Evidence of Feedback Effects in Low-luminosity Active Galactic Nuclei Revealed by JWST Spectroscopy

TL;DR

This study uses JWST infrared spectroscopy to reveal feedback effects in low-luminosity AGN, showing how feedback influences ionized gas, PAHs, and H2, and differs from higher-luminosity AGN.

Contribution

It provides new insights into feedback mechanisms in low-luminosity AGN through detailed spectral analysis, highlighting differences from high-luminosity AGN and proposing PAH ratios as feedback diagnostics.

Findings

Low-luminosity AGN show weak high-ionization lines and shock excitation signatures.

Large PAHs are more prevalent, indicating destruction of smaller PAHs by feedback.

H2 transitions suggest slow, jet-driven shocks as excitation sources.

Abstract

This letter presents an analysis of the infrared ($\sim 3-28\,\mu m$) spectra extracted from the nuclear ($r < 150$ pc) regions of four low-luminosity active galactic nuclei (AGN), observed by JWST NIRSpec/IFU and MIRI/MRS as an extension of the Galaxy Activity, Torus, and Outflow Survey (GATOS). We find that, compared to higher-luminosity AGN, these low-luminosity AGN exhibit distinct properties in their emission of ionized gas, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and molecular hydrogen (H$_2$). Specifically, the low-luminosity AGN exhibit relatively weak high-ionization potential lines (e.g., [Ne V] and [O IV]), and the line ratios suggest that fast radiative shocks (with $v_{\rm s}$ of $\sim \rm 100s\,km\,s^{-1}$) are the primary excitation source of ionized gas therein. Under the low-excitation conditions of their nuclear regions, these low-luminosity AGN generally exhibit a higher fraction of PAHs with large size ($N_{\rm C} \gtrsim 200$), reflecting the preferential destruction of smaller PAH molecules by AGN feedback. Furthermore, the H$_2$ transitions in these low-luminosity AGN are not fully thermalized, with slow, plausibly jet-driven molecular shocks (with $v_{\rm s} \leq \rm 10\,km\,s^{-1}$) likely being the extra excitation source. Taken together with results from the literature, these findings indicate that feedback operates in both low- and high-luminosity AGN, albeit its impact varies with AGN luminosity. In particular, systematic variations in PAH band ratios are found across AGN, demonstrating the differing influence of feedback in AGN of varying luminosities and highlighting the potential of PAH band ratios as diagnostics for distinguishing kinetic- and radiative-mode AGN feedback.