Aims. We investigate the fueling and the feedback of nuclear activity in the nearby (D = 14 Mpc) Seyfert 2 barred galaxy NGC 1068, by studying the distribution and kinematics of molecular gas in the torus and its connections to the host galaxy disk. Methods. We use the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA ) to image the emission of a set of molecular gas tracers in the circumnuclear disk (CND) and the torus of the galaxy using the CO(2-1), CO(3-2) and HCO + (4-3) lines and their underlying continuum emission with high spatial resolutions (0.03 −0.09 2−6 pc). These transitions, which span a wide range of physical conditions of molecular gas (n(H 2 ) ⊂ 10 3 −10 7 cm −3 ), are instrumental in revealing the density radial stratification and the complex kinematics of the gas in the torus and its surroundings. Results. The ALMA images resolve the CND as an asymmetric ringed disk of D 400 pc-size and mass of 1.4 × 10 8 M sun . The CND shows a marked deficit of molecular gas in its central 130 pc-region. The inner edge of the ring is associated with the presence of edge-brightened arcs of NIR polarized emission, which are identified with the current working surface of the ionized wind of the active galactic nucleus (AGN). ALMA proves the existence of an elongated molecular disk/torus in NGC 1068 of M gas torus 3 × 10 5 M , which extends over a large range of spatial scales D 10 − 30 pc around the central engine. The new observations evidence the density radial stratification of the torus: the HCO + (4-3) torus, with a full size D HCO + (4−3) = 11 ± 0.6 pc, is a factor of 2-3 smaller than its CO(2-1) and CO(3-2) counterparts, which have full-sizes D CO(3−2) = 26 ± 0.6 pc and D CO(2−1) = 28 ± 0.6 pc, respectively. This result brings into light the many faces of the molecular torus. The torus is connected to the CND through a network of molecular gas streamers detected inside the CND ring. The kinematics of molecular gas show strong departures from circular motions in the torus, the gas streamers, and the CND ring. These velocity field distortions are interconnected and are part of a 3D outflow that reflects the effects of AGN feedback on the kinematics of molecular gas across a wide range of spatial scales around the central engine. In particular, we estimate through modeling that a significant fraction of the gas inside the torus ( 0.4 − 0.6 × M gas torus ) and a comparable amount of mass along the gas streamers are outflowing. However, the bulk of the mass, momentum and energy of the molecular outflow of NGC 1068 is contained at larger radii in the CND region, where the AGN wind and the radio jet are currently pushing the gas assembled at the Inner Lindblad Resonance (ILR) ring of the nuclear stellar bar. Conclusions. In our favored scenario a wide-angle AGN wind launched from the accretion disk of NGC1068 is currently impacting a sizable fraction of the gas inside the torus. However, a large gas reservoir ( 1.2 − 1.8 × 10 5 M ), which lies close to the equatorial plane of the torus, remains unaffected by the feedback of...

Nuclear outflows driven by accreting massive black holes are one of the main feedback mechanisms invoked at high-z to reproduce the distinct separation between star-forming, disk galaxies and quiescent spheroidal systems. Yet, our knowledge of feedback at high-z remains limited by the lack of observations of the multiple gas phases in galaxy outflows. In this work we use new deep, high-spatial resolution ALMA CO(3-2) and archival VLT/SINFONI Hα observations to study the molecular and ionized components of the AGN-driven outflow in zC400528 -a massive, main sequence galaxy at z = 2.3 in the process of quenching. We detect a powerful molecular outflow that shows a positive velocity gradient and extends for at least ∼10 kpc from the nuclear region, about three times the projected size of the ionized wind. The molecular gas in the outflow does not reach velocities high enough to escape the galaxy and is therefore expected to be reaccreted. Keeping in mind the various assumptions involved in the analysis, we find that the mass and energetics of the outflow are dominated by the molecular phase. The AGN-driven outflow in zC400528 is powerful enough to deplete the molecular gas reservoir on a timescale at least twice shorter than that needed to exhaust it by star formation. This suggests that the nuclear outflow is one of the main quenching engines at work in the observed suppression of the central star-formation activity in zC400528.

We present new CO(2-1) observations of three low-z (d ∼350 Mpc) ULIRG systems (6 nuclei) observed with ALMA at high-spatial resolution (∼500 pc). We detect massive cold molecular gas outflows in 5 out of 6 nuclei (M out ∼ (0.3 − 5) × 10 8 M ). These outflows are spatially resolved with deprojected effective radii between 250 pc and 1 kpc although high-velocity molecular gas is detected up to R max ∼ 0.5 − 1.8 kpc (1 − 6 kpc deprojected). The mass outflow rates are 12 − 400 M yr −1 and the inclination corrected average velocity of the outflowing gas 350 − 550 km s −1 (v max = 500 − 900 km s −1 ). The origin of these outflows can be explained by the strong nuclear starbursts although the contribution of an obscured AGN can not be completely ruled out. The position angle (PA) of the outflowing gas along the kinematic minor axis of the nuclear molecular disk suggests that the outflow axis is perpendicular to the disk for three of these outflows. Only in one case, the outflow PA is clearly not along the kinematic minor axis and might indicate a different outflow geometry. The outflow depletion times are 15 − 80 Myr. These are comparable to, although slightly shorter than the star-formation (SF) depletion times (30 − 80 Myr). However, we estimate that only 15 − 30% of the outflowing molecular gas will escape the gravitational potential of the nucleus. The majority of the outflowing gas will return to the disk after 5−10 Myr and become available to form new stars. Therefore, these outflows will not likely completely quench the nuclear starbursts. These star-forming powered molecular outflows would be consistent with being driven by radiation pressure from young stars (i.e., momentum-driven) only if the coupling between radiation and dust increases with increasing SF rates. This can be achieved if the dust optical depth is higher in objects with higher SF. This is the case in, at least, one of the studied objects. Alternatively, if the outflows are mainly driven by supernovae (SNe), the coupling efficiency between the interstellar medium and SNe must increase with increasing SF levels. The relatively small sizes (<1 kpc) and dynamical times (<3 Myr) of the cold molecular outflows suggests that molecular gas cannot survive longer in the outflow environment or that it cannot form efficiently beyond these distances or times. In addition, the ionized and hot molecular phases have been detected for several of these outflows, so this suggests that outflowing gas can experience phase changes and indicates that the outflowing gas is intrinsically multiphase, likely sharing similar kinematics, but different mass and, therefore, energy and momentum contributions.