NOAO >   Observing Info >   Approved Programs >   2013A-0320

# Proposal Information for 2013A-0320

PI: Francisco Mueller-Sanchez, UCLA, fmueller@astro.ucla.edu
Address: Physics Department, 475 Portola Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA

CoI: Matthew Malkan, UCLA
CoI: Gregorio Portilla, Universidad Nacional de Colombia

Title: Using the Near-IR Emission Lines to Probe AGN Feedback.

Abstract: Our integral-field observations are revealing AGN outflows in Seyfert galaxies. By resolving the inner 10-100 parsecs, we are successfully modeling them as biconical shells and measuring their kinetic energy. In some galaxies, this appears sufficient to provide the eagerly-sought AGN feedback'' invoked to explain fundamental galaxy properties such as the M_BH-\sigma relation. A major limitation of this work, however, is that it has to be performed in objects for which we have the certainty that: (i) coronal lines are present or (ii) the NLR kinematics exhibits signatures of outflows. These are very few in current spectroscopic studies. We propose to tackle these two crucial points by creating a near-IR long-slit spectroscopic survey of a large, complete, and obscuration-independent sample of AGN (the extended 12-micron sample). By increasing the number of ionization cones we can model in 3D (after follow-up integral-field observations at Keck and the VLT) we can draw statistical conclusions about the role of AGN feedback in galaxy evolution. The proposed observations will provide an unprecedented near-IR spectroscopic database, which is also valuable for several other applications.

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 NOAO >   Observing Info >   Approved Programs >   2013A-0320