Black-hole-triggered star formation in the dwarf galaxy Henize 2-10

Article

关键词: HOST GALAXIES;    AGN;    CLASSIFICATION;    EMISSION;    SPECTROSCOPY;    ACCRETION;    FEEDBACK;    GAS;   

DOI  :  10.1038/s41586-021-04215-6

来源: SCIE

【 摘 要 】

Black-hole-driven outflows have been observed in some dwarf galaxies with active galactic nuclei(1), and probably play a role in heating and expelling gas (thereby suppressing star formation), as they do in larger galaxies(2). The extent to which black-hole outflows can trigger star formation in dwarf galaxies is unclear, because work in this area has previously focused on massive galaxies and the observational evidence is scarce(3-5). Henize 2-10 is a dwarf starburst galaxy previously reported to have a central massive black hole(6-9), although that interpretation has been disputed because some aspects of the observational evidence are also consistent with a supernova remnant(10,11). At a distance of approximately 9 Mpc, it presents an opportunity to resolve the central region and to determine if there is evidence for a black-hole outflow influencing star formation. Here we report optical observations of Henize 2-10 with a linear resolution of a few parsecs. We find an approximately 150-pc-long ionized filament connecting the region of the black hole with a site of recent star formation. Spectroscopy reveals a sinusoid-like position-velocity structure that is well described by a simple precessing bipolar outflow. We conclude that this black-hole outflow triggered the star formation.

【 授权许可】

Free