AGN feedback and accretion in Perseus A

The Perseus Cluster is known as a famous observational example of (radio-mode) AGN feedback driven by the radio jet of the central galaxy Perseus A (NGC 1275, 3C 84). The feedback process is evident from observations of the intra-cluster medium showing X-ray bubbles filled with radio plasma. The radio jet generating these bubbles is powered by accretion onto the supermassive black hole in Perseus A. In this talk, I will present our results for the R <~ 50 pc molecular hydrogen disk around the supermassive black hole in Perseus A, based on near-infrared integral-field spectroscopy obtained with NIFS+ALTAIR (Gemini North).  The molecular hydrogen disk is interpreted as the outer parts of a turbulent, unstable accretion disk, possibly fed by one or more streamers of molecular hydrogen. Our data also show first indications of an ionization structure within the disk. The role of jet feedback and accretion in driving the shocks and turbulence in the molecular gas of Perseus A will be discussed as well as a new black-hole mass estimate derived from a model for the disk kinematics.

Date: 
24/10/2013 - 14:30
Speaker: 
Dr. Julia Scharwächter
Filiation: 
Observatoire de Paris, LERMA


Seminars