Radio Galaxy 3C 230 Observed with Gemini Laser Adaptive-optics Integral-field Spectroscopy

Abstract

The Altair laser-guide-star adaptive optics facility combined with the near-infrared integral-field spectrometer on Gemini North have been employed to study the morphology and kinematics of 3C 230 at z = 1.5, the first such observations of a high-redshift radio galaxy. These suggest a bi-polar outflow spanning 0farcs9 (~16 kpc projected distance for a standard Λ CDM cosmology) reaching a mean relative velocity of 235 km s^-1 in redshifted Hα +[N II] and [S II] emission. Structure is resolved to 0farcs1 (0.8 kpc), which is well correlated with optical images from the Hubble Space Telescope and Very Large Array radio maps obtained at similar spatial resolution. Line diagnostics suggest that over the 10⁷ yr to 10⁸ yr duration of its active galactic nucleus activity, gas has been ejected into bright turbulent lobes at rates comparable to star formation, although constituting perhaps only 1% of the baryonic mass in the galaxy.