Speaker
Description
Outflows are crucial to AGN feedback, transporting mass and energy from the nucleus to the host galaxy across various scales. Theoretical models suggest that sub-relativistic Ultra Fast Outflows (UFOs), which interact with the ISM, decelerate and lose ionization, potentially driving large-scale, multi-phase outflows observable in optical and molecular gas.
The Narrow Line Seyfert 1 galaxy IRAS 17020+4544 offers a rare local laboratory to study AGN-driven outflows in action. It hosts a complex X-ray Ultra Fast Outflow (UFO), a powerful cold molecular outflow spatially resolved in CO with NOEMA millimeter observations, and a low-power radio jet that may be driving shocks into the interstellar medium (ISM).
In this work, we present MEGARA/GTC optical IFU observations of the ionized gas component over an area of ~140 kpc^2, within the region covered by the molecular outflow. We perform a detailed kinematic and energetic analysis of the ionized outflow and compare it from X-ray to mm bands. We find that the ionized phase is consistent with an "energy-conserving" regime, in agreement with previous results for the molecular component (Longinotti et al. 2023). These findings indicate that the different gas phases are dynamically coupled and support a scenario in which powerful AGN-driven winds efficiently transfer energy to the host galaxy.
Intriguingly, we also find evidence of positive feedback in the central regions, suggesting that the outflow may not only expel gas but also compress it, potentially triggering star formation. Overall, our results provide new insight into the multi-phase nature of AGN feedback and its impact on the evolution of Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 galaxies.
IRAS 17020+4544 thus stands out as one of the very few systems in which a multi-phase outflow associated with a UFO is observed to follow an "energy-conserving" regime across different gas phases, offering a rare benchmark for testing AGN feedback models.
| Collaborators (if any) | Divakara Mayya, Y. Krongold, A. Castillo-Morales, A. Robleto-Orús, C. Catalán-Torrecilla, O. Vega, D. Rosa González |
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