{"id":"e3a67629-2e52-4229-9b50-1d0562012b13","arxiv_id":"2505.02759","paper_version":1,"verdict":"CONDITIONAL","confidence":"HIGH","novelty_score":6.0,"correctness_risk":"medium","formal_verification":"none","parameter_count":3,"one_line_summary":"In six z~0.1 obscured quasars, CO line ratio maps show molecular outflows with R32>1, outflow rates below radiation-based predictions, and hints that compact jets drive the outflows.","lead":"Astronomers mapped the cold gas in six nearby hidden quasars with ALMA and found that the fastest-moving gas sits in regions where the gas is warmer or thinner than the rest of the galaxy. The result suggests that small radio jets, not just the quasar's light, can push gas around and shape how galaxies evolve.","discovery_kind":"extension","skeptic_critique":{"model":"deepseek-v4-flash","headline":"Jet-coupling conclusion rests on converting unresolved 1.4 GHz radio emission to Pjet via a cavity-based scaling relation; for five of six QSO2s no jet morphology is resolved, so epsilon_jet and the jet-driving claim are not secure.","rationale":"The reader's weakest_assumption identifies the same load-bearing issue: the jet-driving conclusion depends on unresolved radio emission tracing jets and on the Bîrzan et al. (2008) relation converting 1.4 GHz luminosity to Pjet. This is indeed the most vulnerable point in the chain connecting observations to the central physical claim. The ALMA data themselves are of good quality, the kinematic modeling with 3DBAROLO is a reasonable approach, and the three-scenario outflow analysis is a commendable way to quantify systematic uncertainty. The detection of enhanced R32 in kinematically selected high-velocity regions in several targets is a useful empirical result, even if the wording 'co-spatial with R32>1' is stronger than the data support for all objects. However, the conclusion that compact jets drive the outflows rests on Pjet values that are not directly measured for most of the sample. The correlation analysis in Table 5 shows no significant Eout-Pjet relation for the six QSO2s alone (p=0.33), so the apparent epsilon_jet ~ 0.1% locus is essentially set by the assumed Pjet normalization rather than by an observed trend. Since the authors acknowledge the unresolved-radio ambiguity without resolving it, the conditional verdict is appropriate: the paper should either soften the jet-driving claim or provide independent evidence that the radio emission is jet-related. My read does not change the reader's conditional verdict.","tokens_in":35355,"tokens_out":5729,"duration_ms":65969,"concrete_test":"Obtain VLBI or VLA A-array multi-frequency imaging (e.g., 1.5, 6, and 15 GHz) at angular resolutions of <0.1\" for J1010, J1100, J1356, and J1509. If compact, collimated jets or flat-spectrum cores are detected with orientations aligned to the CO outflows, the jet interpretation is supported; if the radio structures are diffuse or lack a jet core and axis, then the unresolved emission is likely dominated by shocks or star formation, and the Pjet values from the Bîrzan et al. (2008) relation are invalid. As a quantitative cross-check, recompute epsilon_jet using an independent jet-power estimator such as the black-hole fundamental plane or X-ray cavity power and test whether 0.001 < epsilon_jet < 0.035 survives.","verdict_should_be":"UNCHANGED","load_bearing_attack":"The central physical claim that compact jets drive the molecular outflows is supported primarily by epsilon_jet values (0.001-0.035) in Table 4 and Section 4.1. These values depend on Pjet computed from unresolved 1.4 GHz VLA fluxes using the Bîrzan et al. (2008) cavity-based scaling relation. For J1010, J1100, J1356, and J1509 the radio emission is unresolved at 0.25\" resolution and classified by Jarvis et al. (2019) as 'jet/lobe/wind' on the basis of steep spectral indices; a jet-like morphology is resolved only for J1430 (and for J1347 via VLBI). If the radio continuum is instead produced by outflow-driven shocks or star formation, as acknowledged in Section 4.1 with reference to Fischer et al. (2019, 2023), then the derived Pjet values are not valid jet powers, and the epsilon_jet range cannot support the conclusion that compact jets are driving the molecular outflows. The inference is further weakened by the fact that the QSOFEED-only Eout-Pjet correlation is not statistically significant (r=0.48, p=0.33; Table 5), so the 'locus of epsilon_jet ~ 0.1%' is not an independent trend but a consequence of the assumed Pjet normalization. The authors explicitly note the ambiguity, but the conclusion still depends on it, making this the most load-bearing concern.","agreement_with_reader":"agree"},"referee_report":{"model":"deepseek-v4-flash","summary":"This paper presents ALMA CO(2-1) and CO(3-2) observations of six type-2 quasars at z~0.1 from the QSOFEED sample, together with re-analysis of existing CO(2-1) data. The authors produce spatially resolved R32 = L_CO(3-2)'/L_CO(2-1)' maps, fit rotating-disk models with 3DBAROLO, and identify high-velocity gas as molecular outflows. They report outflow rates under three scenarios (5 to 150 M_sun/yr), kinetic powers, radiative and jet coupling efficiencies, compare the orientation of CO, H2, and [OIII] outflows, and discuss gas excitation in outflow versus disk regions. The central claims are that outflows are co-spatial with R32>1 regions, that the outflow energetics favor compact jets as a driver in these radio-quiet quasars (epsilon_jet ~ 0.1-3.5%), and that warm and cold molecular gas trace the same outflow while the ionized phase does not.","tokens_in":35660,"tokens_out":8039,"duration_ms":77406,"significance":"The paper provides a useful, multi-scenario accounting of molecular outflow properties in a well-defined sample of obscured quasars, extending the single-object Teacup analysis to five additional objects. Its strengths include the transparent presentation of three outflow scenarios, the public reuse of ALMA and VLA data, and explicit acknowledgement of many systematic uncertainties (alpha_CO, outflow angle, single-line-ratio excitation diagnostics). Spatially resolved R32 maps combined with kinematic modeling are a valuable contribution to the still-small census of molecular gas excitation in quasars. However, the abstract and conclusions state the excitation-outflow connection and the jet-driving interpretation more strongly than the evidence supports, for reasons detailed in the major comments.","major_comments":[{"comment":"Section 3.4 defines outflowing gas as regions that show both high-velocity non-rotational components and gas excitation differing from ambient disk conditions, explicitly 'the same outflow definition employed in Ramos Almeida et al. (2022), but adding gas excitation.' The abstract's statement that molecular outflows are co-spatial with R32>1 regions is therefore partly built into the outflow definition rather than being an independent empirical result. The kinematic residuals from 3DBAROLO and the high-velocity channel maps in scenario ii are independent of excitation, but the paper should separate the kinematic selection from the excitation measurement, present the R32 distribution of purely kinematically selected outflow pixels, and quantify how much of the co-spatiality is by construction. The case of J1010, where R32>1 is found across the entire minor- and major-axis PVDs for both low- and high-velocity gas, further weakens a sample-wide co-spatiality claim.","section":"3.4 and Abstract"},{"comment":"The conclusion that compact jets drive the molecular outflows rests on jet powers Pjet computed from unresolved 1.4 GHz radio fluxes using the cavity-based Bîrzan et al. (2008) scaling relation. As the authors note, a jet-like morphology is resolved only for J1430 (and for J1347 via VLBI); for the other four QSO2s the radio emission is unresolved and classified only as 'jet/lobe/wind'. If the radio continuum is produced by outflow-driven shocks or star formation, the Pjet values in Table 4 and hence the derived epsilon_jet range (0.001-0.035) are not valid jet powers. This concern is compounded by Table 5, where the QSOFEED-only Eout-Pjet regression is not statistically significant (r=0.48, p=0.33); the statement that the six QSO2s 'follow the locus of epsilon_jet~0.1%' is therefore a consequence of the assumed Pjet normalization rather than an independent trend. The manuscript should either present epsilon_jet as explicitly conditional on the Pjet assumption and soften the jet-driving conclusion, or provide a test that does not rely on the Bîrzan scaling (e.g., using L1.4GHz directly).","section":"4.1, Table 4, Table 5"},{"comment":"The quantitative comparison of R32 in outflow versus disk regions uses the same velocity cut vout from the 3DBAROLO model and the same excitation-inclusive outflow definition criticized above, and it is restricted to minor-axis slits. Moreover, the enhancement is not uniform: J1010 shows R32>1 throughout the PVDs, and for J1430 the entire disk has elevated R32, as stated in Sections 3.4 and 4.3. The claim in Section 4.3 that outflow regions reach R32~1-2 while rotating disk regions have R32~0.3-0.7 should therefore be presented as object-dependent rather than a sample-wide result, and the histogram analysis should be redone with a purely kinematic selection if it is meant to support co-spatiality.","section":"Figure 12, Section 4.3"},{"comment":"The abstract states that R32>1 in the outflows indicates 'enhanced temperature relative to the discs and the presence of optically thin gas,' but Section 4.3 states 'we are unable to infer the physical conditions (Tex and density) of the gas using only one molecular line ratio, since more transitions... would be necessary,' and the Conclusions merely say higher excitation or optically thin gas. The definitive physical interpretation in the abstract is not supported by the single R32 ratio; the paper should either qualify the abstract or add a radiative-transfer argument for why the two interpretations can be separated.","section":"Abstract vs Section 4.3"}],"minor_comments":[{"comment":"In the abstract, the jet coupling efficiency range is printed as '10^{-3}1', but that co-spatiality is partly built in: Section 3.4 defines outflowing gas as high-velocity plus enhanced excitation. J1010 shows R32>1 all over the PVD slits, so the 'co-spatial' claim is not uniform across the sample. The jet coupling efficiencies 0.001–0.035 depend on converting unresolved VLA fluxes to Pjet via Bîrzan et al. (2008), and the paper itself notes the QSOFEED-only Eout–Pjet correlation has p=0.33 (Table 5). So the 'locus of epsilon_jet ~ 0.1%' is mostly a consequence of the assumed normalization, not an independent trend. These caveats are in the text, but the abstract and conclusions state the claims more strongly than the results support.\n\nOverall, this is a solid observational contribution worth publishing after revision. The kinematics and ratios are reproducible and the multi-scenario approach is good practice. It should go to peer review; a good referee will ask them to soften the abstract, move the Pjet caveat forward, and clarify the circularity in the outflow definition. I'd cite the R32 maps, and a reading group on AGN feedback would get useful discussion out of it.","headline":"Solid new dataset and careful kinematics, but the jet-driven outflow claim leans on unresolved radio emission and a non-significant correlation — worth publishing after revision.","tokens_in":36226,"tokens_out":2756,"would_cite":true,"duration_ms":29891,"reading_group":"maybe","serious_thinker":"yes","would_accept_peer_review":true},"rs_alignment":null,"lean_confirmation":null,"pith_extraction":{"msc":[],"pacs":[],"model":"deepseek-v4-flash","headline":"In six obscured quasars, molecular outflows show CO(3-2)/CO(2-1) ratios above one and energetics pointing to compact jets rather than radiation alone.","keywords":["galaxies: active","galaxies: kinematics and dynamics","galaxies: jets","ISM: jets and outflows","molecular gas","AGN feedback","CO line ratios","radio-quiet quasars"],"falsifier":"Very-long-baseline interferometric imaging of the five quasars whose nuclear radio continuum is unresolved would settle the identification: if the compact emission does not show collimated, jet-like structure in most of them, the jet-power coupling efficiencies rest on a false premise, whereas resolved jets would support the paper's interpretation.","tokens_in":35166,"feed_emoji":"🔭","tokens_out":10274,"duration_ms":104866,"temperature":0.7,"pith_summary":"The paper argues that in six luminous but radio-quiet obscured quasars, the cold molecular gas moving out of the central kiloparsec is not merely fast gas: it is gas in a distinct physical state. Pixels where the kinematic model finds non-rotational, high-velocity gas show CO(3-2)/CO(2-1) brightness-temperature ratios $R_{32}\\gtrsim 1$, while the surrounding rotating disks sit at $R_{32}\\sim 0.3$-$0.7$. That contrast is read as hotter, optically thinner outflowing gas, and it allows the outflows to be located without relying on kinematics alone. The measured outflow rates, $5 \\lesssim \\dot{M}_{out} \\lesssim 150\\,M_\\odot\\,\\mathrm{yr}^{-1}$, lie well below what AGN-luminosity scaling relations predict, and the outflow kinetic power corresponds to only $\\sim10^{-6}$-$10^{-4}$ of bolometric luminosity but $\\sim0.1$-$3.5\\%$ of the estimated jet power. The authors conclude that compact low-power jets, which are common even in radio-quiet quasars, may be the main drivers of these molecular outflows.","feed_headline":"Jet power, not quasar light, tracks molecular outflows","feed_subtitle":"CO line-ratio maps find outflowing gas at R32 > 1; jet coupling sits near 0.1 percent.","key_machinery":"The load-bearing tool is the spatially resolved brightness-temperature ratio $R_{32}=L'_{CO(3-2)}/L'_{CO(2-1)}$, measured pixel by pixel after convolving the two CO datacubes to a common beam. Its value depends on gas excitation temperature and optical depth, so $R_{32}>1$ flags gas that is warmer and/or optically thin compared with the disk, which shows $R_{32}\\sim 0.3$-$0.7$. The ratio is combined with a three-dimensional tilted-ring kinematic model of the rotating disk: subtracting the model isolates high-velocity non-circular gas, and overlaying the two maps shows that the outflow is co-spatial with the high-$R_{32}$ regions, establishing the excitation contrast as an outflow tracer.","core_discovery":"The central discovery is a spatial coincidence with a physical interpretation: in the five quasars with both CO(2-1) and CO(3-2) detections, the gas that cannot be explained by a rotating disk model has line ratios $R_{32}\\approx 1$-$2$, higher than the disk values of $\\approx 0.3$-$0.7$, and the high-ratio regions coincide with the high-velocity outflowing gas. The paper's outflow rates in three scenarios span $5$-$150\\,M_\\odot\\,\\mathrm{yr}^{-1}$, far below the $\\gtrsim 100\\,M_\\odot\\,\\mathrm{yr}^{-1}$ expected from the quasars' bolometric luminosities of $10^{45.5}$-$10^{46}\\,\\mathrm{erg\\,s^{-1}}$. The kinetic powers imply radiative coupling efficiencies $10^{-6}<\\epsilon_{AGN}<10^{-4}$ and jet coupling efficiencies $0.001<\\epsilon_{jet}<0.035$, with a regression of the six sources tracking $\\epsilon_{jet}\\sim 0.1\\%$. This is evidence that compact, low-power jets can disturb and expel the cold molecular gas even in radio-quiet AGN, and that warm and cold molecular phases trace the same outflow while the ionized phase does not.","pith_inferences":["If jet coupling near $0.1\\%$ is typical for radio-quiet quasars, galaxy-formation simulations may need to include compact jets even at high accretion rates, where radiative feedback is usually assumed to dominate.","The $R_{32}>1$ outflow signature could be used at higher redshift or in fainter sources where kinematic modelling is impossible; a single high-resolution line-ratio map plus high-velocity line wings would identify feedback-affected gas.","With only two CO transitions, the excitation contrast is degenerate between temperature, density, and optical depth; adding CO(1-0) or CO(4-3) data over the same pixels would discriminate shock heating from X-ray heating and test the jet-shock interpretation.","The low outflow rates relative to luminosity scaling relations may mean these quasars are observed between episodic feedback peaks; cumulative energy injection over duty cycles, rather than instantaneous mass-outflow rate, may be the quantity that regulates star formation."],"forward_implications":["AGN luminosity alone is not a sufficient predictor of outflow power: the measured rates fall well below the empirical $\\dot{M}_{out}$-$L_{bol}$ relation, so that relation should be treated as an upper envelope rather than a typical trend.","Spatially resolved CO line-ratio mapping reveals feedback that integrated fluxes hide, since global $R_{32}\\sim0.5$ resembles normal disks while outflow pixels reach $R_{32}\\sim1$-$2$.","Compact jets in radio-quiet quasars may be as important as radiation pressure for AGN feedback, extending the jet-driven feedback channel to the majority of the AGN population.","Warm and cold molecular gas phases trace the same outflow, with the cold phase carrying nearly all the mass, while the ionized gas is a separate structure with different orientation, velocity, and radius; multi-phase outflow models should treat the phases distinctly.","Mass loading factors above unity in two of the six sources show that these outflows can remove molecular gas faster than star formation consumes it, at least in those cases."],"supporting_citations":[{"why":"Supplies the CO(2-1) data, disk models, and earlier molecular outflow measurements for five of the six quasars.","marker":"RA22"},{"why":"Established the method of coupling R32 maps with kinematic modelling on one of the targets, the Teacup.","marker":"AA23"},{"why":"Provides the empirical mass-outflow-rate versus AGN-luminosity scaling relations that the measured rates are compared against.","marker":"Fiore et al. (2017)"},{"why":"Supplies the cavity-based relation between 1.4 GHz luminosity and jet power used to compute Pjet.","marker":"Bîrzan et al. (2008)"},{"why":"Provides the VLA radio continuum data, spectral indices, and jet position angles used to infer jet emission.","marker":"Jarvis et al. (2019)"},{"why":"Contributes the CO(2-1) data and outflow upper limits for J1347.","marker":"Lamperti et al. (2022)"},{"why":"Reduced the CO(3-2) data of J1347 used in the line-ratio analysis.","marker":"Fotopoulou et al. (2019)"},{"why":"Supplies the [OIII] outflow kinematics and position angles used in the multi-phase comparison.","marker":"Speranza et al. (2024)"},{"why":"Provides the warm molecular hydrogen outflow kinematics for J1356 and J1430 compared with the cold CO outflows.","marker":"Zanchettin et al. (2025)"},{"why":"Gives the high-resolution CO(1-0) nuclear outflow properties of J1347 used as a scenario.","marker":"Holden et al. (2024)"}],"fun_headline_variants":["Jets, not quasar light, stir cold gas outflows","Warm thin gas traces outflows in obscured quasars","CO outflows underpowered; low-efficiency jets may drive","Warm and cold gas share outflow; ionized does not","Quasar jets, not luminosity, dominate CO outflows"],"cache_read_input_tokens":3200,"weakest_assumption_plain":"The jet-driving conclusion assumes that the unresolved nuclear radio emission in five of the six quasars is a small-scale jet and that its 1.4 GHz luminosity can be converted into jet power $P_{jet}$ with a cavity-based scaling relation; if that radio emission is instead produced by outflow-driven shocks, the derived $P_{jet}$ and $\\epsilon_{jet}$ values would be invalid.","fun_headline_variants_meta":{"raw":{"variants":["Jets, not quasar light, stir cold gas outflows","Warm thin gas traces outflows in obscured quasars","CO outflows underpowered; low-efficiency jets may drive","Warm and cold gas share outflow; ionized does not","Quasar jets, not luminosity, dominate CO outflows"]},"model":"deepseek-v4-flash","effort":"low","cost_usd":0.000408,"raw_usage":{"total_tokens":2280,"prompt_tokens":1270,"completion_tokens":1010,"prompt_tokens_details":{"cached_tokens":384},"prompt_cache_hit_tokens":384,"prompt_cache_miss_tokens":886,"completion_tokens_details":{"reasoning_tokens":924}},"tokens_in":886,"tokens_out":1010,"duration_ms":12232,"temperature":1.0,"reasoning_tokens":924,"cache_read_input_tokens":384,"cache_creation_input_tokens":0},"cache_creation_input_tokens":0},"created_at":"2026-08-16T00:41:19.190193+00:00","model_set":{"reader":"deepseek-v4-flash"},"falsifier":"Very-long-baseline interferometric imaging of the five quasars whose nuclear radio continuum is unresolved would settle the identification: if the compact emission does not show collimated, jet-like structure in most of them, the jet-power coupling efficiencies rest on a false premise, whereas resolved jets would support the paper's interpretation.","supporting_citations":[{"cited_title":"E., Harrison, C","cited_arxiv_id":null,"evidence_quote":"Provides the VLA radio continuum data, spectral indices, and jet position angles used to infer jet emission."},{"cited_title":"M., Dasyra, K","cited_arxiv_id":null,"evidence_quote":"Reduced the CO(3-2) data of J1347 used in the line-ratio analysis."},{"cited_title":"V ., Ramos Almeida, C., Audibert, A., et al","cited_arxiv_id":null,"evidence_quote":"Provides the warm molecular hydrogen outflow kinematics for J1356 and J1430 compared with the cold CO outflows."}],"review_version":1}