The Interaction between AGN and Starburst Activity in the Circumnuclear Region of NGC 7469 as Viewed with JWST

TL;DR

This study combines JWST and ALMA observations to analyze how an active galactic nucleus influences star formation and the surrounding interstellar medium in NGC 7469, revealing that nuclear activity impacts gas properties but not star formation efficiency.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the interaction between AGN activity and star formation at ~100 pc scales using combined infrared and molecular gas data.

Findings

AGN elevates warm molecular gas temperature

AGN drives ionized gas outflows on sub-kpc scales

Star formation efficiency remains high despite nuclear activity

Abstract

We combine mid-infrared diagnostics obtained from integral-field unit observations taken with MIRI/MRS on JWST with cold molecular gas information derived from ALMA observations of CO(1-0) emission to investigate the star formation rate and efficiency within the central $\sim$ 1.5 kpc$\times$1.3 kpc region of the Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC 7469 on $\sim$ 100 pc scales. The active nucleus leaves a notable imprint on its immediate surroundings by elevating the temperature of the warm molecular gas, driving an ionized gas outflow on sub-kpc scales, and selectively destroying small dust grains. These effects, nevertheless, have relatively little impact on the cold circumnuclear medium or its ability to form stars. Most of the star formation in NGC 7469 is confined to a clumpy starburst ring, but the star formation efficiency remains quite elevated even for the nuclear region that is most affected by the active nucleus.