As part of the QUADROS project to quantify the impact of AGN-driven outflows in rapidly evolving galaxies in the local universe , we present observations of 8 nearby ULIRGs ( 0.04 < z < 0.2 ) taken with the ISIS spectrograph on the William Herschel Telescope ( WHT ) , and also summarise the results of the project as a whole .
Consistent with [ ] , we find that the outflow regions are compact ( 0.08 < R _ { [ OIII ] } < 1.5 kpc ) , and the electron densities measured using the [ SII ] , [ OII ] trans-auroral emission-line ratios are relatively high ( 2.5 < log n _ { e } ( cm ^ { -3 } ) < 4.5 , median log n _ { e } ( cm ^ { -3 } ) \sim 3.1 ) .
Many of the outflow regions are also significantly reddened ( median E ( B-V ) \sim 0.5 ) .
Assuming that the de-projected outflow velocities are represented by the 5 ^ { th } percentile velocities ( v _ { 05 } ) of the broad , blueshifted components of [ OIII ] \lambda 5007 , we calculate relatively modest mass outflow rates ( 0.1 < \dot { M } < 20 M _ { \sun } yr ^ { -1 } , median \dot { M } \sim 2 M _ { \sun } yr ^ { -1 } ) , and find kinetic powers as a fraction of the AGN bolometric luminosity ( \dot { F } = \dot { E } / L _ { bol } ) in the range 0.02 < \dot { F } < 3 % , median \dot { F } \sim 0.3 % ) .
The latter estimates are in line with the predictions of multi-stage outflow models , or single-stage models in which only a modest fraction of the initial kinetic power of the inner disk winds is transferred to the larger-scale outflows .
Considering the QUADROS sample as a whole , we find no clear evidence for correlations between the properties of the outflows and the bolometric luminosities of the AGN , albeit based on a sample that covers a relatively small range in L _ { bol } .
Overall , our results suggest that there is a significant intrinsic scatter in outflow properties of ULIRGs for a given AGN luminosity .