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The observation of high-velocity warm molecular hydrogen in the galaxy IC 5063 supports the proposal that the powerful jets of particles launched by active galactic nuclei can both accelerate and heat the molecular outflows that influence the evolution of galaxies. Accelerated outflows in relativistic jets Active galactic nuclei (AGN) are thought to have a key role in the evolution of galaxies, driving powerful jets of relativistic particles that can both accelerate and heat the molecular gas that often dominates the mass outflows contributing to star formation. Clear evidence for this mechanism has been lacking, but here Clive Tadhunter et al . report that the warm molecular hydrogen gas in the western radio lobe of the Seyfert galaxy IC 5063 is moving at high velocities — up to about 600 kilometres per second — relative to the galaxy disk. This suggests that the molecules have been accelerated by fast shocks driven into the interstellar medium by the expanding radio jets. Massive outflows driven by active galactic nuclei are widely recognized to have a key role in the evolution of galaxies 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , by heating the ambient gas, expelling it from the nuclear regions, and thereby affecting the star-formation histories of the galaxy bulges. It has been proposed that the powerful jets of relativistic particles (such as electrons) launched by some active nuclei can both accelerate 5 , 6 , 7 and heat 8 the molecular gas, which often dominates the mass budgets of the outflows 5 , 9 . Clear evidence for this mechanism, in the form of detailed associations between the molecular gas kinematics and features in the radio-emitting jets, has however been lacking. Here we report that the warm molecular hydrogen gas in the western radio lobe of the Seyfert galaxy IC 5063 is moving at high velocities—up to about 600 kilometres per second—relative to the galaxy disk. This suggests that the molecules have been accelerated by fast shocks driven into the interstellar medium by the expanding radio jets. These results demonstrate the general feasibility of accelerating molecular outflows in fast shocks driven by active nuclei.

It is twenty years since the seminal works by Magorrian and co-authors and by Silk and Rees, which, along with other related work, ignited an explosion of publications connecting active galactic nucleus (AGN)-driven outflows to galaxy evolution. With a surge in observations of AGN outflows, studies are attempting to test AGN feedback models directly using the outflow properties. With a focus on outflows traced by optical and CO emission lines, we discuss significant challenges that greatly complicate this task, from both an observational and theoretical perspective. We highlight the observational uncertainties involved and the assumptions required when deriving kinetic coupling efficiencies (that is, outflow kinetic power as a fraction of AGN luminosity) from typical observations. Based on recent models we demonstrate that extreme caution should be taken when comparing observationally derived kinetic coupling efficiencies to coupling efficiencies from fiducial feedback models.

Tidal disruption events (TDEs), in which stars are gravitationally disrupted as they pass close to the supermassive black holes in the centres of galaxies 1 , are potentially important probes of strong gravity and accretion physics. Most TDEs have been discovered in large-area monitoring surveys of many thousands of galaxies, and a relatively low rate of one event every 10 4 –10 5 years per galaxy has been deduced 2 – 4 . However, given the selection effects inherent in such surveys, considerable uncertainties remain about the conditions that favour TDEs. Here we report the detection of unusually strong and broad helium emission lines following a luminous optical flare in the nucleus of the nearby ultra-luminous infrared galaxy F01004-2237. This particular combination of variabi­lity and post-flare emission line spectrum is unlike any known supernova or active galactic nucleus. The most plausible explanation is a TDE — the first detected in a galaxy with an ongoing massive starburst. The fact that this event has been detected in repeat spectroscopic observations of a sample of 15 ultra-luminous infrared galaxies over a period of just 10 years suggests a much higher rate of TDEs in starburst galaxies than in the general galaxy population. Environments where stars are abundantly formed are more conducive to stellar tidal disruption events, as evidenced by the detection of the remains of a star being accreted by a supermassive black hole within a starburst galaxy.

The findings of a nine-orbit calibration plan carried out duringHSTCycle 15, to fully determine the NICMOS camera 2 (2.0 μm) polarization calibration to high accuracy, are reported. Recently Ueta et al. and Batcheldor et al. have suggested that NICMOS possesses a residual instrumental polarization at a level of 1.2%–1.5%. This would completely inhibit the data reduction in a number of GO programs, and hamper the ability of the instrument to perform high-accuracy polarimetry. We obtained polarimetric calibration observations of three polarimetric standards at three spacecraft roll angles separated by∼60° ∼ 60 ° . Combined with archival data, these observations were used to characterize the residual instrumental polarization in order for NICMOS to reach its full potential of accurate imaging polarimetry at p ≈ 1% p ≈ 1 % . Using these data, we place an 0.6% upper limit on the instrumental polarization and calculate values of the parallel transmission coefficients that reproduce the ground-based results for the polarimetric standards. The uncertainties associated with the parallel transmission coefficients, a result of the photometric repeatability of the observations, are seen to dominate the accuracy of p p andθ θ . However, the updated coefficients do allow imaging polarimetry of targets with p ≈ 1.0% p ≈ 1.0 % at an accuracy of± 0.6% ± 0.6 % and± 15° ± 15 ° . This work enables a new caliber of science withHST.

The tight correlations observed between galaxies and their SMBH provides compelling evidence that the evolution of the galaxy and its central black hole are strongly linked. This is generally attributed to feedback mechanisms which, according to simulations, often take the form of outflows of gas, quenching star formation in the host galaxy and halting accretion onto the central black hole. While there are a number of plausible ways that outflows could be produced, recent results have shown that in some cases radio jets could be responsible for driving fast outflows of gas. One such example is seen in the nearby radio galaxy 3C293. In this talk I will present results from JVLA radio observations where we detect fast outflows (~1200 km/s) of neutral gas which are being driven by the radio-jet approximately 0.5 kpc from the central core, providing direct evidence for jet-ISM interaction. This is accompanied with recent IFU observations showing that ionised gas outflows are also being driven by the radio jet. Pinpointing the location of these outflows enables us to derive crucial parameters, such as the mass outflow rates and kinetic energy involved, which we can compare to predictions from galaxy evolution simulations.

Type-2 quasars (QSO2s) are active galactic nuclei (AGN) seen through a significant amount of dust and gas that obscures the central supermassive black hole and the broad line region. Here we present new mid-infrared spectra of the central kiloparsec of five optically-selected QSO2s at redshift z~0.1 obtained with JWST/MIRI/MRS. These QSO2s belong to the QSOFEED sample and they have log Lbol=45.5-46.0 erg/s, global SFRs that place them above the main sequence, and practically identical optical spectral shape and [OIII] luminosity, but their nuclear mid-infrared spectra exhibit an unexpected diversity of both continua and features. They show: 1) 9.7 micron silicate features going from emission (strength of S9.7=0.5) to relatively strong absorption (S9.7=-1.0) and 18 and 23 micron silicates either in emission or flat. In addition, two of the QSO2s show absorption bands of CO, H2O, and aliphatic grains, indicating different levels of nuclear obscuration across the sample. 2) [NeV]/[NeII] ratios ranging from 0.1 to 2.1 and [NeIII]/[NeII] from 1.0 to 3.5, indicating different coronal line and ionizing continuum strengths. 3) Warm molecular gas masses of 1-4x10^7 Msun and warm-to-cold gas mass ratios of 1-2%, with molecular gas excitation likely due to jet-induced shocks in J1430+1339, and to UV heating and/or turbulence in J1509+0434. 4) PAH emission features with equivalent widths ranging from <0.002 to 0.075 micron, from which we measure a larger contribution from neutral molecules (PAH 11.3/6.2=1.3-3.4) and SFRs<3-7 Msun/yr. This unprecedented dataset allowed us to start exploring the role of various AGN and galaxy properties including ionizing continuum, obscuration, electron density, and jet-ISM interactions on some of the spectral differences listed above, but larger samples are now required to fully understand the diversity of QSO2s' nuclear mid-infrared spectra.

We present a detailed study of the kinematics of 19 QSO2s in the range 0.3 10^{8.5}\\)L\\(_{\\odot}\\). We aim at advancing our understanding of the AGN feedback phenomenon by correlating outflow properties with the presence of young stellar populations (YSPs) with ages <100 Myr, the optical morphology and the environment of the galaxies, and the radio luminosity. We characterize the ionized gas kinematics using the [OIII]\\(\\lambda\\)5007\\(Å\\) profiles, through three different outflow detection methods: multi-component parametric and flux-weighted and peak-weighted non-parametric. We detect ionized outflows in 18 QSO2s using the parametric analysis, and in all of them using the non-parametric methods. We find higher outflow masses using the parametric analysis (log M\\(_{OF}\\)(M\\(_{\\odot}\\))=6.47\\(\\pm\\)0.50), and larger mass rates and kinetic powers with the flux-weighted non-parametric method (\\.M\\(_{OF}\\)=4.0\\(\\pm\\)4.4 M\\(_{\\odot}\\) yr\\(^{-1}\\) and log(Ė\\(_{kin}\\))=41.9\\(\\pm\\)0.6 erg~s\\(^{-1}\\)). However, it is when we use the parametric method and the maximum outflow velocities that we measure the highest outflow mass rates and kinetic energies (23\\(\\pm\\)35 M\\(_{\\odot}\\) yr\\(^{-1}\\) and 42.9\\(\\pm\\)0.6 erg s\\(^{-1}\\)). We do not find any significant correlation between the outflow properties and the previously mentioned galaxy properties. 4 out of 5 QSO2s without a YS<100 Myr show highly disturbed kinematics, whereas only 5 out of the 14 QSO2s with YSPs show similarly asymmetric [OIII] profiles. This might be indicative of negative feedback. The lack of correlation between the outflow properties and the presence of mergers in different interaction stages might be due to their different dynamical timescales. Lastly, the small radio luminosity range covered by our sample may be impeding the detection of any correlation between radio emission and outflow properties.

We use deep Herschel observations of the complete 2Jy sample of powerful radio AGNs in the local universe (0.05 < z < 0.7) to probe their cool interstellar medium (ISM) contents and star-forming properties, comparing them against other samples of nearby luminous AGNs and quiescent galaxies. This allows us to investigate triggering and feedback mechanisms. We find that the dust masses of the strong-line radio galaxies (SLRGs) in our sample are similar to those of radio-quiet quasars, and that their median dust mass (Mdust = 2 x 10^7 Msun) is enhanced by a factor ~200 compared to that of non-AGN ellipticals, but lower by a factor ~16 relative to that of local ultra-luminous infrared galaxies (UILRGs). Along with compelling evidence for merger signatures in optical images, the SLRGs in our sample also show relatively high star-formation efficiencies, despite the fact that many of them fall below the main sequence for star forming galaxies. Together, these results suggest that most of our SLRGs have been re-triggered by late-time mergers that are relatively minor in terms of their gas contents. In comparison with the SLRGs, the radio AGNs with weak optical emission lines (WLRGs) and edge-darkened radio jets (FRIs) have both lower cool ISM masses and star-formation rates (by a factor of >30), consistent with being fuelled by a different mechanism (e.g. the direct accretion of hot gas).

The far-IR/sub-mm wavelength range contains a wealth of diagnostic information that is important for understanding the role of radio AGN in galaxy evolution. Here we present the results of Herschel PACS and SPIRE observations of a complete sample of 46 powerful 2Jy radio AGN at intermediate redshifts (0.05 < z < 0.7), which represent the deepest pointed observations of a major sample of radio AGN undertaken by Herschel. In order to assess the importance of non-thermal synchrotron emission at far-IR wavelengths, we also present new APEX sub-mm and ALMA mm data. We find that the overall incidence of non-thermal contamination in the PACS bands (\\(<\\)200\\(\\)m) is in the range 28 -- 43%; however, this rises to 30 -- 72% for wavelengths (\\(> \\)200\\(\\)m) sampled by the SPIRE instrument. Non-thermal contamination is strongest in objects with compact CSS/GPS or extended FRI radio morphologies, and in those with type 1 optical spectra. Considering thermal dust emission, we find strong correlations between the 100 and 160\\(\\)m monochromatic luminosities and AGN power indicators, providing further evidence that radiation from the AGN may be an important heating source for the far-IR emitting dust. Clearly, AGN contamination -- whether by the direct emission from synchrotron-emitting lobes and cores, or via radiative heating of the cool dust -- needs to be carefully considered when using the far-IR continuum to measure the star formation rates in the host galaxies of radio AGN.