ( z = 1.5933) and SDSS J165202.64+172852.3 ( z = 2.9489). Utilizing high-resolution data from the NIRSpec integral field unit onboard the Ja...
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IOP Publishing
2025-01-01
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| Series: | The Astrophysical Journal Letters |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ad9bac |
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| author | Mandy C. Chen Hsiao-Wen Chen Michael Rauch Andrey Vayner Weizhe Liu David S. N. Rupke Jenny E. Greene Nadia L. Zakamska Dominika Wylezalek Guilin Liu Sylvain Veilleux Nicole P. H. Nesvadba Caroline Bertemes |
| author_facet | Mandy C. Chen Hsiao-Wen Chen Michael Rauch Andrey Vayner Weizhe Liu David S. N. Rupke Jenny E. Greene Nadia L. Zakamska Dominika Wylezalek Guilin Liu Sylvain Veilleux Nicole P. H. Nesvadba Caroline Bertemes |
| author_sort | Mandy C. Chen |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In this Letter, we investigate the turbulence and energy injection in the extended nebulae surrounding two luminous obscured quasars, WISEA J100211.29+013706.7 ( z = 1.5933) and SDSS J165202.64+172852.3 ( z = 2.9489). Utilizing high-resolution data from the NIRSpec integral field unit onboard the James Webb Space Telescope, we analyze the velocity fields of line-emitting gas in and around these quasars and construct the second-order velocity structure functions (VSFs) to quantify turbulent motions across different spatial scales. Our findings reveal a notable flattening in the VSFs from ≈ 3 kpc up to a scale of 10–20 kpc, suggesting that energy injection predominantly occurs at a scale ≲ 10 kpc, likely powered by quasar outflows and jet-driven bubbles. The extended spatial range of flat VSFs may also indicate the presence of multiple energy injection sources at these scales. For J1652, the turbulent energy in the host interstellar medium (ISM) is significantly higher than in tidally stripped gas, consistent with the expectation of active galactic nucleus (AGN) activities stirring up the host ISM. Compared to the VSFs observed on spatial scales of 10–50 kpc around lower-redshift UV-bright quasars, these obscured quasars exhibit higher turbulent energies in their immediate surroundings, implying different turbulence drivers between the ISM and halo-scale gas. Future studies with an expanded sample are essential to elucidate further the extent and the pivotal role of AGNs in shaping the gas kinematics of host galaxies and beyond. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-cb89d406ef184bffa7dced06917d61c2 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2041-8205 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | The Astrophysical Journal Letters |
| spelling | doaj-art-cb89d406ef184bffa7dced06917d61c22025-08-20T03:05:09ZengIOP PublishingThe Astrophysical Journal Letters2041-82052025-01-019782L1810.3847/2041-8213/ad9bacResolving Turbulence Drivers in Two Luminous Obscured Quasars with JWST/NIRSpec Integral Field UnitMandy C. Chen0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8739-3163Hsiao-Wen Chen1https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8813-4182Michael Rauch2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1690-3488Andrey Vayner3https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0710-3729Weizhe Liu4https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3762-7344David S. N. Rupke5https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1608-7564Jenny E. Greene6https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5612-3427Nadia L. Zakamska7https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6100-6869Dominika Wylezalek8https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2212-6045Guilin Liu9https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2390-7927Sylvain Veilleux10https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3158-6820Nicole P. H. Nesvadba11https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5783-6544Caroline Bertemes12https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6948-1485Cahill Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics , California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA; The Observatories of the Carnegie Institution for Science , 813 Santa Barbara Street, Pasadena, CA 91101, USA; Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics , The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USADepartment of Astronomy and Astrophysics , The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USAThe Observatories of the Carnegie Institution for Science , 813 Santa Barbara Street, Pasadena, CA 91101, USAIPAC/Caltech , 1200 E. California Boulevard, Pasadena, 91125, CA, USADepartment of Astronomy and Joint Space-Science Institute , University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USADepartment of Physics , Rhodes College, Memphis, TN 38112, USA; Zentrum für Astronomie der Universität Heidelberg , Astronomisches Rechen-Institut, Mönchhofstr 12-14, D-69120 Heidelberg, GermanyDepartment of Astrophysical Sciences , Princeton University, 4 Ivy Lane, Princeton, NJ 08544, USADepartment of Physics and Astronomy , Bloomberg Center, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA; Institute for Advanced Study , Princeton, NJ 08540, USAZentrum für Astronomie der Universität Heidelberg , Astronomisches Rechen-Institut, Mönchhofstr 12-14, D-69120 Heidelberg, GermanyCAS Key Laboratory for Research in Galaxies and Cosmology , Department of Astronomy, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, People’s Republic of China; School of Astronomy and Space Science , University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, People’s Republic of ChinaDepartment of Astronomy and Joint Space-Science Institute , University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USAUniversité de la Côte d’Azur , Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur, CNRS, Laboratoire Lagrange, Bd de l’Observatoire, CS 34229, Nice cedex 4 F-06304, FranceZentrum für Astronomie der Universität Heidelberg , Astronomisches Rechen-Institut, Mönchhofstr 12-14, D-69120 Heidelberg, GermanyIn this Letter, we investigate the turbulence and energy injection in the extended nebulae surrounding two luminous obscured quasars, WISEA J100211.29+013706.7 ( z = 1.5933) and SDSS J165202.64+172852.3 ( z = 2.9489). Utilizing high-resolution data from the NIRSpec integral field unit onboard the James Webb Space Telescope, we analyze the velocity fields of line-emitting gas in and around these quasars and construct the second-order velocity structure functions (VSFs) to quantify turbulent motions across different spatial scales. Our findings reveal a notable flattening in the VSFs from ≈ 3 kpc up to a scale of 10–20 kpc, suggesting that energy injection predominantly occurs at a scale ≲ 10 kpc, likely powered by quasar outflows and jet-driven bubbles. The extended spatial range of flat VSFs may also indicate the presence of multiple energy injection sources at these scales. For J1652, the turbulent energy in the host interstellar medium (ISM) is significantly higher than in tidally stripped gas, consistent with the expectation of active galactic nucleus (AGN) activities stirring up the host ISM. Compared to the VSFs observed on spatial scales of 10–50 kpc around lower-redshift UV-bright quasars, these obscured quasars exhibit higher turbulent energies in their immediate surroundings, implying different turbulence drivers between the ISM and halo-scale gas. Future studies with an expanded sample are essential to elucidate further the extent and the pivotal role of AGNs in shaping the gas kinematics of host galaxies and beyond.https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ad9bacAGN host galaxiesCircumgalactic mediumInterstellar medium |
| spellingShingle | Mandy C. Chen Hsiao-Wen Chen Michael Rauch Andrey Vayner Weizhe Liu David S. N. Rupke Jenny E. Greene Nadia L. Zakamska Dominika Wylezalek Guilin Liu Sylvain Veilleux Nicole P. H. Nesvadba Caroline Bertemes Resolving Turbulence Drivers in Two Luminous Obscured Quasars with JWST/NIRSpec Integral Field Unit The Astrophysical Journal Letters AGN host galaxies Circumgalactic medium Interstellar medium |
| title | Resolving Turbulence Drivers in Two Luminous Obscured Quasars with JWST/NIRSpec Integral Field Unit |
| title_full | Resolving Turbulence Drivers in Two Luminous Obscured Quasars with JWST/NIRSpec Integral Field Unit |
| title_fullStr | Resolving Turbulence Drivers in Two Luminous Obscured Quasars with JWST/NIRSpec Integral Field Unit |
| title_full_unstemmed | Resolving Turbulence Drivers in Two Luminous Obscured Quasars with JWST/NIRSpec Integral Field Unit |
| title_short | Resolving Turbulence Drivers in Two Luminous Obscured Quasars with JWST/NIRSpec Integral Field Unit |
| title_sort | resolving turbulence drivers in two luminous obscured quasars with jwst nirspec integral field unit |
| topic | AGN host galaxies Circumgalactic medium Interstellar medium |
| url | https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ad9bac |
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