Winds of change: The nuclear and galaxy-scale outflows and the X-ray variability of 2MASS 0918+2117

¹ Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia “Augusto Righi”, Università di Bologna, Via Gobetti 93/2, 40129 Bologna, Italy
² INAF – Osservatorio di Astrofisica e Scienza dello Spazio di Bologna, Via Gobetti 93/3, 40129 Bologna, Italy
³ Max-Planck-Institut für extraterrestrische Physik, Giessenbachstraße 1, 85748 Garching bei München, Germany
e-mail: baldini@mpe.mpg.de
⁴ Centro de Astrobiología (CAB), CSIC-INTA, Ctra. de Ajalvir km 4, Torrejón de Ardoz, 28850 Madrid, Spain
⁵ INAF – Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri, Largo Enrico Fermi 5, 50125 Firenze, Italy
⁶ Exzellenzcluster ORIGINS, Boltzmannstr. 2, 85748 Garching, Germany
⁷ MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, 70 Vassar Street, Cambridge, 02139 MA, USA
⁸ Quasar Science Resources SL for ESA, European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC), Science Operations Department, 28692 Villanueva de la Cañada, Madrid, Spain
⁹ INAF – Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali, Via del Fosso del Caveliere 100, 00133 Roma, Italy
¹⁰ INAF – Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma, Via Frascati 33, 00078 Monte Porzio Catone Roma, Italy
¹¹ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Clemson University, Kinard Lab of Physics, Clemson, SC 29634, USA
¹² Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland, College Park, 20742 MD, USA
¹³ Dipartimento di Fisica, Università degli Studi di Roma ‘Tor Vergata’, Via della Ricerca Scientifica 1, 00133 Roma, Italy
¹⁴ Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Roma ‘Tor Vergata’, Via della Ricerca Scientifica 1, 00133 Roma, Italy

Received: 22 December 2023
Accepted: 14 February 2024

Abstract

Context. In this work, we test feedback propagation models on the test case of 2MASS 0918+2117 (2M0918), a z = 0.149 X-ray variable AGN that shows tentative evidence for nuclear ultra-fast outflows (UFOs) in a 2005 XMM-Newton observation. We also investigate whether UFOs can be related to the observed X-ray variability.

Aims. We observed 2M0918 with XMM-Newton and NuSTAR in 2020 to confirm the presence of and characterize the UFOs. We performed a kinematic analysis of the publicly available 2005 SDSS optical spectrum to reveal and measure the properties of galaxy-scale ionized outflows. Furthermore, we constructed 20-year-long light curves of observed flux, line-of-sight column density, and intrinsic accretion rate from the spectra of the first four SRG/eROSITA all-sky surveys and archival observations from Chandra and XMM-Newton.

Methods. We detect UFOs with v ∼ 0.16c and galaxy-scale ionized outflows with velocities of ∼700 km s⁻¹. We also find that the drastic X-ray variability (factors > 10) can be explained in terms of variable obscuration and variable intrinsic luminosity.

Results. Comparing the energetics of the two outflow phases, 2M0918 is consistent with momentum-driven wind propagation. 2M0918 expands the sample of AGN with both UFOs and ionized gas winds from 5 to 6 and brings the sample of AGN hosting multiscale outflows to 19, contributing to a clearer picture of feedback physics. From the variations in accretion rate, column density, and ionization level of the obscuring medium, we propose a scenario that connects obscurers, an accretion enhancement, and the emergence of UFOs.