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The Powerful Black Hole Wind in the Luminous Quasar PDS 456

The Powerful Black Hole Wind in the Luminous Quasar PDS 456. James Reeves Astrophysics Group, Keele University & UMBC. in collaboration with: E. Nardini ( Keele ), J. Gofford ( Keele /UMBC) - M. Costa,

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The Powerful Black Hole Wind in the Luminous Quasar PDS 456

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  1. The Powerful Black Hole Wind in the Luminous Quasar PDS456 James Reeves Astrophysics Group, KeeleUniversity & UMBC in collaboration with: E. Nardini(Keele), J. Gofford(Keele/UMBC) - M. Costa, G. Matzeu(Keele) - V. Braito(Brera/ASI) - F. Harrison, D Walton (Caltech) - G. Risaliti(Arcetri/CfA), P.T. O’Brien (Leicester), E. Behar (Technion), G. Matt (Roma) T.J. Turner (UMBC), M. Ward (Durham) and NuSTAR team NuSTAR Special Session, High Energy Astrophysics Division Meeting, Chicago, August 17-21, 2014

  2. Black hole/host galaxy coevolution Jahnke & Macciò 2011 Kormendy & Ho 2013 AGN feedback is widely accepted as the underlying mechanism but… Hierarchical assembly through galaxy mergers might be equally relevant

  3. Powerful disc winds are naturally expected at high accretion rates: Maiolino+ 2012 King 2010 Tombesi+ 2010

  4. How powerful are disc winds actually? The mass-loss rate depends on the physical, dynamical and geometrical properties of the wind. The detection of narrow, blueshifted X-ray absorption lines does not provide on its own any solid constraint on its total energetics. • Solid angle:frequency of disc wind signatures among local AGN • Column density:modelling of absorption by photo-ionised gas • Outflow velocity: observed line’s energy following identification • Launch radius: ionisation state of the gas and escape velocity The geometrical structure has to be assumed rather than directly measured: it is therefore still unclear whether disc winds have sufficient mechanical energy to power feedback on galactic scales

  5. The new campaign: 5 simultaneous XMM + NuSTAR observations The possible Rosetta Stone: PDS456 PDS456 is the most luminous radio-quiet AGN in the local Universe (z < 0.3) Background: systematic detection of a deep trough above 7 keV rest-frame, occasionally resolved into a pair of individual absorption lines: evidence for a large column density of highly ionised matter outflowing gas at about one third of the speed of light. Ratio Reeves+ 2003 PDS456 is the ideal target for studying AGN winds in the Eddington-limited regime. Rest-frame energy (keV)

  6. The importance of a broadband view

  7. A persistent wide-angle wind The P-Cygni-like profile is resolved independently at any epoch (aperture > 50º from FWHM) The line apparently responds to continuum changes over ~7-10 days (see also Gofford+ 2014)

  8. Some (interesting) numbers All the critical information can now be determined from the data: 1. absorbed versus re-emitted luminosity 2. self-consistent photo-ionisation modelling 3. line energy and width 4. variability timescale A few per cent of the Eddington limit is already enough to prompt significant feedback on the host galaxy (e.g. Hopkins & Elvis 2010) For a wind lifetime of 107 yr the energy released through the accretion disc wind likely exceeds the binding energy of the bulge:

  9. Summary • PDS 456 is an exceptionally luminous AGN in the local Universe, yet • representative of an accreting SMBH during its quasar phase and thus • offering a unique view of the possible mechanism that links the growth • of the central black holes to the evolution of their host galaxies over • cosmic time. • The new campaign XMM + NuSTAR campaign allowed the first direct • measure of the mass-loss rate and total energetics of a disc outflow, • whose mechanical power is largely consistent with the requirements of • feedback models. • At the peak of the quasar epoch, such powerful winds would have • provided the energy and momentum to self-regulate the SMBH growth • and control the star formation in stellar bulges. • The present-day scaling relations are left as a record of this process. • Nardini+ (submitted)

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