Quasar radiation transforms the gas in a merging companion galaxy
The result's identifiers
Result code in IS VaVaI
<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F67985815%3A90106%2F25%3A00646716" target="_blank" >RIV/67985815:90106/25:00646716 - isvavai.cz</a>
Result on the web
<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-08966-4" target="_blank" >https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-08966-4</a>
DOI - Digital Object Identifier
<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-08966-4" target="_blank" >10.1038/s41586-025-08966-4</a>
Alternative languages
Result language
angličtina
Original language name
Quasar radiation transforms the gas in a merging companion galaxy
Original language description
Quasars, powered by gas accretion onto supermassive black holes1,2, rank among the most energetic objects in the Universe3,4. Although they are thought to be ignited by galaxy mergers5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10-11 and affect the surrounding gas12, 13, 14-15, observational constraints on both processes remain scarce16, 17-18. Here we describe a major merging system at redshift z approximate to 2.7 and demonstrate that radiation from the quasar in one galaxy directly alters the gas properties in the other galaxy. Our findings reveal that the galaxies, with centroids separated by only a few kiloparsecs and approaching each other at a speed of approximately 550 km s-1, are massive, are forming stars and contain a substantial molecular mass. Yet, dusty molecular gas seen in absorption against the quasar nucleus is highly excited and confined within cloudlets with densities of approximately 105 to 106 cm-3 and sizes of less than 0.02 pc, several orders of magnitude more compact than those observed in intervening (non-quasar) environments. This is also approximately 105 times smaller than currently resolvable through molecular-line emission at high redshifts. We infer that, wherever it is exposed to the quasar radiation, the molecular gas is disrupted, leaving behind surviving dense clouds too small to give birth to new stars. Our results not only underscore the role of major galaxy mergers in triggering quasar activity but also reveal localized negative feedback as a profound alteration of the internal gas structure, which probably hampers star formation.
Czech name
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Czech description
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Classification
Type
J<sub>imp</sub> - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database
CEP classification
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OECD FORD branch
10308 - Astronomy (including astrophysics,space science)
Result continuities
Project
—
Continuities
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Others
Publication year
2025
Confidentiality
S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů
Data specific for result type
Name of the periodical
Nature
ISSN
0028-0836
e-ISSN
1476-4687
Volume of the periodical
641
Issue of the periodical within the volume
8065
Country of publishing house
GB - UNITED KINGDOM
Number of pages
5
Pages from-to
1137-1141
UT code for WoS article
001492543600001
EID of the result in the Scopus database
2-s2.0-105005594389