Quasar feedback has been invoked as a major mechanism for influencing large-scale cosmological structure. To quantify to what extent they affect the real universe, one needs to measure the mechanical energy output of quasars and assess the ability of this energy to produce the feedback. We have developed an observational/modeling program that has yielded the first reliable kinetic luminosity determinations of quasar broad absorption line (BAL) outflows, and have demonstrated that energetically they are indeed a major contributor to AGN feedback.

We summarize the results from numerical simulations of mass outflows from AGN. We focus on simulations of outflows driven by radiation from large-scale inflows. We discuss the properties of these outflows in the context of the so-called AGN feedback problem. Our main conclusion is that this type of outflow is efficient in removing matter but inefficient in removing energy.

In order to clarify the physics of AGN feedback and feeding, we need to understand the interstellar medium (ISM) in the central several tens of parsecs in galaxies where our observational and theoretical knowledge is relatively poor. Here we discuss feedback processes due to strong far UV and X-ray radiation, as well as the dynamical effect of a supermassive black hole (SMBH) based on new high-resolution numerical simulations of the ISM in the central R ≤ 32 pc region around a SMBH at the center of a galaxy.

Several AGNs have been reported to have ultra-high velocity (UHV) outflows (of order 0.3 ≳ ν/c ≳ 0.05) that are detected in their X-ray spectrum. Re-visiting these outflow observations reveal that the spectrum has changed along with the claimed outflows. The luminous quasar PDS 456 is the brightest AGN in which a UHV outflow has been claimed to be present in its grating spectrum. We report on an XMM–Newton observation of this source, as well as analysis of past observations, which reveal its variable nature and the variable nature of UHV outflows. In this object, as well as in a few others, repeated observations failed to reproduce the previous absorption spectra. This indicates that variability is common among the UHV winds. A discussion of the reality, significance, and the interpretation of the UHV outflow phenomenon is presented. If UHV outflows exist, they might be a transiting phenomenon, as indicated from repeated observations, and this has to be taken into account when studying the influence of these outflows on the surrounding galaxy.

We have carried out a large observational study of the radio luminosities, stellar populations, and environments of massive galaxies over the redshift range 0 < z < 1. Radio jets powered by an accreting central black hole are common in massive galaxies, and there is a large class of “optically quiet AGN,” with radio emission but no optical/IR signature of black-hole accretion. The central black holes in these galaxies are probably accreting in a radiatively inefficient mode, and our results suggest that “radio-mode feedback” as described by Croton et al. is likely to occur in all masssive early-type galaxies at z < 0.8. While it appears that radio-loud AGN occur episodically in all massive early-type galaxies, we also identify a sub-population of galaxies with powerful radio sources and a prominent younger (~ 108 yr) stellar population that may have undergone recent mergers.

The spectra of AGN, from the ultraviolet to the near infrared, exhibit emission lines covering a wide range of ionization states, from neutral species such as [O i] λ 6300, up to [Fe iv] λ 5303. Here we report on some recent studies of the properties of highly ionized lines (HILs), plus two case studies of individual objects. Future IFU observations at high spatial and good spectral resolution will probe the excitation and kinematics of the gas in the zone between the extended NLR and unresolved BLR. Multi-component SED fitting can be used to link the source of photoionization with the strengths and ratios of the HILs.

We present a study of the radial velocity offsets between AGN-related narrow emission lines and host-galaxy emission and absorption lines in Seyfert galaxies with observed redshifts less than 0.043. We find that 35% of the Seyferts in the sample show [O iii] emission lines with blueshifts with respect to their host galaxies exceeding 50 km s−1, whereas only 6% show redshifts this large, in qualitative agreement with most previous studies. We also find that a greater percentage of Seyfert 1 galaxies show blueshifts than Seyfert 2 galaxies. Using HST/STIS spatially-resolved spectra of the Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC 1068 and the Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC 4151, we generate geometric models of their narrow-line regions (NLRs) and inner galactic disks and show how these models can explain the blueshifted [O iii] emission lines in collapsed STIS spectra of these two Seyferts. We conclude that the combination of mass outflow of ionized gas in the NLR and extinction by dust in the inner disk (primarily in the form of dust spirals) is primarily responsible for the velocity offsets in Seyfert galaxies.

The motion of a black hole (BH) induces a strong response from the surrounding stellar population. We recall the case of an analytical harmonic potential where half of the stars on circular orbits in that potential shift to an orbit of lower energy, while the other half receive a positive boost and recede to a larger radius. The black hole itself remains on an orbit of fixed amplitude and merely acts as a catalyst for the evolution of the stellar energy distribution function f(E). Numerical integration with a response code show that this effect is operative out to a radius of ~3 to 4 times the radius of influence of the BH RBH. The results for the kinematic signature of BH motion are not sensitive to the shape of the potential and the temperature of the stars measured with Toomre's Q parameter. We report on the evolution of fully self-gravitating systems when damping of the BH orbit is way off the expected exponential decay obtained from the Chandrasekhar formula, a possible result from energy exchanges with the background stars.

Broad absorption lines (BALs) in quasar spectra identify high-velocity outflows that likely exist in all quasars and could play a major role in feedback to galaxy evolution (e.g., Di Matteo et al. 2005). Studying the variability in these BALs can help us understand the structure, evolution, and basic physical properties of these outflows. We are investigating BAL variability in a sample of 25 luminous quasars at 1.2 < z < 2.9 with multi-epoch observations that cover time scales from less than around a month to 7.7 years in the quasar rest-frame. We investigate changes in the C iv λ1549 BALs, and we see a variety of phenomena, including some BALs that either appeared or disappeared completely and other BALs that did not change at all over the whole observation period.

The goal of this work is to map the gas excitation and kinematics in the inner ~ 2 kiloparsecs of the radio-galaxy Arp 102B. Though being classified as an E0 galaxy, Arp 102B shows a nuclear gas spiral (Fathi et al., in preparation). Previous studies of the gas kinematics in nuclear spirals have led to the conclusion that these structures usually trace gas inflows (Fathi et al. 2006; [Storchi-Bergmann et al. 2007; [Riffel et al. 2008). We have used integral field spectroscopy obtained with GMOS instrument of the Gemini North telescope to investigate the nature of the nuclear spiral arms. The spectra cover the wavelength range 4400–7300 Å over a field of view of 5.″5 × 3.″9 (2.7 kpc × 1.9 kpc).

Recent work (Baskin & Laor 2004; Dong et al. 2009a, b) suggests that the Eddington ratio (l ≡ L/LEdd) is the origin of all the significant first-order object-to-object variations of quasar spectral properties from the zeroth-order similarity of AGN spectra; specifically, this includes the PC1 of Boroson & Green (1992), the classic or inverse Baldwin effect (Baldwin 1977), and even blueshifting (i.e., blue asymmetry) of high-ionization emission lines (Dong et al. 2009c).

Multiple XMM–Newton observations of the mini-BAL QSOs PG 1351+640 and PG 1126–041 revealed dramatic and complex spectral variability on different timescales, providing clues about the physical mechanism responsible for outflows in quasars.

Murray & Chiang (1997) developed a model wherein broad emission lines come from the optically thick base of a rotating, outwardly accelerating wind at the surface of an accretion disk. Photons preferentially escape radially in such a wind, explaining why broad emission lines are usually single-peaked. Less well understood are the observed shifts of emission-line peaks (from 1000 km s−1 redshifted to 2500 km s−1 blueshifted in C iv, with an average 800 km s−1 blueshift).

Accretion disk outflows are an important part of the quasar phenomenon. They might play a major role in distributing metals to the galactic surroundings, halting growth of the central black hole and providing kinetic energy “feedback” to regulate star formation in the host galaxies. Some models of galaxy evolution indicate that feedback requires kinetic energy luminosities, LK, that are ~5% of the quasar bolometric; LK/L = Ṁwν2/2η:Ṁaccc2 ~ 5% is possible if Ṁw ~ Ṁacc (with ν~ 0.1c, and η ~ 0.1). Here we describe results from two studies designed to test the theoretical energetics of radiatively driven outflows and derive observational constraints on the outflow geometry and physical properties emphasizing weaker outflow features like NALs and mini-BALs.

In this work, we present the spectra of NGC 4151 observed over 11 years (from 1996 to 2006) using the SAO 6-m and 1-m telescopes (Russia), the GHAO 2.1-m telescope (Cananea, México), and the OAN-SPM 2.1-m telescope (San-Pedro, México). The procedure of spectra calibration is given by Shapovalova et al. (2008). Our analysis is focused on high-quality (S/N > 50) spectra of the Hα and Hβ emission lines.

In HST/STIS optical spectra of Seyfert galaxies, there is often a bright knot of [O iii] emission in the inner NLR. In the case of the Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC 4151, we have shown that the emission-line gas may be associated with the mass outflow detected in absorption in UV spectra, which suggests that we are probing regions close to the AGN. Here we present results for the luminous Seyfert 2 galaxy Mrk 573. The spectra reveal the presence of lines from a wide range of ionization states (see Figure 1), which is indicative of the heterogeneous nature of the emission-line gas. As in our studies of other Seyfert galaxies, including NGC 1068, NGC 4151, and Mrk 3, there is evidence for emission from low-ionization gas outside the nominal emission-line bicone. Finally, based on photoionization modeling, we find that the central emission-line knot in Mrk 573 is some tens of parsecs from the AGN, similar to other Seyfert 2 galaxies, which suggests that the material that is obscuring the central AGN in Seyfert 2s must have a similar radial extent.

We have measured the probability distribution function of the ratio RX = log L1.4/LX, where L1.4/LX = ν Lν(1.4 GHz)/LX(2–10 keV), between the 1.4 GHz and the unabsorbed 2–10 keV luminosities and its dependence on LX and z. We have used a complete sample of ~1800 hard X-ray selected AGN, observed in the 1.4 GHz band, cross-correlated in order to exclude FR II-type objects, and thus obtain a contemporaneous measure of the radio and X-ray emission. The distribution P(RX|LX,z) is shown in Figure 1. Convolution of the distribution P(RX|LX,z) with the 2–10 keV X-ray AGN luminosity function from La Franca et al. (2005) and the relations between radio power and kinetic energy from Best et al. (2006) and Willott et al. (1999) allows us to derive the AGN kinetic power and its evolution. As shown in Figure 1, our results are in good agreement with the predictions of the most recent models of galaxy formation and evolution (e.g., Croton et al. 2006), where AGN radio feedback is required to quench the star formation.

We present results from a survey of nearby AGN using the adaptive optics assisted integral-field spectrometer SINFONI on the VLT. These data enable us to study at high angular resolution (~ 0.″08) the distribution and kinematics of the low-ionization gas traced by the BrΓλ2.17 μm recombination line and [Si vi] λ 1.96 μm, [Al ix] λ 2.04 μm, and [Ca viii] λ 2.32 μm, the most prominent coronal lines in the near-IR. Overall, our results show that the coronal lines extend to a radius similar to that of narrow Brγ emission, mimicking in most cases the narrow-line region (NLR). In addition, the kinematics of the highly ionized species, and most of the Brγ kinematics, is dominated by non-circular motions with higher dispersion along the ionization cones, indicating that material is being accelerated and outflowing from a region very close to the AGN.

A soft (E≲2 keV) excess over the power-law component dominant at higher energies has been found in the X-ray spectra of many Seyfert galaxies. The origin of the soft excess is still an open issue. In the past it was often associated with the high-energy tail of the thermal emission of the accretion disk, but it has been shown recently that the temperature of the disk should be constant (0.1–0.2 keV), regardless of the mass and luminosity of the AGN (Gierlinski & Done 2004). This result implies that some other mechanism is at work, as the temperature of the disk should depend on both the mass of the black hole and the accretion rate.

Previous studies of the central region of active galaxies show that the molecular and ionized gas have distinct kinematics and flux distributions, with the former dominated by quiescent kinematics characteristic of rotation in the galactic plane and the latter with more disturbed kinematics and apparently extending to larger galactic latitudes. These results suggest that the molecular gas can be a tracer of the feeding of the AGN and the ionized gas a tracer of its feedback (e.g., Riffel et al. 2009, 2008, 2006; Storchi-Bergmann et al. 2009a, b). In the present study we use Gemini NIFS integral field observations of the inner 700×700 pc2 of the Seyfert galaxy Mrk 1066 at a spatial resolution of ~ 35 pc to investigate if the above scenario is also valid for this galaxy.