A MAGNHIFFIC cold-gas filament fuelling the nuclear activity of NGC 3100
Abstract
MAGNHIFFIC (MeerKAT AGN HI Feeding & Feedback Investigation close-by) leverages on sensitive MeerKAT 21-cm and VLT Survey Telescope (VST) observations of nearby Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) to study feeding and feedback from the circum-nuclear (≲ 1 kpc) to the circum-galactic scales (≳ 10 kpc). In nearby (D∼38~Mpc) radio galaxy NGC 3100, these observations reveal, for the very first time, a starless filament of neutral atomic hydrogen (MH hskip 0.02cm tt I∼ 3.4× 108 M⊙) extending from its outskirts (∼ 340 kpc) down to its innermost kiloparsecs. The kinematical properties of the filament show it likely formed by gas stripped from dwarf galaxy MKT095931-312323, flying by NGC 3100 ≳ 0.5 Gyr ago. The filament appears to replenish the cold-gas reservoir of NGC 3100's circum-nuclear disk traced by archival 12CO images as well as by HI absorption. The kinematics of the HI absorption and of the 12CO(3--2) show that, in the very centre, the jets are currently stirring the multi-phase gas while dense clouds may still fall into the SMBH. The coexistence of a surviving cold reservoir, compact inner atomic/molecular clouds, and localised jet-driven heating indicates that AGN feeding and feedback operate simultaneously rather than as separate evolutionary phases.
Related
- Large-Scale Stellar Bars and Nuclear Activity in Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 Galaxies
- Large-scale Stellar Bars and Nuclear Activity in Narrow-line Seyfert 1 Galaxies
- Multiphase Analysis of (U)LIRG Nuclear Activity (MAUNA). I. Spatially Resolved Optical Emission-Line Diagnostics
- Connectivity rewiring and filament formation by active region emergence observed with Solar Orbiter
- Insights into the Kinematic Evolution of Filament-Induced Jets: Coupling of Interchange and Flare Reconnection
BibTeX
@misc{maccagni2026magnhiffic,
title = {{A MAGNHIFFIC cold-gas filament fuelling the nuclear activity of NGC 3100}},
author = {F. M. Maccagni and I. Prandoni and F. Fonzo and J. Healy and A. Loni and R. Ragusa and I. Ruffa and W. J. G. de Blok and M. Gaspari and P. Serra and F. Barbani and E. Iodice and D. Kleiner and M. Spavone},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.34071},
eprint = {2610.34071},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.34071},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - A MAGNHIFFIC cold-gas filament fuelling the nuclear activity of NGC 3100
AU - F. M. Maccagni
AU - I. Prandoni
AU - F. Fonzo
AU - J. Healy
AU - A. Loni
AU - R. Ragusa
AU - I. Ruffa
AU - W. J. G. de Blok
AU - M. Gaspari
AU - P. Serra
AU - F. Barbani
AU - E. Iodice
AU - D. Kleiner
AU - M. Spavone
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/25
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.34071
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.34071
AB - MAGNHIFFIC (MeerKAT AGN HI Feeding & Feedback Investigation close-by) leverages on sensitive MeerKAT 21-cm and VLT Survey Telescope (VST) observations of nearby Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) to study feeding and feedback from the circum-nuclear (≲ 1 kpc) to the circum-galactic scales (≳ 10 kpc). In nearby (D∼38~Mpc) radio galaxy NGC 3100, these observations reveal, for the very first time, a starless filament of neutral atomic hydrogen (M_H hskip 0.02cm tt I∼ 3.4× 10^8 M_⊙) extending from its outskirts (∼ 340 kpc) down to its innermost kiloparsecs. The kinematical properties of the filament show it likely formed by gas stripped from dwarf galaxy MKT095931-312323, flying by NGC 3100 ≳ 0.5 Gyr ago. The filament appears to replenish the cold-gas reservoir of NGC 3100's circum-nuclear disk traced by archival ^12CO images as well as by HI absorption. The kinematics of the HI absorption and of the ^12CO(3--2) show that, in the very centre, the jets are currently stirring the multi-phase gas while dense clouds may still fall into the SMBH. The coexistence of a surviving cold reservoir, compact inner atomic/molecular clouds, and localised jet-driven heating indicates that AGN feeding and feedback operate simultaneously rather than as separate evolutionary phases.
ER -