The eROSITA Final Equatorial-Depth Survey (eFEDS). The first archetypal quasar in the feedback phase discovered by eROSITA
Abstract
Theoretical models of the co-evolution of galaxies and active galactic nuclei (AGNs) ascribe an important role in the feedback process to a short, luminous, obscured, and dust-enshrouded phase during which the accretion rate of the supermassive black hole is expected to be at its maximum and the associated AGN-driven winds are also predicted to be maximally developed. To test this scenario, we have isolated a textbook candidate from the eROSITA Final Equatorial-Depth Survey (eFEDS) obtained within the performance and verification program of the eROSITA telescope on board the Spectrum Röntgen Gamma mission. From an initial catalogue of 246 hard X-ray selected sources that are matched with the photometric and spectroscopic information available within the eROSITA and Hyper Suprime-Cam consortia, three candidates quasars in the feedback phase have been isolated applying a diagnostic proposed previously. Only one source (eFEDS J091157.4+014327) has a spectrum already available (from SDSS-DR16, z = 0.603) and it unambiguously shows abroad component (full width at half maximum ~1650 kms−1) in the [OIII]5007 line. The associated observed L[OIII] is ~2.6 × 1042 erg s−1, one to two orders of magnitude higher than that observed in local Seyfert galaxies and comparable to those observed in a sample of z ~ 0.5 type 1 quasars. From the multi-wavelength data available, we derive an Eddington ratio (Lbol/LEdd) of ~0.25 and a bolometric correction in the hard X-ray band of kbol ~ 10, which is lower than the corrections observed for objects at similar bolometric luminosity. These properties, along with the outflow, the high X-ray luminosity, the moderate X-ray obscuration (LX∽1044.8 erg s−1, NH∽2.7 × 1022 cm−2), and the red optical colour, all match the prediction of quasars in the feedback phase from merger-driven models. Forecasting to the full eROSITA all-sky survey with its spectroscopic follow-up, we predict that by the end of 2024, we will have a sample of few hundred such objects at z= 0.5-2.
- Publication:
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Astronomy and Astrophysics
- Pub Date:
- May 2022
- DOI:
- 10.1051/0004-6361/202141092
- arXiv:
- arXiv:2106.14525
- Bibcode:
- 2022A&A...661A...9B
- Keywords:
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- galaxies: active;
- X-rays: general;
- X-rays: individuals: eFEDS J091157.4+014327;
- ISM: jets and outflows;
- Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena;
- Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies
- E-Print:
- 11 pages, 6 figures, 2 tables. Resubmitted to A&