Bubbles, Bow-Shocks, and Bullets over Broad-lines: Three Ionized Outflows Resolved with HST

Abstract

HST images and spectra of high-velocity outflows from three AGN: (1) Show 5 arcsec -long bow shock/Mach disk complexes at the ends of the active radio jet in NGC 4258. We argue that the jet has precessed to its current orientation seen at VLBI-scales. (2) Fully resolve [O III]5007Å and H beta line profiles in the NLR of NGC 1068, and show compact knots with blueshifted radial velocities >3100 km s-1 relative to ambient gas. The knots lie several arcseconds outside the nucleus, on and away from the radio jet, and are kinematically contiguous with brighter clouds moving 200-800 km s-1 relative to systemic. We argue that the knots are ablata streams undergoing radiative acceleration from jet-agitated, massive clouds. They are good candidates for ``intrinsic UV absorbers" seen in other AGN . (3) Resolve many of the filaments that form the 1 kpc-diameter superbubble of NGC 3079. Combining with ground-based Fabry-Perot spectra, we constrain gas densities, gas filling factors, and space velocities, thereby bounding the total ionized mass, momentum, and KE of this wide-angle outflow. The broadest emission line profiles lie at the base of the superbubble, and coincide with the axis of the VLBI-scale jet. However, the bulk of the superbubble, by its resemblance to hydro simulations and by its pattern of magnetic fields, appears to be inflated by a nuclear wind of mechanical luminosity 10^43 erg s-1.