The Quasar Feedback Survey: Ionised Outflows in type 2 QSOs with MUSE data
Abstract
We study ionised gas properties in a sample of 18 luminous (log Lbol≥45 erg/s) obscured QSOs at 0.085<z<0.2 observed with VLT/MUSE as part of the multi-wavelength Quasar Feedback Survey (QFeedS) and with VLA at low- and high-resolution data. We compare the outflow-related quantities with values reported in the literature and investigate possible correlations between the outflows and other properties of the ionised gas such as the electron density. We adopt a non-parametric approach to characterise the ionised gas kinematics, traced by the [O III]5007 emission line, and use W80 measured from the unresolved nuclear spectra as a threshold to identify outflow-dominated spaxels. A qualitative comparison between the radio and the W80 maps shows that, in general, the peak of the radio coincides with the peak of the W80. The [O III]5007 is used as a proxy for the ionised gas mass, and the outflow-related properties are obtained in two different ways: the global, which uses flux-weighted velocities and radii; and the peak, relying on radial profiles. We correct the [O III]5007 flux for extinction using the Balmer decrement. We take advantage of the MUSE sensitivity and use the [Ar IV]4711,4740 doublet, only observable in the integrated r=1.5'' spectra, to measure the electron density in each galaxy. We obtain 500<ne[ cm−3]<27700, leading to 0.03<Ṁout/(M⊙ yr−1)<4.17 and 39<Ėkin/[erg/s]<42. Our results emphasise the importance of accurate ne determination, leading to a difference of ~1 dex in the outflow rates and kinetic powers. We observe a positive correlation between ne and Vout, interpreted as compression of the gas at higher velocities. This correlation should be further investigated at other luminosity and redshift ranges, but it can inform future outflow simulation studies.
Versions
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BibTeX
@misc{bianchin2026quasar,
title = {{The Quasar Feedback Survey: Ionised Outflows in type 2 QSOs with MUSE data}},
author = {M. Bianchin and C. M. Harrison and T. Costa and V. Mainieri and R. A. Riffel and G. Venturi and D. Kakkad and C. Ramos Almeida and P. H. Cezar and S. Ward and A. Girdhar and S. Molyneux and L. Ulivi and E. P. Farina and J. Mullaney and F. Arrigoni Battaia},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2608.08275},
eprint = {2608.08275},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.08275},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - The Quasar Feedback Survey: Ionised Outflows in type 2 QSOs with MUSE data
AU - M. Bianchin
AU - C. M. Harrison
AU - T. Costa
AU - V. Mainieri
AU - R. A. Riffel
AU - G. Venturi
AU - D. Kakkad
AU - C. Ramos Almeida
AU - P. H. Cezar
AU - S. Ward
AU - A. Girdhar
AU - S. Molyneux
AU - L. Ulivi
AU - E. P. Farina
AU - J. Mullaney
AU - F. Arrigoni Battaia
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/21
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2608.08275
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.08275
AB - We study ionised gas properties in a sample of 18 luminous (log L_bol≥45 erg/s) obscured QSOs at 0.085<z<0.2 observed with VLT/MUSE as part of the multi-wavelength Quasar Feedback Survey (QFeedS) and with VLA at low- and high-resolution data. We compare the outflow-related quantities with values reported in the literature and investigate possible correlations between the outflows and other properties of the ionised gas such as the electron density. We adopt a non-parametric approach to characterise the ionised gas kinematics, traced by the [O III]5007 emission line, and use W_80 measured from the unresolved nuclear spectra as a threshold to identify outflow-dominated spaxels. A qualitative comparison between the radio and the W_80 maps shows that, in general, the peak of the radio coincides with the peak of the W_80. The [O III]5007 is used as a proxy for the ionised gas mass, and the outflow-related properties are obtained in two different ways: the global, which uses flux-weighted velocities and radii; and the peak, relying on radial profiles. We correct the [O III]5007 flux for extinction using the Balmer decrement. We take advantage of the MUSE sensitivity and use the [Ar IV]4711,4740 doublet, only observable in the integrated r=1.5'' spectra, to measure the electron density in each galaxy. We obtain 500<n_e[ cm^−3]<27700, leading to 0.03<Ṁ_out/(M_⊙ yr^−1)<4.17 and 39<Ė_kin/[erg/s]<42. Our results emphasise the importance of accurate n_e determination, leading to a difference of ~1 dex in the outflow rates and kinetic powers. We observe a positive correlation between n_e and V_out, interpreted as compression of the gas at higher velocities. This correlation should be further investigated at other luminosity and redshift ranges, but it can inform future outflow simulation studies.
ER -