AGNIFS survey of local AGN: GMOS-IFU data and outflows in 30 sources

Abstract

We analyse optical datacubes of the inner kiloparsec of 30 local (z 0.02) active galactic nuclei (AGN) hosts that our research group, AGNIFS, has collected over the past decade via observations with the integral field units of the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrographs. Spatial resolutions range between 50 pc and 300 pc and spectral coverage is from 4800 Å or 5600 Å to 7000 Å, at velocity resolutions of ≈50 km s −1 . We derive maps of the gas excitation and kinematics, determine the AGN ionisation axis -which has random orientation relative to the galaxy, and the kinematic major axes of the emitting gas. We find that rotation dominates the gas kinematics in most cases, but is disturbed by the presence of inflows and outflows. Outflows have been found in 21 nuclei, usually along the ionisation axis. The gas velocity dispersion is traced by W 80 (velocity width encompassing 80 per cent of the line flux), adopted as a tracer of outflows. In 7 sources W 80 is enhanced perpendicularly to the ionisation axis, indicating lateral expansion of the outflow. We have estimated mass-outflow rates Ṁ and powers Ė, finding median values of log [ Ṁ /( M yr −1 )] = −2.1 +1.6 −1.0 and log [ Ė/( erg s −1 )] = 38.5 +1.8 −0.9 , respectively. Both quantities show a mild correlation with the AGN luminosity (L AGN ). Ė is of the order of 0.01 L AGN for 4 sources, but much lower for the majority (9) of the sources, with a median value of log [ Ė/L AGN ] = −5.34 +3.2 −0.9 indicating that typical outflows in the local Universe are unlikely to significantly impact their host galaxy evolution.

Blandford-Znajek jets in galaxy formation simulations: exploring the diversity of outflows produced by spin-driven AGN jets in Seyfert galaxies

“…The initial jet configurations in our simulations correspond to bolometric luminosities in the range 10 41 − 10 43 erg s −1 which are comparable to typical Seyfert nuclear luminosities for black holes of mass 10 6 M which span the range 10 40 − 10 43 erg s −1 (see e.g. Ruschel-Dutra et al 2021;Venturi et al 2021;Chen et al 2020;Komossa 2018;Foschini et al 2015;Combes et al 2013, for further details regarding bolometric luminosities see Section 4.7). Typical accretion rates through the 𝛼-disc range from ∼ 9 × 10 −4 to ∼ 6 × 10 −2 of the Eddington rate which are on the lower side of those inferred for radio-loud Narrow-line Seyferts (Komossa 2018;Xu et al 2012;Grupe et al 2010;Boroson 2002).…”

“…In this section we compare mass outflow rates and kinetic powers of the outflows, measured directly from our simulations, to those found in a sample of Seyferts and LINERS that have bolometric luminosities and black hole masses comparable to ours (Ruschel-Dutra et al 2021).…”

“…Observations of AGN-driven outflows that examine the mass outflow rates and energetics are available for a wide variety of systems (see e.g. Ruschel-Dutra et al 2021;Fluetsch et al 2021;Santoro et al 2020;Davies et al 2020;Baron & Netzer 2019;Shimizu et al 2019;Fiore et al 2017), including some in which jets are believed to be responsible for driving the outflow (Oosterloo et al 2017;Morganti et al 2015).…”

“…Jets propagating away from the black hole can also undergo significant interaction with the gas in the interstellar medium (ISM) and ★ E-mail: rt421@cam.ac.uk (RYT) circum-galactic medium (CGM) (Ruschel-Dutra et al 2021;Morganti et al 2021Morganti et al , 2018Roy et al 2021;Jarvis et al 2019). Such interactions could be responsible for launching massive molecular outflows both on cluster scales (Tremblay et al 2018;Simionescu et al 2018;Russell et al 2017) and on galaxy scales (Morganti et al 2015;Tadhunter et al 2014;Combes et al 2013).…”

“…Jets launched by systems that host a circumnuclear disc (CND) are also able to affect the kinematics of this central reservoir of cold, dense gas (García-Burillo et al 2014;Couto et al 2013). Indeed, there is now growing evidence that indicates that jets are able to significantly perturb the kinematics of the gas in the direction perpendicular to that of their propagation and may even drive outflows in this direction (Venturi et al 2021;Ruschel-Dutra et al 2021;Congiu et al 2020;Riffel et al 2015Riffel et al , 2014. Such scenarios are particularly plausible in Seyfert galaxies, where observations suggest that the jet axis is randomly oriented with respect to the normal to the galactic plane (Kinney et al 2000;Clarke et al 1998).…”