The Close AGN Reference Survey (CARS)

A parsec-scale multi-phase outflow in the super-Eddington NLS1 Mrk 1044

¹ Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie, Königstuhl 17, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany
e-mail: winkel@mpia.de
² Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2, Canada
³ Physics Department, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CA 93407, USA
⁴ LERMA, Observatoire de Paris, PSL Univ., Collège de France, CNRS, Sorbonne Univ., Paris, France
⁵ Cardiff Hub for Astrophysics Research & Technology, School of Physics & Astronomy, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF24 3AA, UK
⁶ Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University, 4 Ivy Lane, Princeton, NJ 08544-1001, USA
⁷ School of Mathematics and Physics, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia
⁸ Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (IAA-CSIC), Glorieta de la Astronomía s/n, 18008 Granada, Spain
⁹ Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Zaragoza, Pedro Cerbuna 12, 50009 Zaragoza, Spain
¹⁰ School of Sciences, European University Cyprus, Diogenes Street, Engomi, 1516 Nicosia, Cyprus

Received: 29 July 2022
Accepted: 10 November 2022

Abstract

Context. The interaction between active galactic nuclei (AGNs) and their host galaxies is scarcely resolved. Narrow-line Seyfert 1 (NLS1) galaxies are believed to represent AGN at early stages of their evolution and to allow one to observe feeding and feedback processes at high black hole accretion rates.

Aims. We aim to constrain the properties of the ionised gas outflow in Mrk 1044, a nearby super-Eddington accreting NLS1. Based on the outflow energetics and the associated timescales, we estimate the outflow’s future impact on the ongoing host galaxy star formation on different spatial scales.

Methods. We applied a spectroastrometric analysis to observations of Mrk 1044’s nucleus obtained with the adaptive-optics-assisted narrow field mode of the VLT/MUSE instrument. This allowed us to map two ionised gas outflows traced by [O III], which have velocities of −560 ± 20 km s⁻¹ and −144 ± 5 km s⁻¹. Furthermore, we used an archival spectrum from the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph on HST to identify two Ly-α absorbing components that escape from the centre with approximately twice the velocity of the ionised gas components.

Results. Both [O III] outflows are spatially unresolved and located close to the AGN (< 1 pc). They have gas densities higher than 10⁵ cm⁻³, which implies that the BPT diagnostic cannot be used to constrain the underlying ionisation mechanism. We explore whether an expanding shell model can describe the velocity structure of Mrk 1044’s multi-phase outflow. In the ionised gas emission, an additional outflowing component, which is spatially resolved, is present. It has a velocity of −211 ± 22 km s⁻¹ and a projected size of 4.6 ± 0.6 pc. Our kinematic analysis suggests that significant turbulence is present in the interstellar medium around the nucleus, which may lead to a condensation rain, potentially explaining the efficient feeding of Mrk 1044’s AGN. Within the innermost 0.5″ (160 pc), we detect modest star formation hidden by the beam-smeared emission from the outflow.

Conclusions. We estimate that the multi-phase outflow was launched < 10⁴ yr ago. Together with the star formation in the vicinity of the nucleus, this suggests that Mrk 1044’s AGN phase started only recently. The outflow carries enough mass and energy to impact the host galaxy star formation on different spatial scales, highlighting the complexity of the AGN feeding and feedback cycle in its early stages.