Discovery of an X-Ray Quasar Wind Driving the Cold Gas Outflow in the Ultraluminous Infrared Galaxy IRAS F05189-2524

Abstract

We present new XMM-Newton and NuSTAR observations of the galaxy merger IRAS F05189-2524, which is classified as an ultraluminous infrared galaxy and optical Seyfert 2 at z  = 0.0426. We test a variety of spectral models that yield a best fit consisting of an absorbed power law with emission and absorption features in the Fe K band. Remarkably, we find evidence for a blueshifted Fe K absorption feature at E  = 7.8 keV (rest frame) which implies an ultrafast outflow (UFO) with v out  = 0.11 ± 0.01 c . We calculate that the UFO in IRAS F05189-2524 has a mass outflow rate of yr −1 , a kinetic power of 8% L AGN , and a momentum rate (or force) of . Comparing the energetics of the UFO to the observed multi-phase outflows at kiloparsec scales yields an efficiency factor of f  ∼ 0.05 for an energy-driven outflow. Given the uncertainties, however, we cannot exclude the possibility of a momentum-driven outflow. Comparing IRAS F05189-2524 with nine other objects with observed UFOs and large-scale galactic outflows suggests that there is a range of efficiency factors for the coupling of the energetics of the nuclear and galaxy-scale outflows that likely depend on specific physical conditions in each object.