Interstellar medium properties and feedback in local AGN with the MAGNUM survey

TL;DR

This study uses advanced spectroscopic data to analyze the interstellar medium and feedback mechanisms in the central regions of nearby active galaxies, revealing ionization structures and potential star formation induced by outflows.

Contribution

It introduces a novel kinematic approach to distinguish outflowing gas from disc gas, enabling detailed analysis of ISM properties and feedback effects in AGN host galaxies.

Findings

Detection of complex ionization structures within outflows

Evidence of outflow-induced star formation in Centaurus A

Enhanced understanding of feedback processes in AGN environments

Abstract

We investigated the interstellar medium (ISM) properties in the central regions of nearby Seyfert galaxies characterised by prominent conical or bi-conical outflows belonging to the MAGNUM survey by exploiting the unprecedented sensitivity, spatial and spectral coverage of the integral field spectrograph MUSE at the Very Large Telescope. We developed a novel approach based on the gas and stars kinematics to disentangle high-velocity gas in the outflow from gas in the disc to spatially track the differences in their ISM properties. This allowed us to reveal the presence of an ionisation structure within the extended outflows that can be interpreted with different photoionisation and shock conditions, and to trace tentative evidence of outflow-induced star formation (''positive'' feedback) in a galaxy of the sample, Centaurus A.