Gas outflows from the z = 7.54 quasar: predictions from the BLUETIDES simulation
Abstract
Many theoretical models predict that quasar-driven outflows account for the observed quenching of star formation in massive galaxies. There is growing observational evidence for quasar-launched massive outflows at z > 6, while the details of outflow-host galaxy interaction remain obscure. In this paper, we study the feedback around the highest redshift quasar in the BLUETIDES simulation, the largest volume cosmological hydrodynamic simulation so far carried out. We present predictions for gas outflows around the brightest z = 7.54 quasar that hosts the most massive black hole in the simulation volume, which has grown to black hole mass 6.7× 108 M_⊙ consistent with the current record holder for high-z quasars. We introduce a method to identify and trace the gas outflowing from the halo. We find that the total mass of the outflow gas is about 3.6× 109 M_⊙, constituting 6 per cent of the total gas in the halo. The outflow gas contains a cold, dense molecular component with mass about 2.6× 108 M_⊙, which originates from the inner region of the halo, within a few kpc of the central black hole. The velocities of the outflow gas reach thousands of km s-1, within which the molecular component has mass averaged outward radial velocity of 1300 km s-1, consistent with observations. The averaged outflow rate is about 200-300 M_⊙ yr^{-1}, with the outflowing gas mainly in a hotter (T ∼ 107 K) and lower density state than the average of the host halo gas.
- Publication:
-
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Pub Date:
- December 2018
- DOI:
- 10.1093/mnras/sty2616
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1806.00184
- Bibcode:
- 2018MNRAS.481.4877N
- Keywords:
-
- methods: numerical;
- galaxies: evolution;
- quasars: general;
- Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies;
- Astrophysics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
- E-Print:
- 8 pages, 7 figures, submitted to MNRAS