Letter to the Editor

The Close AGN Reference Survey (CARS)

Discovery of a global [C II] 158 μm line excess in AGN HE 1353−1917

¹ Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie, Königstuhl 17, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany
e-mail: smirnova@mpia.de
² I. Physikalisches Institut der Universität zu Köln, Züplicher Str. 77, 50937 Köln, Germany
³ Caltech/IPAC, 1200 E. California Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
⁴ Aix Marseille Univ., CNRS, CNES, LAM, Marseille, France
⁵ LERMA, Observatoire de Paris, PSL Research Univ., Collège de France, CNRS, Sorbonne Univ., UPMC, Paris, France
⁶ Sydney Institute for Astronomy, School of Physics, A28, The University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
⁷ School of Physics & Astronomy, Cardiff University, Queens Buildings, The Parade, Cardiff CF24 3AA, UK
⁸ Deutsches SOFIA Institut, Pfaffenwaldring 29, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany
⁹ Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University, 4 Ivy Lane, Princeton, NJ 08544-1001, USA
¹⁰ Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, The Australian National University, Cotter Road, Weston, ACT 2611, Australia
¹¹ SOFIA-USRA, NASA Ames Research Center, MS 232-12, Moffett Field, CA 94035, USA
¹² Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2, Canada
¹³ School of Physics & Astronomy, Rochester Institute of Technology, 84 Lomb Memorial Drive, Rochester, NY 14623, USA
¹⁴ Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía, Glorieta de las Astronomía s/n, 18008 Granada, Spain
¹⁵ Departamento de Física Teórica, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Zaragoza, 50009 Zaragoza, Spain
¹⁶ Gemini Observatory, Northern Operations Center, 670 N. A’ohoku Pl., Hilo, Hawaii 96720, USA
¹⁷ Center for Astrophysics, Harvard & Smithsonian, 60 Garden St., Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
¹⁸ Leibniz-Institut für Astrophysik Potsdam, An der Sternwarte 16, 14482 Potsdam, Germany

Received: 29 March 2019
Accepted: 29 April 2019

Abstract

The [C II]λ158 μm line is one of the strongest far-infrared (FIR) lines and an important coolant in the interstellar medium of galaxies that is accessible out to high redshifts. The excitation of [C II] is complex and can best be studied in detail at low redshifts. Here we report the discovery of the highest global [C II] excess with respect to the FIR luminosity in the nearby AGN host galaxy HE 1353−1917. This galaxy is exceptional among a sample of five targets because the AGN ionization cone and radio jet directly intercept the cold galactic disk. As a consequence, a massive multiphase gas outflow on kiloparsec scales is embedded in an extended narrow-line region. Because HE 1353−1917 is distinguished by these special properties from our four bright AGN, we propose that a global [C II] excess in AGN host galaxies could be a direct signature of a multiphase AGN-driven outflow with a high mass-loading factor.