Gamma Rays from Fast Black-hole Winds

Ajello M, Baldini L, Ballet J, Barbiellini G, Bastieri D, Bellazzini R, Berretta A, Bissaldi E, Blandford RD, Bloom ED, Bonino R, Bruel P, Buson S, Cameron RA, Caprioli D, Caputo R, Cavazzuti E, Chartas G, Chen S, Cheung CC, Chiaro G, Costantin D, Cutini S, D'Ammando F, De La Torre Luque P, De Palma F, Desai A, Diesing R, Di Lalla N, Dirirsa F, Di Venere L, Dominguez A, Fegan SJ, Franckowiak A, Fukazawa Y, Funk S, Fusco P, Gargano F, Gasparrini D, Giglietto N, Giordano F, Giroletti M, Green D, Grenier IA, Guiriec S, Hartmann D, Horan D, Johannesson G, Karwin C, Kerr M, Kovacevic M, Kuss M, Larsson S, Latronico L, Lemoine-Goumard M, Li J, Liodakis I, Longo F, Loparco F, Lovellette MN, Lubrano P, Maldera S, Manfreda A, Marchesi S, Marcotulli L, Martí-Devesa G, Mazziotta MN, Mereu I, Michelson PF, Mizuno T, Monzani ME, Morselli A, Moskalenko IV, Negro M, Omodei N, Orienti M, Orlando E, Paliya V, Paneque D, Pei Z, Persic M, Pesce-Rollins M, Porter TA, Principe G, Racusin JL, Raino S, Rando R, Rani B, Razzano M, Reimer A, Reimer O, Saz Parkinson PM, Serini D, Sgro C, Siskind EJ, Spandre G, Spinelli P, Suson DJ, Tak D, Torres DF, Troja E, Wood K, Zaharijas G, Zrake J (2021)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2021

Journal

Book Volume: 921

Journal Issue: 2

DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/ac1bb2

Abstract

Massive black holes at the centers of galaxies can launch powerful wide-angle winds that, if sustained over time, can unbind the gas from the stellar bulges of galaxies. These winds may be responsible for the observed scaling relation between the masses of the central black holes and the velocity dispersion of stars in galactic bulges. Propagating through the galaxy, the wind should interact with the interstellar medium creating a strong shock, similar to those observed in supernovae explosions, which is able to accelerate charged particles to high energies. In this work we use data from the Fermi Large Area Telescope to search for the gamma-ray emission from galaxies with an ultrafast outflow (UFO): a fast (v similar to 0.1 c), highly ionized outflow, detected in absorption at hard X-rays in several nearby active galactic nuclei (AGN). Adopting a sensitive stacking analysis we are able to detect the average gamma-ray emission from these galaxies and exclude that it is due to processes other than UFOs. Moreover, our analysis shows that the gamma-ray luminosity scales with the AGN bolometric luminosity and that these outflows transfer similar to 0.04% of their mechanical power to gamma-rays. Interpreting the observed gamma-ray emission as produced by cosmic rays (CRs) accelerated at the shock front, we find that the gamma-ray emission may attest to the onset of the wind-host interaction and that these outflows can energize charged particles up to the transition region between galactic and extragalactic CRs.

Authors with CRIS profile

Involved external institutions

Clemson University United States (USA) (US) University of Pisa / Università di Pisa (UniPi) Italy (IT) University of Paris 4 - Paris-Sorbonne / Université paris IV Paris-Sorbonne France (FR) National Institute for Nuclear Physics / Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN) Italy (IT) Università degli Studi di Perugia Italy (IT) University of Bari Aldo Moro / Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro Italy (IT) Stanford University United States (USA) (US) École Polytechnique - Université Paris-Saclay France (FR) University of Chicago United States (USA) (US) National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) United States (USA) (US) Italian Space Agency / Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI) Italy (IT) College of Charleston (CofC) United States (USA) (US) U.S. Naval Research Laboratory United States (USA) (US) National Institute for Astrophysics / Istituto Nazionale Astrofisica (INAF) Italy (IT) University of Padua / Universita degli Studi di Padova Italy (IT) Università del Salento Italy (IT) University of Wisconsin - Madison United States (USA) (US) University of Savoy Mont Blanc / Université Savoie Mont Blanc France (FR) Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM) Spain (ES) Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) Germany (DE) Hiroshima University / 広島大学 Japan (JP) Max-Planck-Institut für Physik (Werner-Heisenberg-Institut, MPP) / Max Planck Institute for Physics Germany (DE) Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg Germany (DE) Royal Institute of Technology / Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan (KTH) Sweden (SE) University of Iceland (UI) / Háskóli Íslands Iceland (IS) Université Bordeaux 1, Sciences et Technologies France (FR) University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) China (CN) University of Turku / Turun yliopisto Finland (FI) INAF - Osservatorio astronomico di Bologna Italy (IT) Leopold-Franzens-Universität Innsbruck / University of Innsbruck Austria (AT) Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES) India (IN) University of California Santa Cruz United States (USA) (US) NYCB Real-Time Computing, Inc. United States (USA) (US) Purdue University Northwest / Purdue University Calumet United States (USA) (US) Spanish National Research Council / Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) Spain (ES) Praxis, Inc. United States (USA) (US)

How to cite

APA:

Ajello, M., Baldini, L., Ballet, J., Barbiellini, G., Bastieri, D., Bellazzini, R.,... Zrake, J. (2021). Gamma Rays from Fast Black-hole Winds. Astrophysical Journal, 921(2). https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ac1bb2

MLA:

Ajello, M., et al. "Gamma Rays from Fast Black-hole Winds." Astrophysical Journal 921.2 (2021).

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