JWST Reveals Powerful Feedback from Radio Jets in a Massive Galaxy at z = 4.1

We report observations of a powerful ionized gas outflow in a z = 4.1 luminous (L_1.4GHz∼ 10^28.3 W Hz^-1) radio galaxy TNJ1338-1942 hosting an obscured quasar using the Near Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) on board JWST. We spatially resolve a large-scale ( 15 kpc) outflow and measure resolved outflow rates. The outflowing gas shows velocities exceeding 900 km s^-1 and broad line profiles with line widths exceeding 1200 km s^-1 located at  10 kpc projected distance from the central nucleus. The outflowing nebula spatially overlaps with the brightest radio lobe, indicating that the powerful radio jets are responsible for the extraordinary kinematics exhibited by the ionized gas. The ionized gas is possibly ionized by the central obscured quasar with a contribution from shocks. The spatially resolved mass outflow rate shows that the region with the broadest line profiles exhibits the strongest outflow rates, with an integrated mass outflow rate of  500 M_⊙ yr^-1. Our hypothesis is that an over-pressured shocked jet fluid expands laterally to create an expanding ellipsoidal "cocoon" that causes the surrounding gas to accelerate outwards. The total kinetic energy injected by the radio jet is about 3 orders of magnitude larger than the total kinetic energy measured in the outflowing ionized gas. This implies that kinetic energy must be transferred inefficiently from the jets to the gas. The bulk of the deposited energy possibly lies in the form of hot ( 10^7 K) X-ray-emitting gas.