Author ORCID Identifier
Calzadilla, Michael https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2238-2105 Gaspari, Massimo https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2754-9258 Gaensler, Bryan https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3382-9558 McKinley, Benjamin https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9006-1450 Shabala, Stanislav https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5064-0493
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
12-2021
Abstract
Supermassive black holes and supernova explosions at the centres of active galaxies power cycles of outflowing and inflowing gas that affect galactic evolution and the overall structure of the Universe(1,2). While simulations and observations show that this must be the case, the range of physical scales (over ten orders of magnitude) and paucity of available tracers make both the simulation and observation of these effects difficult(3,4). By serendipity, there lies an active galaxy, Centaurus A (NGC 5128)(5,6), at such a close proximity as to allow its observation over this entire range of scales and across the entire electromagnetic spectrum. In the radio band, however, details on scales of 10-100 kpc from the supermassive black hole have so far been obscured by instrumental limitations(7,8). Here we report low-frequency radio observations that overcome these limitations and show evidence for a broad, bipolar outflow with velocity of 1,100 km s(-1) and mass-outflow rate of 2.9 M-circle dot yr(-1) on these scales. We combine our data with the plethora of multiscale, multi-wavelength, historical observations of Centaurus A to probe a unified view of feeding and feedback, which we show to be consistent with the chaotic cold accretion self-regulation scenario(9,10).
Publication Source (Journal or Book title)
NATURE ASTRONOMY
Recommended Citation
McKinley, B., Tingay, S. J., Gaspari, M., Kraft, R. P., Matherne, C., Offringa, A. R., McDonald, M., Calzadilla, M. S., Veilleux, S., Shabala, S. S., Gwyn, S. D., Bland-Hawthorn, J., Crnojevic, D., Gaensler, B. M., & Johnston-Hollitt, M. (2021). Multi-scale feedback and feeding in the closest radio galaxy Centaurus A. NATURE ASTRONOMY https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-021-01553-3