Browse by author
Lookup NU author(s): Dr Steph CampbellORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
© The Author(s) 2025. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal Astronomical Society. We present combined James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) NIRSpec and MIRI/MRS integral field spectroscopy data of the nuclear and circumnuclear regions of the highly dust obscured Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC 7582, which is part of the sample of active galactic nucleaus (AGN) in the Galaxy Activity, Torus and Outflow Survey (GATOS). Spatially resolved analysis of the pure rotational H2 lines (S(1)–S(7)) reveals a characteristic power-law temperature distribution in different apertures, with the two prominent southern star-forming regions exhibiting unexpectedly high molecular gas temperatures, comparable to those in the AGN powered nuclear region. We investigate potential heating mechanisms including direct AGN photoionization, UV fluorescent excitation from young star clusters, and shock excitation. We find that shock heating gives the most plausible explanation, consistent with multiple near- and mid-IR tracers and diagnostics. Using photoionization models from the PhotoDissociation Region Toolbox, we quantify the ISM conditions in the different regions, determining that the southern star-forming regions have a high density (nH ∼ 105 cm-3) and are irradiated by a moderate UV radiation field (G0 ∼ 103 Habing). Fitting a suite of Paris-Durham shock models to the rotational H2 lines, as well as rovibrational 1-0 S(1), 1-0 S(2), and 2-1 S(1) H2 emission lines, we find that a slow (vs ∼ 10 km s−1) C-type shock is likely responsible for the elevated temperatures. Our analysis loosely favours local starburst activity as the driver of the shocks and circumnuclear gas dynamics in NGC 7582, though the possibility of an AGN jet contribution cannot be excluded.
Author(s): Veenema O, Thatte N, Rigopoulou D, Garcia-Bernete I, Alonso-Herrero A, Audibert A, Bellocchi E, Bunker AJ, Campbell S, Combes F, Davies RI, Delaney D, Donnan F, Esposito F, Garcia-Burillo S, Gonzalez Martin O, Hermosa Munoz L, Hicks EKS, Hoenig SF, Levenson NA, Packham C, Pereira-Santaella M, Ramos Almeida C, Ricci C, Riffel RA, Rosario D, Zhang L
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Year: 2025
Volume: 544
Issue: 4
Pages: 3361-3378
Print publication date: 01/12/2025
Online publication date: 31/10/2025
Acceptance date: 29/10/2025
Date deposited: 10/12/2025
ISSN (print): 0035-8711
ISSN (electronic): 1365-2966
Publisher: Oxford University Press
URL: https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/staf1887
DOI: 10.1093/mnras/staf1887
Data Access Statement: The data cubes used here are publicly available from the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes (MAST) with DOI: 10.17909/9sc5-q436
Altmetrics provided by Altmetric
