Nuclear Activity in Galaxies: a 3D Perspective from the Nucleus to the Outskirts

    General
    Description

    This project consists of two main research lines. First, the study of quasar-driven outflows in luminous and nearby obscured active galactic nuclei (AGN) and the impact that they have on their massive host galaxies (AGN feedback). To do so, we have obtained Gran Telescopio CANARIAS (GTC) infrared and optical observations with the instruments CanariCam, EMIR and MEGARA, as well as with ALMA in the sub-mm/mm regime. Part of this project is being done within the framework of the H2020 Innovative Training Network BID4BEST. The group is also devoted to obtain and exploit observing time with the JWST and ALMA as part of the GATOS consortium (Galactic Activity, Torus and Outflow Survey) with the aim of characterizing nuclear obscuration and the gas flow cycle in local AGN. Second, the application of integral field spectroscopy to the study of extended objects (active and star forming galaxies) to investigate the triggering of both phenomena. We also contribute to the development of new instruments and data analysis procedures related to 3D observing techniques. In particular, we participate in the development of HARMONI, the first-light high-spatial resolution integral field spectrograph for the ESO Extremely Large Telescope.

    Principal investigator
    Project staff
    1. Publication of a letter in MNRAS in which we studied the interplay between the ionized gas winds and the young stellar populations in the type-2 quasar Mrk 34 (Bessiere & Ramos Almeida 2022). We find evidence of positive and negative feedback happening in different parts of the same galaxy, induced by the ionized outflow. This study, part of the QSOFEED project, opens a new window to investigate the direct impact of nuclear activity on star formation in galaxies.

    2. Publication of a detailed study of the ionized and warm molecular gas kinematics in the type-2 quasar J0945+1737, part of the QSOFEED sample (Speranza et al. 2022). We reported measurements of an ionized outflow with a maximum outflow rate of 51 Msun/yr, and lack of its warm molecular counterpart.

    3. The European Network H2020-ITN-2019 "Big Data Applications for Black Hole Evolution Studies" (BID4BEST) started on March, 1st 2020 (end date Feb, 28th 2024). PhD student Giovanna Speranza started her contract at the IAC in September 2020.

    4. The total budget awarded to this project through external funding sources corresponds to 1.152.000 euros (452.000 euros - PI: C. Ramos & 700.000 euros - PI: B. García). This only includes projects starting in or after 2020, and most of the funding has been invested in hiring new researchers. Currently we are the IAC group with larger female participation.

    5. Publication of the two first papers based on the GATOS sample (García-Burillo et al. 2021; Alonso-Herrero et al. 2021). The GATOS collaboration was awarded two JWST proposals in Cycle 1, led by D. Rosario (University of Newcastle, UK) and T. Shimizu (MPE, Germany).

    6. Publication of a study of the morphology and kinematics of the cold molecular in a sample of type-2 quasars (QSO2s) at z=0.1 (Ramos Almeida et al. 2022). The study is based on data from the ALMA interferometer in the mm range, and it is part of the QSOFEED project.

    7. Publication of the work García-Lorenzo et al. (2022), which presents an analysis of the capabilities of HARMONI to reveal the stellar morpho-kinematic properties of the host galaxies of AGNs at cosmic noon.

    Related publications

    • The diverse cold molecular gas contents, morphologies, and kinematics of type-2 quasars as seen by ALMA

      We present CO(2−1) and adjacent continuum observations of seven nearby radio-quiet type-2 quasars (QSO2s) obtained with ALMA at ∼0.2″ resolution (370 pc at z ∼ 0.1). These QSO2s are luminous (L [OIII] > 10 8.5 L ⊙ ∼ M B < −23), and their host galaxies massive (M * ∼ 10 11 M ⊙). The CO morphologies are diverse, including disks and interacting

      Ramos Almeida, C. et al.

      Advertised on:

      2
      2022
      Citations
      41
    • Do AGN triggering mechanisms vary with radio power? - II. The importance of mergers as a function of radio power and optical luminosity

      Investigation of the triggering mechanisms of radio active galactic nuclei (radio AGN) is important for improving our general understanding of galaxy evolution. In the first paper in this series, detailed morphological analysis of high-excitation radio galaxies (HERGs) with intermediate radio powers suggested that the importance of triggering via

      Pierce, J. C. S. et al.

      Advertised on:

      2
      2022
      Citations
      14
    • CO kinematics unveil outflows plausibly driven by a young jet in the gigahertz peaked radio core of NGC 6328

      We report the detection of outflowing molecular gas in the center of the nearby (z = 0.014) massive radio galaxy NGC 6328. The radio core of the galaxy, PKS B1718-649, is identified as a gigahertz peaked spectrum source with a compact (2 pc) double radio lobe morphology. We used ALMA CO(2-1) and CO(3-2) observations at 100 pc resolution to study

      Papachristou, Michalis et al.

      Advertised on:

      11
      2021
      Citations
      3
    • Black hole feeding and star formation in NGC 1808

      We report on Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) observations of CO(3−2) emission in the Seyfert2/starburst galaxy NGC 1808, at a spatial resolution of 4 pc. Our aim is to investigate the morphology and dynamics of the gas inside the central 0.5 kpc and to probe the nuclear feeding and feedback phenomena. We discovered a nuclear spiral of radius

      Audibert, A. et al.

      Advertised on:

      11
      2021
      Citations
      12
    • Modeling the Unresolved NIR-MIR SEDs of Local (z &lt; 0.1) QSOs

      To study the nuclear (≲1 kpc) dust of nearby (z < 0.1) quasi-stellar objects (QSOs), we obtained new near-infrared (NIR) high angular resolution (~0.″3) photometry in the H and Ks bands for 13 QSOs with available mid-infrared (MIR) high angular resolution spectroscopy (~7.5-13.5 μm). We find that in most QSOs, the NIR emission is unresolved. We

      Martínez-Paredes, M. et al.

      Advertised on:

      12
      2021
      Citations
      4
    • Capturing dual AGN activity and kiloparsec-scale outflows in IRAS 20210+1121

      The most standard scenario for the evolution of massive galaxies across cosmic time assumes a correspondence based on the interplay between active galactic nuclei (AGN) feedback, which injects large amounts of energy into the host environment, and galaxy mergers, with their ability to trigger massive star formation events and accretion onto

      Saturni, F. G. et al.

      Advertised on:

      10
      2021
      Citations
      2
    • The MURALES survey. IV. Searching for nuclear outflows in 3C radio galaxies at z &lt; 0.3 with MUSE observations

      We analyze VLT/MUSE observations of 37 radio galaxies from the Third Cambridge catalogue (3C) with redshift < 0.3 searching for nuclear outflows of ionized gas. These observations are part of the MURALES project (a MUse RAdio Loud Emission line Snapshot survey), whose main goal is to explore the feedback process in the most powerful radio-loud AGN

      Speranza, G. et al.

      Advertised on:

      9
      2021
      Citations
      17
    • The dust-gas AGN torus as constrained from X-ray and mid-infrared observations

      Context. In recent decades, several multiwavelength studies have been dedicated to exploring the properties of the obscuring material in active galactic nuclei (AGN). Various models have been developed to describe the structure and distribution of this material and constrain its physical and geometrical parameters through spectral fitting

      Esparza-Arredondo, D. et al.

      Advertised on:

      7
      2021
      Citations
      24
    • The Galaxy Activity, Torus, and Outflow Survey (GATOS). II. Torus and polar dust emission in nearby Seyfert galaxies

      We compare high angular resolution mid-infrared (mid-IR) and Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) far-infrared (far-IR) images of twelve nearby (median 21 Mpc) Seyfert galaxies selected from the Galaxy Activity, Torus, and Outflow Survey (GATOS). The mid-IR unresolved emission contributes more than 60% of the nuclear (diameters of 1

      Alonso-Herrero, A. et al.

      Advertised on:

      8
      2021
      Citations
      31
    • The Galaxy Activity, Torus, and Outflow Survey (GATOS). I. ALMA images of dusty molecular tori in Seyfert galaxies

      We present the first results of the Galaxy Activity, Torus, and Outflow Survey (GATOS), a project aimed at understanding the properties of the dusty molecular tori and their connection to the host galaxy in nearby Seyfert galaxies. Our project expands the range of active galactic nuclei (AGN) luminosities and Eddington ratios covered by previous

      García-Burillo, S. et al.

      Advertised on:

      8
      2021
      Citations
      71
    • The origin of bulges and discs in the CALIFA survey - I. Morphological evolution

      This series of papers aims at understanding the formation and evolution of non-barred disc galaxies. We use the new spectro-photometric decomposition code, C2D, to separate the spectral information of bulges and discs of a statistically representative sample of galaxies from the CALIFA survey. Then, we study their stellar population properties

      Méndez-Abreu, J. et al.

      Advertised on:

      6
      2021
      Citations
      18
    • Composite bulges - II. Classical bulges and nuclear discs in barred galaxies: the contrasting cases of NGC 4608 and NGC 4643

      We present detailed morphological, photometric, and stellar-kinematic analyses of the central regions of two massive, early-type barred galaxies with nearly identical large-scale morphologies. Both have large, strong bars with prominent inner photometric excesses that we associate with boxy/peanut-shaped (B/P) bulges; the latter constitute ∼30 per

      Erwin, Peter et al.

      Advertised on:

      4
      2021
      Citations
      18
    • Galaxies within galaxies in the TIMER survey: stellar populations of inner bars are scaled replicas of main bars

      Inner bars are frequent structures in the local Universe and thought to substantially influence the nuclear regions of disc galaxies. In this study we explore the structure and dynamics of inner bars by deriving maps and radial profiles of their mean stellar population content and comparing them to previous findings in the context of main bars. To

      Bittner, Adrian et al.

      Advertised on:

      2
      2021
      Citations
      9
    • Space Telescope and Optical Reverberation Mapping Project. IX. Velocity-Delay Maps for Broad Emission Lines in NGC 5548

      In this contribution, we achieve the primary goal of the active galactic nucleus (AGN) STORM campaign by recovering velocity-delay maps for the prominent broad emission lines (Lyα, C IV, He II, and Hβ) in the spectrum of NGC 5548. These are the most detailed velocity-delay maps ever obtained for an AGN, providing unprecedented information on the

      Horne, Keith et al.

      Advertised on:

      2
      2021
      Citations
      50
    • Integral Field Spectroscopy of Planetary Nebulae with MUSE

      The Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) is a large integral field unit mounted on the ESO Very Large Telescope. Its spatial (60 arcsecond field) and wavelength (4800-9300Å) coverage is well suited to detailed imaging spectroscopy of extended planetary nebulae, such as in the Galaxy. An overview of the capabilities of MUSE applied to Planetary

      Walsh, Jeremy R. et al.

      Advertised on:

      4
      2020
      Citations
      7
    • The complex multi-component outflow of the Seyfert galaxy NGC 7130

      Active galactic nuclei (AGN) are a key ingredient for understanding galactic evolution, as their activity is coupled to the host galaxy properties through feedback processes. AGN-driven outflows are one of the manifestations of this feedback. The laser guide star adaptive optics mode for MUSE at the VLT now permits us to study the innermost tens of

      Comerón, S. et al.

      Advertised on:

      1
      2021
      Citations
      11
    • Multiphase feedback processes in the Sy2 galaxy NGC 5643

      We study the multiphase feedback processes in the central ∼3 kpc of the barred Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC 5643. We used observations of the cold molecular gas (ALMA CO(2-1) transition) and ionized gas (MUSE IFU optical emission lines). We studied different regions along the outflow zone, which extends out to ∼2.3 kpc in the same direction (east-west) as

      García-Bernete, I. et al.

      Advertised on:

      1
      2021
      Citations
      30
    • Searching for molecular gas inflows and outflows in the nuclear regions of five Seyfert galaxies

      Active galactic nucleus (AGN) driven outflows are believed to play an important role in regulating the growth of galaxies, mostly via negative feedback. However, their effects on their hosts are far from clear, especially for low- and moderate-luminosity Seyferts. To investigate this issue, we obtained cold molecular gas observations, traced by the

      Domínguez-Fernández, A. J. et al.

      Advertised on:

      11
      2020
      Citations
      23
    • Stellar populations and physical properties of starbursts in the antennae galaxy from self-consistent modelling of MUSE spectra

      We have modelled the stellar and nebular continua and emission-line intensity ratios of massive stellar populations in the Antennae galaxy using high resolution and self-consistent libraries of model H II regions around central clusters of ageing stars. The model libraries are constructed using the stellar population synthesis code, STARBURST99

      Gunawardhana, M. L. P. et al.

      Advertised on:

      8
      2020
      Citations
      12
    • Cold molecular gas and PAH emission in the nuclear and circumnuclear regions of Seyfert galaxies

      We investigate the relation between the detection of the 11.3 μm polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) feature in the nuclear (∼24-230 pc) regions of 22 nearby Seyfert galaxies and the properties of the cold molecular gas. For the former we use ground-based (0.3-0.6″ resolution) mid-infrared (mid-IR) spectroscopy. The cold molecular gas is traced

      Alonso-Herrero, A. et al.

      Advertised on:

      7
      2020
      Citations
      26

    Related talks

    No related talks were found.

    Related conferences

    No related conferences were found.