J/A+A/705/A240 Signatures of AGN outflows in X-rays (Laurenti+, 2026)
A song of lines and winds: Tracing the signatures of AGN outflows in X-rays.
Laurenti M., Tombesi F., Condo P., Gaspari M., Nicastro F., Torresi E.,
Luminari A., Piconcelli E., Zappacosta L., Fukumura K., Lanzuisi G.,
Serafinelli R., Dadina M., Cappi M., Middei R., Arevalo Gonzalez F.,
Di Salvo F.
<Astron. Astrophys. 705, A240 (2026)>
=2026A&A...705A.240L 2026A&A...705A.240L (SIMBAD/NED BibCode)
ADC_Keywords: Active gal. nuclei ; X-ray sources ; Gamma rays
Keywords: radiative transfer - galaxies: active - quasars: general -
quasars: supermassive black holes
Abstract:
Ultra-fast outflows (UFOs) are highly ionized, mildly relativistic
winds seen in the X-ray spectra of active galactic nuclei (AGN) and
are thought to contribute to AGN feedback and galaxy evolution. We
investigate UFO signatures by analyzing a broad collection of
published detections. Our final sample comprises 122 robust
(>2σ) UFO detections in 57 AGN, spanning wide ranges in
redshift, luminosity, black hole mass, and Eddington ratio. By
combining phenomenological and photoionization modeling of the
absorption features, we characterize empirical correlations among UFO
properties. We find that line width, equivalent width, and outflow
velocity are positively correlated, indicating that the broadest and
strongest absorption lines trace the fastest winds, although the
υ-σ trend is comparatively weak. The large inferred
velocity dispersions, often exceeding the uncertainty on the centroid
velocity, must be included when estimating wind energetics and scaling
relations. From the velocity constraints we derive lower limits on the
launching radii, finding a minimum distance consistent with the
innermost stable circular orbit of a weakly or non-rotating
Schwarzschild black hole. We also assess for the first time how UFO
properties depend on AGN class: differences between Seyferts and
quasars, bridged by narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies, appear to be
driven mainly by black hole mass and luminosity. The observed
co-variation of velocity, width, and equivalent width supports a
picture of clumpy, multi-component winds propagating through a
thermally unstable multiphase medium within the chaotic cold accretion
cycle, and is consistent with both magnetically and line-driven
acceleration. High-resolution X-ray spectroscopy with missions such as
XRISM and NewAthena will be crucial to resolve the structure,
kinematics, and physical origin of these flows.
Description:
We present here the tables describing the dataset of 122 UFO
detections for a total of 57 AGNs used in our work.
tableA1.dat includes the comprehensive AGN list with their main
general properties.
tableA2.dat contains the journal of observations with UFO detections.
The absorption line properties are reported alongside the wind
properties. Whenever a parameter is unconstrained (upper/lower limit)
or is fixed, the corresponding uncertainties are set to zero.
File Summary:
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FileName Lrecl Records Explanations
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ReadMe 80 . This file
tablea1.dat 106 57 Comprehensive AGN list with their main general
properties
tableb1.dat 196 122 Journal of observations with UFO detections
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Byte-by-byte Description of file: tablea1.dat
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Bytes Format Units Label Explanations
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1- 2 I2 --- AGN [1/57] Unique AGN identifier
4- 21 A18 --- Name AGN name
23- 28 F6.2 deg RAdeg Right ascension (J2000.0)
30- 35 F6.2 deg DEdeg Declination (J2000.0)
37- 41 F5.2 10+20cm-2 NHgal Galactic neutral HI column density from
HI4PI full-sky map (HI4PI Collab. 2016)
43- 47 F5.3 --- z Redshift
49- 52 A4 [Msun] logMBH Logarithm of the black hole mass
54- 57 F4.1 [10-7W] logLbol Logarithm of the bolometric luminosity
59- 62 F4.1 --- logLambEdd Logarithm of the Eddington ratio
64-102 A39 --- Ref Bibliographic reference(s) for the adopted
z, logMBH, logLbol and/or logLambEdd
104 A1 --- RLFlag [0/1] Radio-loudness flag (1)
106 A1 --- AGNClass [0/2] AGN classification flag (2)
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Note (1): Radio-loudness flag as follows:
1 = radio loud
0 = radio quiet
Note (2): AGN classification flag as follows:
0 = Seyfert Type 1-2 or BLRG
1 = NLSy1
2 = QSO
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Byte-by-byte Description of file: tableb1.dat
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Bytes Format Units Label Explanations
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1- 3 I3 --- Seq Unique identifier of each detected UFO
5- 6 I2 --- AGN [1/57] Unique AGN identifier,
as in tablea1.dat
8- 18 A11 --- ObsID Observation identifier(s) (1)
20- 35 A16 --- Tel Telescope(s) used for the observation
37- 41 F5.2 keV E Rest-frame centroid energy of the
absorption line
43- 46 F4.2 keV e_E Lower 1σ error on E
48- 51 F4.2 keV E_E Upper 1σ error on E
53- 56 I4 eV sigma Gaussian width of the absorption line
58- 62 F5.1 eV e_sigma Lower 1σ error on sigma
64- 69 F6.1 eV E_sigma Upper 1σ error on sigma
71- 75 I5 eV EW Equivalent width of the absorption line
77- 81 F5.1 eV e_EW Lower 1σ error on EW
83- 87 F5.1 eV E_EW Upper 1σ error on EW
89- 93 F5.3 cm/s Vout Outflow velocity in units of the speed
of light
95- 99 F5.3 cm/s e_Vout Lower 1σ error on Vout
101-105 F5.3 cm/s E_Vout Upper 1σ error on Vout
107 A1 --- l_logxi Limit flag on logxi
108-111 F4.2 [10-7J.cm/s] logxi Logarithm of the ionization parameter
113-116 F4.2 [10-7J.cm/s] e_logxi Lower 1σ error on lgxi
118-121 F4.2 [10-7J.cm/s] E_logxi Upper 1σ error on lgxi
123 A1 --- l_logNH Limit flag on logNH
124-128 F5.2 [cm-2] logNH Logarithm of the hydrogen column density
130-133 F4.2 [cm-2] e_logNH Lower 1σ error on lgNh
135-138 F4.2 [cm-2] E_logNH Upper 1σ error on lgNh
140-144 F5.3 --- Gamma ? Photon index of the X-ray continuum
146-150 F5.3 --- e_Gamma ? Lower 1σ error on Gamma
152-156 F5.3 --- E_Gamma ? Upper 1σ error on Gamma
158-196 A39 --- Ref Bibliographic reference(s) for each UFO
detection
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Note (1): "Stacked" indicates that the detection is based on multiple
observations.
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Acknowledgements:
Marco Laurenti, marco.laurenti(at)roma2.infn.it
(End) Patricia Vannier [CDS] 05-Dec-2025