Abstract
Quasar feedback may regulate the growth of supermassive black holes, quench
coeval star formation, and impact galaxy morphology and the circumgalactic
medium. However, direct evidence for quasar feedback in action at the epoch of
peak black hole accretion at z ~ 2 remains elusive. A good case in point is the
z = 1.6 quasar WISEA J100211.29+013706.7 (XID 2028) where past analyses of the
same ground-based data have come to different conclusions. Here we revisit this
object with the integral field unit of the Near Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec)
on board the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) as part of Early Release Science
program Q3D. The excellent angular resolution and sensitivity of the JWST data
reveal new morphological and kinematic sub-structures in the outflowing gas
plume. An analysis of the emission line ratios indicates that photoionization
by the central quasar dominates the ionization state of the gas with no obvious
sign for a major contribution from hot young stars anywhere in the host galaxy.
Rest-frame near-ultraviolet emission aligned along the wide-angle cone of
outflowing gas is interpreted as a scattering cone. The outflow has cleared a
channel in the dusty host galaxy through which some of the quasar ionizing
radiation is able to escape and heat the surrounding interstellar and
circumgalactic media. The warm ionized outflow is not powerful enough to impact
the host galaxy via mechanical feedback, but radiative feedback by the AGN,
aided by the outflow, may help explain the unusually small molecular gas mass
fraction in the galaxy host.