MeerKAT

Abstract:

Accretion of matter onto black holes is universally associated with strong radiative feedback and powerful outflows. In particular, black-hole transients have outflows whose properties are strongly coupled to those of the accretion flow. This includes X-ray winds of ionized material, expelled from the accretion disk encircling the black hole, and collimated radio jets. Very recently, a distinct optical variability pattern has been reported in the transient stellar-mass black hole V404 Cygni, and interpreted as disrupted mass flow into the inner regions of its large accretion disk. Here we report observations of a sustained outer accretion disk wind in V404 Cyg, which is unlike any seen hitherto. We find that the outflowing wind is neutral, has a large covering factor, expands at one per cent of the speed of light and triggers a nebular phase once accretion drops sharply and the ejecta become optically thin. The large expelled mass (>10(-8) solar masses) indicates that the outburst was prematurely ended when a sizeable fraction of the outer disk was depleted by the wind, detaching the inner regions from the rest of the disk. The luminous, but brief, accretion phases shown by transients with large accretion disks imply that this outflow is probably a fundamental ingredient in regulating mass accretion onto black holes.

Abstract:

We report the discovery of new, high-velocity narrow-line components of the OH megamaser in IRAS 20100−4156. Results from the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP)'s Boolardy Engineering Test Array (BETA) and the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) provide two independent measurements of the OH megamaser spectrum. We found evidence for OH megamaser clumps at −409 and −562 km s−1 (blue-shifted) from the systemic velocity of the galaxy, in addition to the lines previously known. The presence of such high velocities in the molecular emission from IRAS 20100−4156 could be explained by a ∼50 pc molecular ring enclosing a ∼3.8 billion solar mass black hole. We also discuss two alternatives, i.e. that the narrow-line masers are dynamically coupled to the wind driven by the active galactic nucleus or they are associated with two separate galactic nuclei. The comparison between the BETA and ATCA spectra provides another scientific verification of ASKAP's BETA. Our data, combined with previous measurements of the source enabled us to study the variability of the source over a 26 yr period. The flux density of the brightest OH maser components has reduced by more than a factor of 2 between 1988 and 2015, whereas a secondary narrow-line component has more than doubled in the same time. Plans for high-resolution very long baseline interferometry follow-up of this source are discussed, as are prospects for discovering new OH megamasers during the ASKAP early science programme.

Abstract:

We have discovered a previously unreported poor cluster of galaxies (RGZ-CL J0823.2+0333) through an unusual giant wide-angle tail radio galaxy found in the Radio Galaxy Zoo project. We obtained a spectroscopic redshift of z = 0.0897 for the E0-type host galaxy, 2MASX J08231289+0333016, leading to Mr = −22.6 and a 1.4 GHz radio luminosity density of L1.4 = 5.5 × 1024 W Hz−1. These radio and optical luminosities are typical for wide-angle tailed radio galaxies near the borderline between Fanaroff–Riley classes I and II. The projected largest angular size of ≈8 arcmin corresponds to 800 kpc and the full length of the source along the curved jets/trails is 1.1 Mpc in projection. X-ray data from the XMM–Newton archive yield an upper limit on the X-ray luminosity of the thermal emission surrounding RGZ J082312.9+033301 at 1.2–2.6 × 1043 erg s−1 for assumed intracluster medium temperatures of 1.0–5.0 keV. Our analysis of the environment surrounding RGZ J082312.9+033301 indicates that RGZ J082312.9+033301 lies within a poor cluster. The observed radio morphology suggests that (a) the host galaxy is moving at a significant velocity with respect to an ambient medium like that of at least a poor cluster, and that (b) the source may have had two ignition events of the active galactic nucleus with 107 yr in between. This reinforces the idea that an association between RGZ J082312.9+033301 and the newly discovered poor cluster exists.