Outflows are ubiquitous in both luminous AGN and in local Seyfert galaxies, and occur on a wide range of physical scales, from highly ionised semi-relativistic winds and jets in the nuclear region at subparsec scales to galactic scale outflows seen in mildly ionised, molecular, and neutral gas (Morganti et al. 2016; Fiore et al. 2017; Fluetsch et al. 2019; Lutz et al. 2020; Veilleux et al. 2020, and references therein). In some cases molecular and ionised winds have similar velocities and are nearly co-spatial, suggesting a cooling sequence scenario where molecular gas forms from the cooling of the gas in the ionised wind (Richings & Faucher-Giguere 2017; Menci et al. 2019). Other AGN show ionised winds that are faster than the molecular winds, suggesting a different origin of the two phases (Veilleux et al. 2020, and references therein). The molecular phase is a crucial element of the feeding and feedback cycle of AGN because it constitutes the bulk of the total gas mass and it is the site of star formation activity. On galactic scales massive molecular winds are common in local Seyfert galaxies (e.g. Feruglio et al. 2010; Cicone et al. 2014; Dasyra et al. 2014; Morganti et al. 2015; García-Burillo et al. 2014, 2017, 2019); these winds likely suppress star formation (i.e. negative feedback) as they reduce the molecular gas reservoir by heating or expelling gas from the host-galaxy ISM. In late-type AGN-host galaxies, the gas kinematics appears complex at all scales, showing several components such as bars, rings, and (warped) discs, with high velocity dispersion regions (e.g. Shimizu et al. 2019; Feruglio et al. 2020; Fernández-Ontiveros et al. 2020; Alonso-Herrero et al. 2020; Aalto et al. 2020; Audibert et al. 2020). Accurate dynamical modelling of the molecular gas kinematics reveals kinematically decoupled nuclear structures, high velocity dispersion at nuclei, trailing spirals, and evidence of inflows and AGN-driven outflows. (e.g. Combes et al. 2019; Combes 2019, 2021). The outflow driving mechanism (wind shock, radiation pressure, or jet), their multiphase nature, and their relative weights and impact on the galaxy ISM are still open problems (Faucher-Giguère & Quataert 2012; Zubovas & King 2012; Richings & Faucher-Giguere 2017; Menci et al. 2019; Ishibashi et al. 2021). To date, far different outflow phases have been observed only for a handful of sources. Atomic, cold, and warm molecular outflows have been observed in radio galaxies (e.g. Morganti et al. 2007; Dasyra & Combes 2012; Dasyra et al. 2014; Tadhunter et al. 2014; Oosterloo et al. 2017). The nuclear semi-relativistic phase and the galaxy-scale molecular phase have been observed simultaneously in less than a dozen sources, with varied results: in some cases data suggest energy driven flows (Feruglio et al. 2015; Tombesi et al. 2015; Longinotti et al. 2018; Smith et al. 2019), in other cases data suggest momentum driven flows (e.g. García-Burillo et al. 2014; Feruglio et al. 2017; Fluetsch et al. 2019; Bischetti et al. 2019; Marasco et al. 2020). Fiore et al. (2017), using a compilation of local and high redshift winds, showed that there is a broad distribution of the momentum boost, suggesting that both energy- and momentum-conserving expansion may occur. Enlarging the sample of local AGN-host galaxies with outflows detected in different gas phases is important to understand the nature and driving mechanisms of galaxy-scale outflows.
Citation: Shimizu et al. 2019
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Citation: García-Burillo et al. 2014
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Citation: García-Burillo et al. 2014
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