Feeding and Feedback in the Powerful Radio Galaxy 3C 120

We present a spectral analysis of a 200 ks observation of the broad-line radio galaxy 3C 120, performed with the high-energy transmission grating spectrometer on board the Chandra X-ray Observatory. We find (i) a neutral absorption component intrinsic to the source with a column density of log N = 20.67 ± 0.05 cm; (ii) no evidence for a warm absorber (WA) with an upper limit on the column density of just log N < 19.7 cm, assuming the typical ionization parameter logξ ≃ 2.5 erg s cm; the WA may instead be replaced by (iii) a hot emitting gas with a temperature kT ≃ 0.7 keV observed as soft X-ray emission from ionized Fe L-shell lines, which may originate from a kiloparsec-scale shocked bubble inflated by the active galactic nucleus (AGN) wind or jet with a shock velocity of about 1000 km s determined by the emission line width; (iv) a neutral Fe Kα line and accompanying emission lines indicative of a Compton-thick cold reflector with a low reflection fraction R ≃ 0.2, suggesting a large opening angle of the torus; (v) a highly ionized Fe xxv emission feature indicative of photoionized gas with an ionization parameter logξ = 3.75-0.38 erg s cm and a column density of log N gt; 22cm localized within ∼2 pc from the X-ray source; and (vi) possible signatures of a highly ionized disk wind. Together with previous evidence for intense molecular line emission, these results indicate that 3C 120 is likely a late-state merger undergoing strong AGN feedback.