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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Steph CampbellORCiD, Dr David RosarioORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
© 2025. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society. The polar mid-infrared (MIR) emission detected within tens to hundreds of parsecs in some active galactic nuclei (AGN) has been associated with dusty winds driven away by radiation pressure. The physical characterization of this extended polar emission remains uncertain. Here, we combine 10–21 μm JWST/Mid-InfRared Instrument (MIRI) imaging observations with 7–25 μm JWST/MIRI MRS integral field spectroscopic observations of six nearby, D ¯ = 35.4 ± 4.6 Mpc, AGN from the GATOS Survey to quantify the nature of the extended MIR emission at ∼75 pc resolution at 21 μm. These AGN have similar bolometric luminosities, log 10 (L ¯ bol [ erg s − 1 ]) = 44.0 ± 0.3, span a wide range of optical outflow rates, M ̇ = 0.003–0.21 M⊙yr−1, column densities, log 10 (N H X − ray [ cm − 2 ]) = 22.2–24.3, and Eddington ratios, λEdd = 0.005–0.06. We cross-correlate the line-only and continuum-only images and find a poor correlation, which indicates that the extended MIR continuum emission is spatially uncorrelated with the warm outflows associated with narrow emission lines within 10–15 μm. Line emission is resolved along the jet axis, while dust emission is perpendicular to it. The 75–450 pc continuum emission has a fairly constant dust temperature, T d = 13 2 − 7 + 7 K, and mass, M d = 72 8 − 27 + 29 M⊙. Using the conditions of energy balance between radiation-pressure and gravity (λEdd versus N H), we find that our AGN sample is in the gravitationally bounded regime consistent with no detection of dusty winds. At 10 μm, the level of extended line emission contribution is correlated with the outflow kinetic energy and mass outflow rates. We find no correlation with the AGN properties. These results indicate that the radio jet may be triggering the gas outflow and line emission, while the extended dust emission is distributed in molecular clouds and/or shocked regions.
Author(s): Lopez-Rodriguez E, Ramos Almeida C, Pereira-Santaella M, Garcia-Bernete I, Nikutta R, Alonso-Herrero A, Audibert A, Bellocchi E, Bunker A, Campbell S, Combes F, Davies R, Diaz-Santos T, Fuller L, Gandhi P, Garcia-Burillo S, Gonzalez-Martin O, Hicks EKS, Honig S, Ichikawa K, Imanishi M, Izumi T, Labiano A, Levenson NA, Packham C, Rosario D, Rigopoulou D, Rouan D, Shimizu T, Stalevski M, Ward M, Zhang L, Ricci C, Esparza-Arredondo D, Garcia-Lorenzo B
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Astrophysical Journal
Year: 2025
Volume: 994
Issue: 2
Print publication date: 01/12/2025
Online publication date: 25/11/2025
Acceptance date: 29/08/2025
Date deposited: 15/04/2026
ISSN (print): 0004-637X
ISSN (electronic): 1538-4357
Publisher: American Astronomical Society
URL: https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ae0187
DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/ae0187
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