Connecting X-ray nuclear winds with galaxy-scale ionised outflows in two z 1.5 lensed quasars

Aims. Outflows driven by active galactic nuclei (AGN) are expected to have a significant impact on host galaxy evolution, but the matter of how they are accelerated and propagated on galaxy-wide scales is still under debate. This work addresses these questions by studying the link between X-ray, nuclear ultra-fast outflows (UFOs), and extended ionised outflows, for the first time, in two quasars close to the peak of AGN activity (z 2), where AGN feedback is expected to be more effective. Methods. Our selected targets, HS 0810+2554 and SDSS J1353+1138, are two multiple-lensed quasars at z 1.5 with UFO detection that have been observed with the near-IR integral field spectrometer SINFONI at the VLT. We performed a kinematical analysis of the [O III]λ5007 optical emission line to trace the presence of ionised outflows. Results. We detected spatially resolved ionised outflows in both galaxies, extended more than 8 kpc and moving up to v > 2000 km s-1. We derived mass outflow rates of 12 M yr-1 and 2 M yr-1 for HS 0810+2554 and SDSS J1353+1138. Conclusions. Compared with the co-hosted UFO energetics, the ionised outflow energetics in HS 0810+2554 is broadly consistent with a momentum-driven regime of wind propagation, whereas in SDSS J1353+1138, it differs by about two orders of magnitude from theoretical predictions, requiring either a massive molecular outflow or a high variability of the AGN activity to account for such a discrepancy. By additionally considering our results together with those from the small sample of well-studied objects (all local but one) having both UFO and extended (ionised, atomic, or molecular) outflow detections, we found that in 10 out of 12 galaxies, the large-scale outflow energetics is consistent with the theoretical predictions of either a momentum- or an energy-driven scenario of wind propagation. This suggests that such models explain the acceleration mechanism of AGN-driven winds on large scales relatively well. © ESO 2021