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E.T. Chatzichristou (NASA/GSFC)
In quasars and radio galaxies there is a relation between the properties of the radio source and those of the (optical) line-emitting gas. Compact steep-spectrum (CSS) radio sources often show disturbed kinematics of the interstellar gas coupled to associated radio components, providing evidence for gas outflow. The interaction between radio jets and the host galaxy ISM may be responsible for the jet confinement to small scales and can contribute to the ionization of the medium and lead to star formation. Detailed study of the circumnuclear region is essential in understanding the processes that drive the kinematics, physical conditions and morphology of the line emitting gas.
The archetypical, nearby (z=0.37) quasar 3C48 is an unusual CSS radio source with excess far-IR emission, whose one-sided radio jet is aligned with the extended ionized emission and with a putative second nucleus. Using ground-based integral field and STIS long-slit spectroscopy we map the physical conditions of the extended emission line and identify the kinematic signatures of the radio-jet/gas coupling.