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Feedback likely plays a crucial role in resolving discrepancies between observations and theoretical predictions of dwarf galaxy properties. Stellar feedback was once believed to be sufficient to explain these discrepancies, but it has thus far failed to fully reconcile theory and observations. The recent discovery of energetic galaxy-wide outflows in dwarf galaxies hosting active galactic nuclei (AGNs) suggests that AGN feedback may have a larger role in the evolution of dwarf galaxies than previously suspected. In order to assess the relative importance of stellar versus AGN feedback in these galaxies, we perform a detailed Keck/KCWI optical integral field spectroscopic study of a sample of low-redshift star-forming (SF) dwarf galaxies that show outflows in ionized gas in their Sloan Digital Sky Survey spectra. We characterize the outflows and compare them to observations of AGN-driven outflows in dwarfs. We find that SF dwarfs have outflow components that have comparable widths (W₈₀) to those of outflows in AGN dwarfs, but are much less blueshifted, indicating that SF dwarfs have significantly slower outflows than their AGN counterparts. Outflows in SF dwarfs are spatially resolved and significantly more extended than those in AGN dwarfs. The mass-loss, momentum, and energy rates of star-formation-driven outflows are much lower than those of AGN-driven outflows. Our results indicate that AGN feedback in the form of gas outflows may play an important role in dwarf galaxies and should be considered along with SF feedback in models of dwarf galaxy evolution.

 

We present new JWST NIRSpec integral field spectroscopy (IFS) data for the luminous infrared galaxy NGC 7469, a nearby (70.6 Mpc) active galaxy with a Seyfert 1.5 nucleus that drives a highly ionized gas outflow and a prominent nuclear star-forming ring. Using the superb sensitivity and high spatial resolution of the JWST instrument NIRSpec IFS, we investigate the role of the Seyfert nucleus in the excitation and dynamics of the circumnuclear gas. Our analysis focuses on the [Feii], H₂, and hydrogen recombination lines that trace the radiation/shocked-excited molecular and ionized interstellar medium around the active galactic nucleus (AGN). We investigate gas excitation through H₂/Brγand [Feii]/Paβemission line ratios and find that photoionization by the AGN dominates within the central 300 pc of the galaxy except in a small region that shows signatures of shock-heated gas; these shock-heated regions are likely associated with a compact radio jet. In addition, the velocity field and velocity dispersion maps reveal complex gas kinematics. Rotation is the dominant feature, but we also identify noncircular motions consistent with gas inflows as traced by the velocity residuals and the spiral pattern in the Paαvelocity dispersion map. The inflow is 2 orders of magnitude higher than the AGN accretion rate. The compact nuclear radio jet has enough power to drive the highly ionized outflow. This scenario suggests that the inflow and outflow are in a self-regulating feeding–feedback process, with a contribution from the radio jet helping to drive the outflow.

 

In order to constrain the size of the optical continuum emission region in the dwarf Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC 4395 through reverberation mapping, we carried out high-cadence photometric monitoring in thegrizfilter bands on two consecutive nights in 2022 April using the four-channel MuSCAT3 camera on the Faulkes Telescope North at Haleakalā Observatory. Correlated variability across thegrizbands is clearly detected, and ther-,i-, andz-band light curves show lags of${7.72}_{-1.09}^{+1.01}$,${14.16}_{-1.25}^{+1.22}$, and${20.78}_{-2.09}^{+1.99}$minutes with respect to thegband when measured using the full-duration light curves. When lags are measured for each night separately, the Night 2 data exhibit lower cross-correlation amplitudes and shorter lags than the Night 1 light curves. Using the full-duration lags, we find that the lag–wavelength relationship is consistent with theτ∝λ^4/3dependence found for more luminous active galactic nuclei. Combining our results with continuum lags measured for other objects, the lag betweengandzband scales with optical continuum luminosity asτ_gz∝L^0.56±0.05, similar to the scaling of broad-line region size with luminosity, reinforcing recent evidence that diffuse continuum emission from the broad-line region may contribute substantially to optical continuum variability and reverberation lags.

 

The broad-line region (BLR) size–luminosity relation has paramount importance for estimating the mass of black holes in active galactic nuclei (AGNs). Traditionally, the size of the HβBLR is often estimated from the optical continuum luminosity at 5100 Å, while the size of the HαBLR and its correlation with the luminosity is much less constrained. As a part of the Seoul National University AGN Monitoring Project, which provides 6 yr photometric and spectroscopic monitoring data, we present our measurements of the Hαlags of high-luminosity AGNs. Combined with the measurements for 42 AGNs from the literature, we derive the size–luminosity relations of the HαBLR against the broad Hαand 5100 Å continuum luminosities. We find the slope of the relations to be 0.61 ± 0.04 and 0.59 ± 0.04, respectively, which are consistent with the Hβsize–luminosity relation. Moreover, we find a linear relation between the 5100 Å continuum luminosity and the broad Hαluminosity across 7 orders of magnitude. Using these results, we propose a new virial mass estimator based on the Hαbroad emission line, finding that the previous mass estimates based on scaling relations in the literature are overestimated by up to 0.7 dex at masses lower than 10⁷M_⊙.

 

Abstract We present James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) imaging of NGC 7469 with the Near-Infrared Camera and the Mid-InfraRed Instrument. NGC 7469 is a nearby, z = 0.01627, luminous infrared galaxy that hosts both a Seyfert Type-1.5 nucleus and a circumnuclear starburst ring with a radius of ∼0.5 kpc. The new near-infrared (NIR) JWST imaging reveals 66 star-forming regions, 37 of which were not detected by Hubble Space Telescope (HST) observations. Twenty-eight of the 37 sources have very red NIR colors that indicate obscurations up to A v ∼ 7 and a contribution of at least 25% from hot dust emission to the 4.4 μ m band. Their NIR colors are also consistent with young (<5 Myr) stellar populations and more than half of them are coincident with the mid-infrared (MIR) emission peaks. These younger, dusty star-forming regions account for ∼6% and ∼17% of the total 1.5 and 4.4 μ m luminosity of the starburst ring, respectively. Thanks to JWST, we find a significant number of young dusty sources that were previously unseen due to dust extinction. The newly identified 28 young sources are a significant increase compared to the number of HST-detected young sources (4–5). This makes the total percentage of the young population rise from ∼15% to 48%. These results illustrate the effectiveness of JWST in identifying and characterizing previously hidden star formation in the densest star-forming environments around active galactic nuclei (AGN). 

Abstract We present James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) integral-field spectroscopy of the nearby merging, luminous infrared galaxy, NGC 7469. This galaxy hosts a Seyfert type-1.5 nucleus, a highly ionized outflow, and a bright, circumnuclear star-forming ring, making it an ideal target to study active galactic nucleus (AGN) feedback in the local universe. We take advantage of the high spatial/spectral resolution of JWST/MIRI to isolate the star-forming regions surrounding the central active nucleus and study the properties of the dust and warm molecular gas on ∼100 pc scales. The starburst ring exhibits prominent polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) emission, with grain sizes and ionization states varying by only ∼30%, and a total star formation rate of 10–30 M ⊙ yr −1 derived from fine structure and recombination emission lines. Using pure rotational lines of H 2 we detect 1.2 × 10 7 M ⊙ of warm molecular gas at a temperature higher than 200 K in the ring. All PAH bands get significantly weaker toward the central source, where larger and possibly more ionized grains dominate the emission, likely the result of the ionizing radiation and/or the fast wind emerging from the AGN. The small grains and warm molecular gas in the bright regions of the ring however display properties consistent with normal star-forming regions. These observations highlight the power of JWST to probe the inner regions of dusty, rapidly evolving galaxies for signatures of feedback and inform models that seek to explain the coevolution of supermassive black holes and their hosts. 

Abstract Photoionization modeling of active galactic nuclei (AGN) predicts that diffuse continuum (DC) emission from the broad-line region makes a substantial contribution to the total continuum emission from ultraviolet through near-infrared wavelengths. Evidence for this DC component is present in the strong Balmer jump feature in AGN spectra, and possibly from reverberation measurements that find longer lags than expected from disk emission alone. However, the Balmer jump region contains numerous blended emission features, making it difficult to isolate the DC emission strength. In contrast, the Paschen jump region near 8200 Å is relatively uncontaminated by other strong emission features. Here, we examine whether the Paschen jump can aid in constraining the DC contribution, using Hubble Space Telescope Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph spectra of six nearby Seyfert 1 nuclei. The spectra appear smooth across the Paschen edge, and we find no evidence of a Paschen spectral break or jump in total flux. We fit multicomponent spectral models over the range 6800–9700 Å and find that the spectra can still be compatible with a significant DC contribution if the DC Paschen jump is offset by an opposite spectral break resulting from blended high-order Paschen emission lines. The fits imply DC contributions ranging from ∼10% to 50% at 8000 Å, but the fitting results are highly dependent on assumptions made about other model components. These degeneracies can potentially be alleviated by carrying out fits over a broader wavelength range, provided that models can accurately represent the disk continuum shape, Fe ii emission, high-order Balmer line emission, and other components. 

We combine our dynamical modeling black-hole mass measurements from the Lick AGN Monitoring Project 2016 sample with measured cross-correlation time lags and line widths to recover individual scale factors,f, used in traditional reverberation-mapping analyses. We extend our sample by including prior results from Code for AGN Reverberation and Modeling of Emission Lines (caramel) studies that have utilized our methods. Aiming to improve the precision of black-hole mass estimates, as well as uncover any regularities in the behavior of the broad-line region (BLR), we search for correlations betweenfand other AGN/BLR parameters. We find (i) evidence for a correlation between the virial coefficient${\log }_{10}(f_{\mathrm{mean},\sigma })$and black-hole mass, (ii) marginal evidence for a similar correlation between${\log }_{10}(f_{\mathrm{rms},\sigma })$and black-hole mass, (iii) marginal evidence for an anticorrelation of BLR disk thickness with${\log }_{10}(f_{\mathrm{mean},\mathrm{FWHM}})$and${\log }_{10}(f_{\mathrm{rms},\mathrm{FWHM}})$, and (iv) marginal evidence for an anticorrelation of inclination angle with${\log }_{10}(f_{\mathrm{mean},\mathrm{FWHM}})$,${\log }_{10}(f_{\mathrm{rms},\sigma })$, and${\log }_{10}(f_{\mathrm{mean},\sigma })$. Last, we find marginal evidence for a correlation between line-profile shape, when using the root-mean-square spectrum,${\log }_{10}{(\mathrm{FWHM}/\sigma )}_{\mathrm{rms}}$, and the virial coefficient,${\log }_{10}(f_{\mathrm{rms},\sigma })$, and investigate how BLR properties might be related to line-profile shape usingcaramelmodels.