Jet-driven Galaxy-scale Gas Outflows in the Hyperluminous Quasar 3C 273

Abstract

We present an unprecedented view on the morphology and kinematics of the extended narrow-line region (ENLR) and molecular gas around the prototypical hyper-luminous quasar 3C273 (L∼10^47 erg/s at z=0.158) based on VLT-MUSE optical 3D spectroscopy and ALMA observations. We find that: 1) The ENLR size of 12.1±0.2kpc implies a smooth continuation of the size-luminosity relation out to large radii or a much larger break radius as previously proposed. 2) The kinematically disturbed ionized gas with line splits reaching 1000km/s out to 6.1±1.5kpc is aligned along the jet axis. 3) The extreme line broadening on kpc scales is caused by spatial and spectral blending of many distinct gas clouds separated on sub-arcsecond scales with different line-of-sight velocities. The ENLR velocity field combined with the known jet orientation rule out a simple scenario of a radiatively-driven radial expansion of the outflow. Instead we propose that a pressurized expanding hot gas cocoon created by the radio jet is impacting on an inclined gas disk leading to transverse and/or backflow motion with respect to our line-of-sight. The molecular gas morphology may either be explained by a density wave at the front of the outflow expanding along the jet direction as predicted by positive feedback scenario or the cold gas may be trapped in a stellar over-density caused by a recent merger event. Using 3C273 as a template for observations of high-redshift hyper-luminous AGN reveals that large-scale ENLRs and kpc scale outflows may often be missed due to the brightness of the nuclei and the limited sensitivity of current near-IR instrumentation.