Unveiling the warm molecular outflow component of type-2 quasars with SINFONI

¹ SISSA, Via Bonomea 265, I-34136 Trieste, Italy
² INAF - Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri, Largo E. Fermi 5, 50125 Firenze, Italy
³ INAF Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste, via G.B. Tiepolo 11, 34143 Trieste, Italy
⁴ Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, Calle Vía Láctea, s/n, 38205 La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain
⁵ Departamento de Astrofísica, Universidad de La Laguna, 38206 La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain
⁶ Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Alaska Anchorage, Anchorage, AK 99508-4664, USA
⁷ Department of Physics, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, Alaska 99775-5920, USA
⁸ Department of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Texas at San Antonio, 1 UTSA Circle, San Antonio, Texas 78249-0600, USA
⁹ IFPU - Institute for fundamental physics of the Universe, Via Beirut 2, 34014 Trieste, Italy
¹⁰ INAF, Istituto di Radioastronomia, Italian ARC, Via Piero Gobetti 101, I-40129 Bologna, Italy
¹¹ INFN, Sezione di Trieste, via Valerio 2, Trieste I-34127, Italy
¹² Astrophysics Research Cluster, School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S3 7RH, UK

^⋆ Corresponding author; mazanch@sissa.it, maria.zancttin@inaf.it

Received: 29 November 2024
Accepted: 17 February 2025

Abstract

We present seeing-limited (0.8″) near-infrared integral field spectroscopy data of the type-2 quasars, QSO2s, SDSS J135646.10+102609.0 (J1356) and SDSS J143029.89+133912.1 (J1430, the Teacup), both belonging to the Quasar Feedback, QSOFEED, sample. The nuclear K-band spectra (1.95–2.45 μm) of these radio-quiet QSO2s reveal several H₂ emission lines, indicative of the presence of a warm molecular gas reservoir (T ≥ 1000 K). We measure nuclear masses of M_H2 = 5.9, 4.1, and 1.5 × 10³ M_⊙ in the inner 0.8″ diameter region of the Teacup (∼1.3 kpc), J1356 north (J1356N), and south nuclei (∼1.8 kpc), respectively. The total warm H₂ mass budget is ∼4.5 × 10⁴ M_⊙ in the Teacup and ∼1.3 × 10⁴ M_⊙ in J1356N, implying warm-to-cold molecular gas ratios of 10⁻⁶. The warm molecular gas kinematics, traced with the H₂1-0S(1) and S(2) emission lines, is consistent with that of the cold molecular phase, traced by ALMA CO emission at higher angular resolution (0.2″ and 0.6″). In J1430, we detect the blue- and red-shifted sides of a compact warm molecular outflow extending up to 1.9 kpc and with velocities of 450 km s⁻¹. In J1356 only the red-shifted side is detected, with a radius of up to 2.0 kpc and velocity of 370 km s⁻¹. The outflow masses are 2.6 and 1.5 × 10³ M_⊙ for the Teacup and J1356N, and the warm-to-cold gas ratios in the outflows are 0.8 and 1 × 10⁻⁴, implying that the cold molecular phase dominates the mass budget. We measure warm molecular mass outflow rates of 6.2 and 2.9 × 10⁻⁴ M_⊙ yr⁻¹ for the Teacup and J1356N, which are approximately 0.001% of the total mass outflow rate (ionized + cold and warm molecular). We find an enhancement of velocity dispersion in the H₂1-0S(1) residual dispersion map of the Teacup, both along and perpendicular to the compact radio jet direction. This enhanced turbulence can be reproduced by simulations of jet-ISM interactions.