The paper, “Structured ionized winds shooting out from a quasar at relativistic speeds,” by Dr. Hagino has been published online in Nature. In this paper, utilizing the excellent X-ray spectroscopic capability of the X-ray satellite XRISM, we discovered for the first time an unexpectedly complex velocity structure in the ultrafast outflow from the supermassive black hole PDS 456, expelling heavy ions with velocities of 30% of the speed of light. This complex velocity structure indicates a highly inhomogeneous clumpy structure of the outflow, in contrast to the previous assumption of a homogeneous flow. Considering this clumpy structure, the kinetic power of the outflow is much larger than previously estimated and cannot be explained by the current theoretical model of the co-evolution of galaxies and black holes. This is a very important result, with a great impact on the greatest mystery in astrophysics: coevolution.
The online paper is available from this link. We also have press release from JAXA and from U.Tokyo.