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We use James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) medium-resolution spectrometer (MRS) observations of UGC 8782, CGCG 012-070 and NGC 3884 to investigate the origin of the H$_2$ emission. These three nearby AGN hosts are known to present H$_2$ emission excess relative to star-forming galaxies, as traced by the H$_2$ S(3)/PAH$_{\rm 11.3\mu m}$ line ratio. For every spaxel, we also measure the velocity width ($W_{\rm 80}$) of H$_2$ S(3). We find that the distribution of H$_2$ in the space of these parameters - H$_2$/PAH and its velocity width - is bimodal: one cluster of points shows approximately constant values of $W_{\rm 80}$, while the other cluster exhibits a strong correlation between $W_{\rm 80}$ and H$_2$/PAH. We estimated the temperature of the H$_2$ gas assuming a power-law distribution and find flatter distributions in regions where a correlation between $W_{\rm 80}$ and H$_2$ S(3)/PAH$_{\rm 11.3\mu m}$ is observed. Additionally, we observed a correlation between the [Fe II]$_{\rm 5.34 \mu m}$ (a known shock tracer) and the H$_2$ emission. This indicates that the excess H$_2$ emission excess is associated to shock heating of the gas, generated by outflows or by the interaction of the radio jet with the ambient gas., Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures, submitted to ApJ. Comments are welcome

The influence of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) on star formation within their host galaxies remains a topic of intense debate. One of the primary challenges in quantifying the star formation rate (SFR) within AGN hosts arises from the prevalent assumption in most methodologies, which attribute gas excitation to young stars alone. However, this assumption does not consider the contribution of the AGN to the ionization of the gas in their environment. To address this issue, we evaluate the use of strong optical emission lines to obtain the SFR surface density ($\Sigma{{\rm SFR_{AGN}}}$) in regions predominantly ionized by an AGN, using a sample of 293 AGN hosts from the MaNGA survey, with SFR measurements available through stellar population fitting. We propose calibrations involving the H$\alpha$ and [O\,{\sc iii}]$\lambda$5007 emission lines, which can be used to determine $\Sigma{{\rm SFR_{AGN}}}$, resulting in values consistent with those estimated through stellar population fitting., Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS

We explore the relations between the gas-phase metallicity radial profiles (few hundred inner parsec) and multiple galaxy properties for 15 Seyfert galaxies from the AGNIFS (Active Galactic Nuclei Integral Field Spectroscopy) sample using optical Integral Field Unit (IFU) observations from Gemini Multi-Object Spectrographs (GMOS) and Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) processed archival data. The data were selected at $z \lesssim 0.013$ within black hole mass range $\left[6<\log \left(M_{\rm BH}/{\rm M_\odot} \right)<9\right]$ with moderate 14--150\,keV X-ray luminosities $\left[42\,\lesssim\,\log L_X (\rm erg\,s^{-1})\,\lesssim\,44\right]$. We estimated the gas-phase metallicity using the strong-line methods and found mean values for the oxygen dependent ($Z \sim 0.75Z_\odot$) and nitrogen dependent ($Z \sim 1.14Z_\odot$) calibrations. These estimates show excellent agreement with $\Delta Z \approx 0.19$ dex and $\Delta Z \approx 0.18$ dex between the mean values from the two strong-line calibrations for GMOS and MUSE respectively, consistent with the order of metallicity uncertainty via the strong-line methods. We contend that our findings align with a scenario wherein local Seyferts have undergone seamless gas accretion histories, resulting in positive metallicity profile over an extended period of time, thereby providing insights into galaxy evolution and the chemical enrichment or depletion of the universe. Additionally, we argue that metal-poor gas inflow from the local interstellar medium (ISM) and accreted through the circumgalactic medium (CGM) onto the galaxy systems regulates the star formation processes by diluting their central metallicity and inverting their metallicity gradients, producing a more prominent anti-correlation between gas-phase metallicity and Eddington ratio., Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS; doi: 10.1093/mnras/stae2263

We studied the ionized gas in the inner region ($\sim680\times470$ pc$^2$) of the galaxy NGC 6868 using Gemini/GMOS integral field unit observations. Channel maps reveal complex kinematics and morphology, indicating multiple processes at work in NGC 6868. Through emission-line fitting, we identified two ubiquitous components in our data: a narrow ($\sigma\sim110$ km s$^{-1}$) tracing an ionized gas disc and a broad component ($\sigma\sim300$ km s$^{-1}$) mainly associated with inflowing/outflowing gas. The derived V-band reddening shows a spatial distribution consistent with that obtained from stellar population synthesis, although with generally higher values. For the first time, we measured the electron temperature in NGC 6868, finding values ranging from $\sim 14000$ K in the central region to $\gtrsim20000$ K with an outward increasing temperature gradient. The electron density map exhibits an inverse relationship, with central values reaching $N_e\sim4000$ cm$^{-3}$ for the broad component decreasing to $N_e\sim100$ cm$^{-3}$ towards the edges of the field of view. Using BPT diagrams, we found that all spaxels are consistent with both AGN and shock ionization. However, when this information is combined with our kinematic and temperature findings, and further supported by the WHAN diagram, we argue that an AGN is the dominant ionisation mechanism in the central region of NGC 6868, while the extended outer component is ionized by a combination of hot low-mass evolved stars and shocks. According to our findings, shocks play a significant role in the ionization balance of this galaxy., Comment: 16 pages, 16 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS

We use the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) medium-resolution spectrometer (MRS) observations of the radio loud AGN host UGC 8782 to map the warm molecular and ionized gas kinematics. The data reveal spatially resolved outflows in the inner 2 kpc, seen in low ionization (traced by the [Ar ii] 6.99um emission) and in warm molecular gas (traced by the H2 rotational transitions). We find a maximum mass-outflow rate of 4.90 (2.04) M/yr at ~900 pc from the nucleus for the warm outflow (198 K< T< 1000 K) and estimate and outflow rate of up to 1.22 (0.51) M/yr for the hotter gas phase (T > 1000 K). These outflows can clear the entire nuclear reservoir of warm molecular gas in about 1 Myr. The derived kinetic power of the molecular outflows lead to coupling efficiencies of 2-5 percent of the AGN luminosity, way above the minimum expected to the AGN feedback be effective quenching the star formation., Comment: Accepted for publication at APJ

We analyze the Spitzer spectra of 140 active galactic nuclei (AGN) detected in the hard X-rays (14-195 keV) by the Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) on board Swift. This sample allows us to probe several orders of magnitude in black hole masses ($10^6-10^9 M_{\odot}$), Eddington ratios ($10^{-3}-1$), X-ray luminosities ($10^{42}-10^{45}\rm\,erg\,s^{-1}$), and X-ray column densities ($10^{20}-10^{24}\rm\,cm^{-2}$). The AGN emission is expected to be the dominant source of ionizing photons with energies $\gtrsim50$ eV, and therefore high-ionization mid-infrared (MIR) emission lines such as [Ne V] 14.32, 24.32 $\mu$m and [O IV] 25.89 $\mu$m are predicted to be good proxies of AGN activity, and robust against obscuration effects. We find high detection rates ($\gtrsim85-90$ per cent) for the mid-infrared coronal emission lines in our AGN sample. The luminosities of these lines are correlated with the 14-150 keV luminosity (with a typical scatter of $\sigma \sim 0.4-0.5$ dex), strongly indicating that the mid-infrared coronal line emission is driven by AGN activity. Interestingly, we find that the coronal lines are more tightly correlated to the bolometric luminosity ($\sigma \sim 0.2-0.3$ dex), calculated from careful analysis of the spectral energy distribution, than to the X-ray luminosity. We find that the relationship between the coronal line strengths and $L_{14-150\rm\,keV}$ is independent of black hole mass, Eddington ratio and X-ray column density. This confirms that the mid-infrared coronal lines can be used as unbiased tracers of the AGN power for X-ray luminosities in the $10^{42}-10^{45}\rm\,erg\,s^{-1}$ range., Comment: ApJ in press

We present a kinematic analysis based on the large Integral Field Spectroscopy (IFS) dataset of SDSS-IV MaNGA (10.000 galaxies). We have compiled a diverse sample of 594 unique Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN), identified through a variety of independent selection techniques, encompassing radio (1.4 GHz) observations, optical emission line diagnostics (BPT), broad Balmer emission lines, mid-infrared colors, and hard X-ray emission. We investigate how ionized gas kinematics behave in these different AGN populations through stacked radial profiles of the [OIII]~5007 emission-line width across each AGN population. We contrast AGN populations against each other (and non-AGN galaxies) by matching samples by stellar mass, [OIII]~5007 luminosity, morphology, and redshift. We find similar kinematics between AGN selected by BPT diagnostics compared to broad-line selected AGN. We also identify a population of non-AGN with similar radial profiles as AGN, indicative of the presence of remnant outflows (or fossil outflows) of a past AGN activity. We find that purely radio-selected AGN display enhanced ionized gas line widths across all radii. This suggests that our radio-selection technique is sensitive to a population where AGN-driven kinematic perturbations have been active for longer durations (potentially due to recurrent activity) than in purely optically selected AGN. This connection between radio activity and extended ionized gas outflow signatures is consistent with recent evidence that suggests radio emission (expected to be diffuse) originated due to shocks from outflows. We conclude that different selection techniques can trace different AGN populations not only in terms of energetics but also in terms of AGN evolutionary stages. Our results are important in the context of AGN duty cycle and highlight IFU data's potential to deepen our knowledge of AGN and galaxy evolution.

For the first time, a calibration between the HeI $\lambda5876$/H$\beta$ emission line ratio and the helium abundance $y$=12+log(He/H) for Narrow line regions (NLRs) of Seyfert~2 Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) is proposed. In this context, observational data (taken from the SDSS-DR15 and from the literature) and direct abundance estimates (via the $T_{\rm e}$-method) for a sample of 65 local ($z \: < \: 0.2$) Seyfert~2 nuclei are considered. The resulting calibration estimates the $y$ abundance with an average uncertainty of 0.02 dex. Applying our calibration to spectroscopic data containing only strong emission lines, it yields a helium abundance distribution similar to that obtained via the $T_{\rm e}$-method. Some cautions must be considered to apply our calibration for Seyfert~2 nuclei with high values of electron temperature ($\gtrsim\: 20\,000$ K) or ionization parameter ($\log U > -2.0$)., Comment: Accepted for publication as Letter in MNRAS

We derive the nitrogen and oxygen abundances in the Narrow Line Regions (NLRs) of a sample of 38 local ($z \: < \: 0.4$) Seyfert~2 nuclei. For that, we consider narrow optical emission line intensities and direct estimates of the electron temperatures ($T_{\rm e}$-method). We find nitrogen abundances in the range $7.6 \: < \: \rm 12+log(N/H) \: < \: 8.6$ (mean value $8.06\pm0.22$) or $\rm 0.4 \: < \: (N/N_{\odot}) \: < 4.7$, in the metallicity regime $8.3 \: < \: \rm 12+log(O/H) \: < \: 9.0$. Our results indicate that the dispersion in N/H abundance for a fixed O/H value in AGNs is in agreement with that for disc \ion{H}{ii} regions with similar metallicity. We show that Seyfert~2 nuclei follow a similar (N/O)-(O/H) relation to the one followed by star-forming objects. Finally, we find that active galaxies called as 'nitrogen-loud' observed at very high redshift ($z \: > \: 5$) show N/O values in consonance with those derived for local NLRs. This result indicates that the main star-formation event is completed in the early evolution stages of active galaxies., Comment: Submitted to MNRAS. Comments are welcome!

Near-infrared long-slit spectroscopy has been used to study the stellar population (SP) of the low luminosity active galactic nuclei (AGN) and matched analogues (LLAMA) sample. To perform the SP fits we have employed the X-shooter simple stellar population models together with the \st\ code. Our main conclusions are: The star formation history of the AGNs is very complex, presenting many episodes of star formation during their lifetimes. In general, AGN hosts have higher fractions of intermediate-age SP (light-weighted mean ages, $_L\lesssim$ 4.5 Gyr) when compared with their analogues ($_L\lesssim$ 8.0 Gyr). AGN are more affected by reddening and require significant fractions of featureless continuum and hot dust components. The ratio between the AGN radiated energy and the gravitational potential energy of the molecular gas ($E_{Rad}$/$E_{PG}$) for the AGN is compared with the \maL\ and a possible anti-correlation is observed. This suggests that the AGN is affecting the star formation in these galaxies, in the sense that more energetic AGN (log$(E_{Rad}$/$E_{PG}) \gtrsim 3$) tend to host nuclear younger SP ($ _L \lesssim$4Gyr). We found that the recent ($t<$2~Gyr) returned (recycled) stellar mass is higher in AGN than in the controls. We also provide evidence that the mass loss of stars would be enough to feed the AGN, thus providing observational constraints for models that predict that AGN feeding is partially due to the recycled gas from dying stars., Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS

Most of the observed galaxies cannot be resolved into individual stars and are studied through their integrated spectrum using simple stellar populations (SSPs) models, with stellar libraries being a key ingredient in building them. Spectroscopic observations are increasingly being directed towards the near-infrared (NIR), where much is yet to be explored. SSPs in the NIR are still limited, and there are inconsistencies between different sets of models. One of the ways to minimize this problem is to have reliable NIR stellar libraries. The main goal of this work is to present SMARTY (mileS Moderate resolution neAr-infRared sTellar librarY) a ~0.9-2.4$\mu$m stellar spectral library composed of 31 stars observed with the Gemini Near-IR Spectrograph (GNIRS) at the 8.1m Gemini North telescope and make it available to the community. The stars were chosen from the SMARTY library, for which the atmospheric parameters are reliable (and well tested), to populate different regions of the Hertzsprung-Russell (HR) diagram. Furthermore, five of these stars have NIR spectra available that we use to assess the quality of SMARTY. The remaining 26 stars are presented for the first time in the NIR. We compared the observed SMARTY spectra with synthetic and interpolated spectra, finding a mean difference of ~20% in the equivalent widths and ~1% in the overall continuum shape in both sets of comparisons. We computed the spectrophotometric broadband magnitudes and colours and compared them with the 2MASS ones, resulting in mean differences up to 0.07 and 0.10mag in magnitudes and colours, respectively. In general, a small difference was noted between the SMARTY spectra corrected using the continuum from the interpolated and the theoretical stars.

We study the ionised gas kinematics of 293 Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) hosts as compared to that of 485 control galaxies from the MaNGA-SDSS survey using measurements of the [OIII]$\lambda$5007\AA emission-line profiles, presenting flux, velocity and W$_{80}$ maps. In 45% of the AGN, a broad component was needed to fit the line profiles wings within the inner few kpc, that we have identified with an outflow. But in most AGN, the profiles are broader than that of their controls over a much more extended region, identified as the "kinematically disturbed regions" (KDRs). We find a positive correlation between the mean $\langle$W$_{80}\rangle$ and L[OIII], supporting that the KDR is due to heating and turbulence of the ISM by outflows and radiation from the AGN. The extent R$_{KDR}$ reaches up to 24kpc, with a mean ratio to that of the ENLR of 57%. We estimate ionised gas mass flow rates ($\dot{M}_{\rm out}$) and kinetic powers ($\dot{E}_{\rm out}$) both from the AGN broad components and from the W$_{80}$ values, that can be obtained for the whole AGN sample. We find values for $\dot{M}_{\rm out}$ and $\dot{E}_{\rm out}$ that correlate with the AGN luminosity $L_{bol}$, populating the low luminosity end of these known correlations. The mean coupling efficiency between $\dot{E}_{\rm out}$ and AGN luminosity is $\approx$ 0.02% from the W$_{80}$ values and lower from the broad component. But the large extent of the KDR shows that even low-luminosity AGN can impact the host galaxy along several kpc in a "maintenance mode" feedback.

We study 51 jellyfish galaxy candidates in the Fornax, Antlia, and Hydra clusters. These candidates are identified using the JClass scheme based on the visual classification of wide-field, twelve-band optical images obtained from the Southern Photometric Local Universe Survey. A comprehensive astrophysical analysis of the jellyfish (JClass > 0), non-jellyfish (JClass = 0), and independently organized control samples is undertaken. We develop a semi-automated pipeline using self-supervised learning and similarity search to detect jellyfish galaxies. The proposed framework is designed to assist visual classifiers by providing more reliable JClasses for galaxies. We find that jellyfish candidates exhibit a lower Gini coefficient, higher entropy, and a lower 2D S\'ersic index as the jellyfish features in these galaxies become more pronounced. Jellyfish candidates show elevated star formation rates (including contributions from the main body and tails) by $\sim$1.75 dex, suggesting a significant increase in the SFR caused by the ram-pressure stripping phenomenon. Galaxies in the Antlia and Fornax clusters preferentially fall towards the cluster's centre, whereas only a mild preference is observed for Hydra galaxies. Our self-supervised pipeline, applied in visually challenging cases, offers two main advantages: it reduces human visual biases and scales effectively for large datasets. This versatile framework promises substantial enhancements in morphology studies for future galaxy image surveys., Comment: 25 pages, 22 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS

We have characterized the ionized, neutral, and warm molecular gas kinematics in the Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC 3227 using observations from the Hubble Space Telescope Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph, Apache Point Observatory's Kitt Peak Ohio State Multi-Object Spectrograph, Gemini-North's Near-Infrared Integral Field Spectrometer, and the Atacama Large Millimeter Array. We fit multiple Gaussians to several spatially-resolved emission lines observed with long-slit and integral-field spectroscopy and isolate the kinematics based on apparent rotational and outflowing motions. We use the kinematics to determine an orientation for the bicone along which the outflows travel, and find that the biconical structure has an inclination of $40 ^{+5}_{-4}${\deg} from our line of sight, and a half-opening angle with an inner and outer boundary of $47 ^{+6}_{-2}${\deg} and $68 ^{+1}_{-1}${\deg}, respectively. We observe ionized outflows traveling 500 km s$^{-1}$ at distances up to 7$''$ (800 pc) from the SMBH, and disturbed ionized gas up to a distance of 15$''$ (1.7 kpc). Our analysis reveals that the ionized outflows are launched from within 20 pc of the SMBH, at the same location as a bridge of cold gas across the nucleus detected in ALMA CO(2-1) observations. We measure a turnover radius where the gas starts decelerating at a distance of $26 \pm 6$ pc from the AGN. Compared to a turnover radius in the range of $31- 63$ pc from a radiative driving model, we confirm that radiative driving is the dominant acceleration mechanism for the narrow line region (NLR) outflows in NGC 3227., Comment: 26 pages, 17 figures

We present Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS) spectroscopic observations of 95 galaxies from the Arp & Madore (1987) catalogue of peculiar galaxies. These galaxies have been selected because they appear to be in pairs and small groups. These observations have allowed us to confirm that 60 galaxies are indeed interacting systems. For the confirmed interacting sample, we have built a matched control sample of isolated galaxies. We present an analysis of the stellar populations and nuclear activity in the interacting galaxies and compare them with the isolated galaxies. We find a median light (mass) fraction of 55% (10%) in the interacting galaxies coming from stellar populations younger than 2 Gyr and 28% (3%) in the case of the isolated galaxies. More than half of the interacting galaxies are dominated by this young stellar population, while the isolated ones have most of their light coming from older stellar populations. We used a combination of diagnostic diagrams (BPTs and WHAN) to classify the main ionization mechanisms of the gas. The interacting galaxies in our sample consistently show a higher fraction of active galactic nuclei (AGN) relative to the control sample, which ranges between 1.6 and 4 depending on the combination of diagnostic diagrams employed to classify the galaxies and the number of galaxies considered. Our study provides further observational evidence that interactions drive star formation and nuclear activity in galaxies and can have a significant impact on galaxy evolution., Comment: 42 pages, 17 figures and 15 tables. Accepted for publication in A&A

Recent studies on dwarf galaxies reveal that some of them harbor a massive black hole (BH), which is believed to have a similar mass of the Supermassive BH "seeds" at early times. The origin and growth of the primitive BHs are still open questions, since these BH seeds are hardly observed at high redshifts. Therefore, massive BH of dwarf galaxies can be the perfect candidates to untangle BH "seeds" properties and their influence on their host galaxy evolution, since massive BH may preserve their initial conditions due to its quiet merger and accretion histories. We use optical integral field unit observations, obtained with the Gemini GMOS-IFU, to study the gas emission and kinematics in four dwarf galaxies, candidates to host massive BH, based on the analysis of their [Fe X] luminosities measured from SDSS spectra. The [Fe X] emission line is not detected in our GMOS in any of the galaxies, prompting speculation that its absence in our recent data may stem from a past tidal disruption event coinciding with the observation period of the SDSS data. All galaxies exhibit extended gas emissions, and the spatially resolved emission-line ratio diagnostic diagrams present values that suggest AGN photoionization from the [S II] - BPT diagram. The gas velocity fields of all galaxies are indicative of disturbed rotation patterns, with no detection of gas outflows in any of the sources. Although the [S II] - BPT diagrams indicate AGN photoionization, further confirmation through multi-wavelength observations is required to validate this scenario.

We analyze the validity of optical diagnostic diagrams relying on emission-lines ratios and in the context of classifying Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs) according to the cosmic metallicity evolution in the redshift range 0 < z < 11.2. In this regard, we fit the results of chemical evolution models (CEMs) to the radial gradients of the N/O abundances ratio derived through direct estimates of electron temperatures (Te-method) in a sample of four local spiral galaxies. This approach allows us to select representative CEMs and extrapolate the radial gradients to the nuclear regions of the galaxies in our sample, inferring in this way the central N/O and O/H abundances. The nuclear abundance predictions for theoretical galaxies from the selected CEMs, at distinct evolutionary stages, are used as input parameters in AGN photoionization models built with the Cloudy code. We found that standard BPT diagnostic diagrams are able to classify AGNs with oxygen abundances 12+logO/H > 8.0 [(Z/Zsolar) > 0.2) preferably found at redshift z > 4. On the other hand, the HeII4685/Hbeta versus [N II]6584/Halpha diagram produces a reliable AGN classification independent of the evolutionary stage of these objects., Comment: 22 pages, 13 figures, Accepted for publication in MNRAS

We use VLT-MUSE integral field unit data to study the ionized gas physical properties and kinematics as well as the stellar populations of the Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC\,232 as an opportunity to understand the role of AGN feedback on star formation. The data cover a field of view of 60$\times$60 arcsec$^{2}$ at a spatial resolution of $\sim$\,850\,pc. The emission-line profiles have been fitted with two Gaussian components, one associated to the emission of the gas in the disc and the other due to a bi-conical outflow. The spectral synthesis suggests a predominantly old stellar population with ages exceeding 2\,Gyr, with the largest contributions seen at the nucleus and decreasing outwards. Meanwhile, the young and intermediate age stellar populations exhibit a positive gradient with increasing radius and a circum-nuclear star forming ring with radius of $\sim$0.5\,kpc traced by stars younger than 20 Myr, is observed. This, along with the fact that AGN and SF dominated regions present similar gaseous oxygen abundances, suggests a shared reservoir feeding both star formation and the AGN. We have estimated a maximum outflow rate in ionized gas of $\sim$1.26\,M${\odot}$\,yr$^{-1}$ observed at a distance of $\sim$560 pc from the nucleus. The corresponding maximum kinetic power of the outflow is $\sim3.4\times10^{41}$ erg\,s$^{-1}$. This released energy could be sufficient to suppress star formation within the ionization cone, as evidenced by the lower star formation rates observed in this region., Comment: 14 pages,10 figures. Submitted to MNRAS

Different studies have reported the so-called temperature problem of the narrow line region (NLR) of active galactic nuclei (AGNs). Its origin is still an open issue. To properly address its cause, a trustworthy temperature indicator is required. We propose that the weak [ArIV] 4711,40A doublet is the appropriate tool for evaluating the density of the high excitation plasma. We subsequently made use of the recent S7 survey sample to extract reliable measurements of the weak [ArIV] doublet in 16 high excitation Seyfert 2s. As a result we could derive the plasma density of the NLR of our Seyfert 2 sample and compare the temperature inferred from the observed [OIII] (4363A/5007A) ratios. It was found that 13 Seyfert 2s cluster near similar values as the [OIII] (4363A/5007A) ratio, at a mean value of 0.0146+-0.0020. Three objects labeled outliers stand out at markedly higher [OIII] values (> 0.03). If for each object one assumes a single density, the values inferred from the [ArIV] doublet for the 13 clustering objects all lie below 60,000 cm-3, indicating that the [OIII] (4363A/5007A) ratios in these objects is a valid tracer of plasma temperature. Even when assuming a continuous power-law distribution of the density, the inferred cut-off density required to reproduce the observed [ArIV] doublet is in all cases < 1E5.1 cm-3. The average NLR temperature inferred for the 13 Seyfert 2s is 13,000+-703 K, which photoionization models have difficulty reproducing. Subsequently we considered different mechanisms to account for the observed [OIII] ratios. For the three outliers, a double-bump density distribution is likely required, with the densest component having a density > 1E6 cm-3., Comment: 21 pages, 9 figures, submitted to A&A, accepted on 4th of Jan 2024

We present spaxel-by-spaxel stellar population fits for the $\sim$10 thousand MaNGA datacubes. We provide multiple extension fits files, nominated as MEGACUBES, with maps of several properties as well as emission-line profiles that are provided for each spaxel. All the MEGACUBES are available through a web interface (\url{https://manga.linea.org.br/} or \url{http://www.if.ufrgs.br/~riffel/software/megacubes/}). We also defined a final Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) sample, as well as a control sample matching the AGN host galaxy properties. We have analysed the stellar populations and spatially resolved emission-line diagnostic diagrams of these AGNs and compared them with the control galaxies sample. We find that the relative fractions of young ($t \leq $56 Myr) and intermediate-age (100 Myr $\leq t \leq$ 2 Gyr) show predominantly a positive gradient for both AGNs and controls. The relative fraction of intermediate-age stellar population is higher in AGN hosts when compared to the control sample, and this difference becomes larger for higher [O III] luminosity AGNs. We attribute this to the fact that extra gas is available in these more luminous sources and that it most likely originates from mass-loss from the intermediate-age stars. The spatially resolved diagnostic diagrams reveal that the AGN emission is concentrated in the inner 0.5 $R_e$ (effective radius) region of the galaxies, showing that the AGN classification is aperture dependent and that emission-line ratios have to be taken together with the H$\alpha$ equivalent width for proper activity classification. We present a composite ``BPT+WHAN" diagram that produces a more comprehensive mapping of the gas excitation., Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS; small typos corrected

We present a two-dimensional study of the gas distribution, excitation and kinematics of the OH absorber galaxy IRAS 19154+2704 using Gemini GMOS-IFU observations. Its continuum image shows a disturbed morphology indicative of a past or on-going interaction. The ionised gas emission presents two kinematic components: a narrow ($\sigma\lesssim$300 km s$^{-1}$) component that may be tracing the gas orbiting in the galaxy potential and a broad ($\sigma\gtrsim$500 km s$^{-1}$) component which is produced by an Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN) driven outflow, with velocities reaching $-$500 km s$^{-1}$ which may exceed the escape velocity of the galaxy. The emission-line ratios and BPT diagrams confirm that the gas excitation in the inner $\sim$2 kpc is mainly due the AGN, while in regions farther away, a contribution from star formation is observed. We estimate a mass outflow rate of $\dot{M}_{\rm out}=4.0\pm2.6$ M$_\odot$ yr$^{-1}$ at a distance of 850 pc from the nucleus. The corresponding outflow kinetic power $\dot{E}_{\rm out} = (2.5\pm1.6)\times10^{42}$ erg s$^{-1}$, is only $3\times10^{-4}$ L$_{\rm bol}$ (the AGN luminosity), but the large mass-outflow rate, if kept for a $\sim$10 Myr AGN lifecycle, will expel $\approx10^8$ M$_\odot$ in ionised gas alone. This is the 6th of a series of papers in which we have investigated the kinematics of ULIRGS, most of which are interacting galaxies showing OH Megamasers. IRAS19154 shows the strongest signatures of an active AGN, supporting an evolutionary scenario: interactions trigger AGN that fully appear in the most advanced stages of the interaction., Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS

Variability studies have proven to be a powerful diagnostic tool for understanding the physics and properties of of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs). They provide insights into the spatial and temporal distribution of the emitting regions, the structure and dynamics of the accretion disk, and the properties of the central black hole. Here, we have analysed the K-band spectral variability of the Seyfert 1.9/2 galaxy NGC4388 spanning five epochs over a period of ten years. We have performed spectral synthesis of the nuclear region and found that the contribution of warm dust (T~800K) declined by 88% during these 10 years. In the same period, the [CaVIII] coronal line decreased 61%, whereas BrG emission declined 35%. For the HeI and H2, we did not detect any significant variation beyond their uncertainties. Based on the time span of these changes, we estimate that the region where the warm dust is produced is smaller than 0.6pc, which suggests that this spectral feature comes from the innermost part of the region sampled, directly from the AGN torus. On the other hand, the bulk of [CaVIII] is produced in the inner ~2pc and the nuclear BrG region is more extended, spanning a region larger than 3pc. Lastly, HeI and H2 are even more external, with most of the emission probably being produced in the host galaxy rather than in the AGN. This is the first spectroscopic variability study in the NIR for an AGN where the central source is not directly visible., Comment: Accepted in MNRAS. 8 pages, 3 figures

We use Gemini integral field unit observations to map the stellar population properties in the inner region ($\sim680\times470$ pc$^2$) of the galaxy NGC 6868. In order to understand the physical and chemical properties of the stellar content of this galaxy, we performed stellar population synthesis using the starlight code with the MILES simple stellar population models. We measured the absorption line indices Fe4383, Mg$_2$, Mg$_b$, Fe5270, Fe5335 for the whole FoV, and used them to derive Fe3 and [MgFe]'. These indices were used to derive [$\alpha$/Fe]. This galaxy is dominated by old metal-rich populations (12.6 Gyr; 1.0 and 1.6 Z$_\odot$) with a negative metallicity gradient. We also found a recent ($\sim63$ Myr) metal-rich (1.6 Z$_{\odot}$) residual star formation in the centre of the galaxy. A dust lane with a peak extinction in the V band of 0.65 mag is seen. No signs of ordered stellar motion are found and the stellar kinematics is dispersion dominated. All indices show a spatial profile varying significantly along the FoV. Mg$_2$ shows a shallow gradient, compatible with the occurrence of mergers in the past. Mg$_b$ and Fe3 profiles suggest different enrichment processes for these elements. We observe three distinct regions: for $R<100$pc and $R>220$pc, Mg$_2$, Mg$_b$ anti correlate with respect to Fe3 and [MgFe]', and for $100 \text{pc}

We present two independent measurements of stellar velocity dispersions ( $\sigma_\rm{\star}$ ) from the Ca\,H+K \& Mg\,\textsc{i} region (3880--5550~\AA) and the Calcium Triplet region (CaT, 8350--8750~\AA) for 173 hard X-ray-selected Type 1 AGNs ($z \leq$ 0.08) from the 105-month Swift-BAT catalog. We construct one of the largest samples of local Type 1 AGNs that have both single-epoch (SE) 'virial' black hole mass ($M_\rm{BH}$) estimates and $\sigma_\rm{\star}$ measurements obtained from high spectral resolution data, allowing us to test the usage of such methods for SMBH studies. We find that the two independent $\sigma_\rm{\star}$ measurements are highly consistent with each other, with an average offset of only $0.002\pm0.001$ dex. Comparing $M_\rm{BH}$ estimates based on broad emission lines and stellar velocity dispersion measurements, we find that the former is systematically lower by $\approx$0.12 dex. Consequently, Eddington ratios estimated through broad-line $M_\rm{BH}$ determinations are similarly biased (but in the opposite way). We argue that the discrepancy is driven by extinction in the broad-line region (BLR). We also find an anti-correlation between the offset from the $M_\rm{BH}$ - $\sigma_\rm{\star}$ relation and the Eddington ratio. Our sample of Type 1 AGNs shows a shallower $M_\rm{BH}$ - $\sigma_\rm{\star}$ relation (with a power law exponent of $\approx$3.5) compared with that of inactive galaxies (with a power-law exponent of $\approx$4.5), confirming earlier results obtained from smaller samples., Comment: Accepted by the ApJ

Black hole driven outflows in galaxies hosting active galactic nuclei (AGN) may interact with their interstellar medium (ISM) affecting star formation. Such feedback processes, reminiscent of those seen in massive galaxies, have been reported recently in some dwarf galaxies. However, such studies have usually been on kiloparsec and larger scales and our knowledge on the smallest spatial scales to which these feedback processes can operate is unclear. Here we demonstrate radio jet$-$ISM interaction on the scale of an asymmetric triple radio structure of $\sim$ 10 parsec size in NGC 4395. This triple radio structure is seen in the 15 GHz continuum image and the two asymmetric jet-like structures are situated on either side of the radio core that coincides with the optical {\it Gaia} position. The high resolution radio image and the extended [OIII]$\lambda$5007 emission, indicative of an outflow, are spatially coincident and are consistent with the interpretation of a low power radio jet interacting with the ISM. Modelling of the spectral lines using {\tt MAPPINGS}, and estimation of temperature using optical integral field spectroscopic data suggest shock ionization of the gas. The continuum emission at 237 GHz, though weak, was found to spatially coincide with the AGN. However, the CO(2$-$1) line emission was found to be displaced by around 20 parsec northward of the AGN core. The spatial coincidence of molecular H$_2$$\lambda$2.4085 along the jet direction, the morphology of ionised [OIII]$\lambda$5007 and displacement of the CO(2$-$1) emission argues for conditions less favourable for star formation in the central $\sim$ 10 parsec region., Comment: 20 pages, 18 figures, accepted for the publication of The Astrophysical Journal

We use optical Integral Field Spectroscopy (IFU) to study the gas emission structure and kinematics in the inner 3.4$\times$4.9 kpc$^2$ region of the galaxy UGC 8782 (3C 293), host of a radio loud Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN). The observations were performed with the GMOS-IFU on the Gemini North telescope, resulting in a spatial resolution of $\sim725$ pc at the distance of the galaxy. While the stars present ordered rotation following the orientation of the large scale disc, the gas shows a disturbed kinematics. The emission-line profiles present two kinematic components: a narrow ($\sigma\lesssim200$ km s$^{-1}$) component associated with the gas in the disc of the galaxy and a broad ($\sigma\gtrsim200$ km s$^{-1}$) component produced by gas outflows. Emission-line ratio diagrams indicate that the gas in the disc is excited by the AGN radiation field, while the emission of the outflow includes additional contribution of shock excitation due to the interaction of the radio jet with the environment gas. Deviations from pure rotation, of up to 30 km s$^{-1}$, are observed in the disc component and likely produced by a previous merger event. The broad component is blueshifted by $\sim150-500$ km s$^{-1}$ relative to the systemic velocity of the galaxy in all locations. We construct radial profiles of the mass outflow rate and kinetic power of the ionized gas outflows, which have the maximum values at $\sim1$ kpc from the nucleus with peak values of $\dot{M}_{\rm out,\Delta R}=0.5\pm0.1$ M$_\odot$ yr$^{-1}$ and $\dot{K}_{\rm out,\Delta R} =$(6.8$\pm$1.1)$\times$10$^{41}$ erg s$^{-1}$. The kinetic coupling efficiency of these outflows is in the range of 1$-$3 per cent, indicating that they could be powerful enough to affect the star formation in the host galaxy as predicted by theoretical simulations., Comment: Accepted for publication by MNRAS

For the first time, the sulphur abundance relative to hydrogen (S/H) in the Narrow Line Regions of a sample of Seyfert 2 nuclei (Sy 2s) has been derived via direct estimation of the electron temperature. Narrow emission line intensities from the SDSS DR17 [in the wavelength range 3000 < $\lambda$ < 9100] and from the literature for a sample of 45 nearby ($z$ < 0.08) Sy 2s were considered. Our direct estimates indicate that Sy 2s have similar temperatures in the gas region where most of the S+ ions are located in comparison with that of star-forming regions (SFs). However, Sy 2s present higher temperature values ($\sim$10000 K) in the region where most of the S++ ions are located relative to that of SFs. We derive the total sulphur abundance in the range of 6.2 < 12 + log(S/H) < 7.5, corresponding to 0.1-1.8 times the solar value. These sulphur abundance values are lower by $\sim$0.4 dex than those derived in SFs with similar metallicity, indicating a distinct chemical enrichment of the ISM for these object classes. The S/O values for our Sy 2 sample present an abrupt ($\sim$0.5 dex) decrease with increasing O/H for the high metallicity regime [12 + log(O/H) > 8.7)], what is not seen for the SFs. However, when our Sy 2 estimates are combined with those from a large sample of star-forming regions, we did not find any dependence between S/O and O/H., Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. 19 pages, 11 figures, 7 tables

We present the hot molecular and warm ionised gas kinematics for 33 nearby ($0.001\lesssim z\lesssim0.056$) X-ray selected active galaxies using the H$_2 2.1218 \mu$m and Br$\gamma$ emission lines observed in the K-band with the Gemini Near-Infrared Field Spectrograph (NIFS). The observations cover the inner 0.04$-$2 kpc of each AGN at spatial resolutions of 4$-$250 pc with a velocity resolution of $\sigma_{\rm inst}\approx$20 ${\rm km s^{-1}}$. We find that 31 objects (94 per cent) present a kinematically disturbed region (KDR) seen in ionised gas, while such regions are observed in hot molecular gas for 25 galaxies (76 per cent). We interpret the KDR as being due to outflows with masses of 10$^2-$10$^7$ M$_\odot$ and 10$^0-$10$^4$ M$_\odot$ for the ionised and hot molecular gas, respectively. The ranges of mass-outflow rates ($\dot{M}_{\rm out}$) and kinetic power ($\dot{E}_{\rm K}$) of the outflows are 10$^{-3}-$10$^{1}$ M$_\odot$yr$^{-1}$ and $\sim$10$^{37}$$-$10$^{43}$ erg s$^{-1}$ for the ionised gas outflows, and 10$^{-5}$$-$10$^{-2}$ M$_\odot$ yr$^{-1}$ and 10$^{35}$$-$10$^{39}$ erg s$^{-1}$ for the hot molecular gas outflows. The median coupling efficiency in our sample is $\dot{E}_{K}/L_{\rm bol}\approx1.8\times10^{-3}$ and the estimated momentum fluxes of the outflows suggest they are produced by radiation-pressure in low-density environment, with possible contribution from shocks., Comment: 37 pages, published in MNRAS - A few typos in the text and in the label of Fg 1 were corrected in this version

We present oxygen abundances relative to hydrogen (O/H) in the narrow line regions (NLRs) gas phases of Seyferts 1 (Sy 1s) and Seyferts 2 (Sy 2s) Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs). We used fluxes of the optical narrow emission line intensities [$3\,500<\lambda($\AA$)<7\,000$] of 561 Seyfert nuclei in the local universe ($z\lesssim0.31$) from the second catalog and data release (DR2) of the BAT AGN Spectroscopic Survey, which focuses on the \textit{Swift}-BAT hard X-ray ($\gtrsim10$ keV) detected AGNs. We derived O/H from relative intensities of the emission lines via the strong-line methods. We find that the AGN O/H abundances are related to their hosts stellar masses and that they follow a downward redshift evolution. The derived O/H together with the hard X-ray luminosity ($L_{\rm X}$) were used to study the X-ray luminosity-metallicity ($L_{\rm X}$-$Z_{\rm NLR}$) relation for the first time in Seyfert galaxies. In contrast to the broad-line focused ($L_{\rm X}$-$Z_{\rm BLR}$) studies, we find that the $L_{\rm X}$-$Z_{\rm NLR}$ exhibit significant anti-correlations with the Eddington ratio ($\lambda_{\rm Edd}$) and these correlations vary with redshifts. This result indicates that the low-luminous AGNs are more actively undergoing Interstellar Medium (ISM) enrichment through star formation in comparison with the more luminous X-ray sources. Our results suggest that the AGN is somehow driving the galaxy chemical enrichment, as a result of the inflow of pristine gas that is diluting the metal rich gas, together with a recent cessation on the circumnuclear star-formation., Comment: 17 pages, 12 figures, Accepted for publication in MNRAS, doi: 10.1093/mnras/stad217

Coronal-Line Forest Active Galactic Nuclei (CLiF AGN) are characterized by strong, high-ionization lines, which are in contrast to what is found in typical AGNs. Here, we carry out an infrared analysis aimed at understanding the spectral energy distribution of six sources from this group. In this work, the properties of the dusty torus for these objects are analyzed. To this purpose, we infer the physical and geometrical properties of the dust structure that surrounds the central region by fitting with models the spectral energy distribution (SED) of CLiF AGNs in the infrared. For this analysis, we compare the results of three models: CLUMPY, SKIRTOR and CAT3D-WIND. Using the Bayesian information criterion, SKIRTOR was found to have the most robust fit to the SEDs in five out of six galaxies. The remaining object was best fitted with CLUMPY. The results indicate that these objects are preferentially Type~I sources, supporting the detection of broad components in the permitted lines, likely associated with the BLR in the near-infrared (NIR) spectra. The best SED fitting indicates that the line of sight gives access to the view of the central source for these objects, but the amount of dusty clouds in the same direction is high, suggesting the hypothesis that they obscure the emission of the continuum produced by the central source and that the obscuration makes the coronal lines to not overlap with the continuum., Comment: 13 pages, 12 figures, submitted to MNRAS

We present a spatially resolved stellar population analysis of 61 jellyfish galaxies and 47 control galaxies observed with ESO/MUSE attempting to understand the general trends of the stellar populations as a function of the stripping intensity and mass. This is the public sample from the GASP programme, with $0.01 < z < 0.15$ and $8.9 <\log(M_{\star}/M_{\odot}) < 12.0$. We apply the spectral population synthesis code FADO to fit self-consistently both the stellar and nebular contributions to the spectra of the sources. We present 2D morphological maps for mean stellar ages, metallicities, gas-phase oxygen abundances, and star formation rates for the galaxies with Integrated Nested Laplace Approximation (INLA), which is efficient in reconstructing spatial data of extended sources. We find that "extreme stripping" and "stripping" galaxies are typically younger than the other types. Regarding stellar and nebular metallicities, the "stripping" and "control passive" galaxies are the most metal-poor. Based on the phase space for jellyfish cluster members we find trends in ages, metallicities, and abundances with different regions of the diagram. We also compute radial profiles for the same quantities. We find that both the stripping and the stellar masses seem to influence the profiles, and we see differences between various groups and distinct mass bins. The radial profiles for different mass bins present relations already shown in the literature for undisturbed galaxies, i.e., profiles of ages and metallicities tend to increase with mass. However, beyond $\sim0.75$ effective radius, the ages of the most massive galaxies become similar to or lower than the ages of the lower mass ones., Comment: Accepted by MNRAS. 71 pages (13 of main text and 58 of supplementay material). 123 figures

We present ALMA CO(2-1) observations of the Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC 3281 at $\sim$ 100 pc spatial resolution. This galaxy was previously known to present a bi-conical ionised gas outflow extending to 2 kpc from the nucleus. The analysis of the CO moment and channel maps, as well as kinematic modelling reveals two main components in the molecular gas: one rotating in the galaxy plane and another outflowing and extending up to $\sim$ 1.8 -- 2.6 kpc from the nucleus, partially encasing the ionised component. The mass of the outflowing molecular gas component is $M_{\mathrm{mol},\mathrm{out}}$ = $(2.5\pm1.6){\times}10^{6}$ $\rm{M_{\odot}}$, representing $\sim$ 1.7 -- 2 % of the total molecular gas seen in emission within the inner 2.3 kpc. The corresponding mass outflow rate and power are $\dot{M}_{\mathrm{mol},\mathrm{out}}$ = 0.12 -- 0.72 $\rm{M_{\odot} yr^{-1}}$ and $\dot{E}_{\mathrm{mol},\mathrm{out}}$ = (0.045 -- 1.6) ${\times} 10^{40}$ $\rm{erg s^{-1}}$, which translates to a kinetic coupling efficiency with the AGN power of only $10^{-4}$ -- 0.02 %. This value reaches up to 0.1 % when including both the feedback in the ionised and molecular gas, as well as considering that only part of the energy couples kinetically with the gas. Some of the non-rotating CO emission can also be attributed to inflow in the galaxy plane towards the nucleus. The similarity of the CO outflow -- encasing the ionised gas one and the X-ray emission -- to those seen in other sources, suggests that this may be a common property of galactic outflows., Comment: 13 pages, 11 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRAS

Red geysers are a specific type of quiescent galaxy, denoted by twin jets emerging from their galactic centers. These bisymmetric jets possibly inject energy and heat into the surrounding material, effectively suppressing star formation by stabilizing cool gas. In order to confirm the presence and evolutionary consequences of these jets, this paper discusses the scaling, stacking, and conversion of 21-cm HI flux data sourced from the HI-MaNGA survey into HI gas-to-stellar mass (G/S) spectra. Our samples were dominated by non-detections, or galaxies with weak HI signals, and consequently by HI upper limits. The stacking technique discussed successfully resolved emission features in both the red geyser G/S spectrum and the control sample G/S spectrum. From these stacked spectra, we find that on average, red geyser galaxies have G/S of 0.086 $\pm$ 0.011(random)+0.029(systematic), while non-red geyser galaxies of similar stellar mass have a G/S ratio of 0.039 $\pm$ 0.018(random)+0.013(systematic). Therefore, we find no statistically significant evidence that the HI content of red geysers is different from the general quiescent population., Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, to be published in MNRAS

The gas metallicity distributions across individual galaxies and across galaxy samples can teach us much about how galaxies evolve. Massive galaxies typically possess negative metallicity gradients, and mass and metallicity are tightly correlated on local scales over wide range of galaxy masses; however, the precise origins of such trends remain elusive. Here, we employ data from SDSS-IV MaNGA to explore how gas metallicity depends on local stellar mass density and on galactocentric radius within individual galaxies. We also consider how the strengths of these dependencies vary across the galaxy mass-size plane. We find that radius is more predictive of local metallicity than stellar mass density in extended lower mass galaxies, while we find density and radius to be almost equally predictive in higher-mass and more compact galaxies. Consistent with previous work, we find a mild connection between metallicity gradients and large-scale environment; however, this is insufficient to explain variations in gas metallicity behaviour across the mass-size plane. We argue our results to be consistent with a scenario in which extended galaxies have experienced smooth gas accretion histories, producing negative metallicity gradients over time. We further argue that more compact and more massive systems have experienced increased merging activity that disrupts this process, leading to flatter metallicity gradients and more dominant density-metallicity correlations within individual galaxies., Comment: 15 pages, 16 figures. Accepted by MNRAS

Frequent accretion of external cold gas is thought to play an important role in galaxy assembly. However, almost all known kinematically misaligned galaxies identify only one gas disk that is misaligned with the stellar disk, implying a single gas acquisition event. Here we report a new configuration in two galaxies where both contain two gas disks misaligned with each other and also with the stellar disk. Such systems are not expected to be stable or long-lasting, challenging the traditional picture of gas accretion of galaxies and their angular momentum build-up. The differences in kinematic position angles are larger than 120{\deg} between the two gas disks, and 40{\deg} between each gas disk and the stellar component. The star formation activity is enhanced at the interface of the two gas disks compared with the other regions within the same galaxy. Such systems illustrate that low-redshift galaxies can still experience multiple gas acquisition events, and provide a new view into the origins of galactic gas., Comment: Published in Nature Astronomy on 29 September 2022; 23 pages, 6 figures

A fundamental assumption adopted in nearly every extragalactic emission-line study is that the attenuation of different emission lines can be described by a single attenuation curve. Here we show this assumption fails in many cases with important implications for derived results. We developed a new method to measure the differential nebular attenuation among three kinds of transitions: the Balmer lines of hydrogen, high-ionization transitions, and low-ionization transitions. This method bins the observed data in a multidimensional space spanned by attenuation-insensitive line ratios. Within each small bin, the variations in line ratios are mainly driven by the variations in the nebular attenuation. This allows us to measure the nebular attenuation using both forbidden lines and Balmer lines. We applied this method to a sample of 2.4 million star-forming spaxels from SDSS-IV MaNGA. We found that the attenuation of high ionization lines and Balmer lines can be well described by a single Fitzpatrick (1999) extinction curve with $R_V=3.1$. However, no single attenuation curve can simultaneously account for all three transitions. This strongly suggests that different lines have different effective attenuations, likely because spectroscopy at kiloparsec resolutions mixes multiple regions with different intrinsic line ratios and different levels of attenuation. As a result, the assumption that different lines follow the same attenuation curve breaks down. Using a single attenuation curve determined by Balmer lines to correct attenuation-sensitive forbidden line ratios could bias the nebular parameters derived by 0.06--0.25 dex at $A_V = 1$, depending on the details of the dust attenuation model. Observations of a statistically large sample of H II regions with high spatial resolutions and large spectral coverage are vital for improved modeling and deriving accurate corrections for this effect., Comment: 28 pages, 17 figures, published in A&A

We find 132 face-on and low inclination galaxies with central star formation driven biconical gas outflows (FSFB) in the SDSS MaNGA (Mapping Nearby Galaxies at APO) survey. The FSFB galaxies show either double peaked or broadened emission line profiles at their centres. The peak and maximum outflow velocities are 58 and 212 km/s, respectively. The gas velocity dispersion reveals a mild dependence on the central star formation surface density compatible with models of gas dispersion powered by the Jeans instability in gas clumps or by gas turbulence dissipation. We estimate the gas outflow rate and conclude that the central gas depletion time does not depend on galactic mass. In turn, the ratio of the gas outflow rate to the gas consumption rate by the star formation is low in massive galaxies and high in low-mass objects, while the star formation is a more rapid process of the gas consumption. We compare properties of the FSFB galaxies with a control sample of 375 comparison galaxies and find that the FSFB objects have high central concentration of star formation, and also younger central stellar population with respect to their periphery. We analysed the environment of the galaxies and identified nearby satellites and elements of low surface brightness structure. We see that many tidal-enhanced features that can be assigned to early and intermediate stages of galactic interaction are much more frequent in the FSFB galaxies with respect to the comparison sample. We conclude that the gas should be replenished via the accretion from small satellites., Comment: 12 pages, 15 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRAS

Red Geysers are quiescent galaxies with galactic scale ionised outflows, likely due to low-luminosity Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN). We used Gemini GMOS-IFU observations of the inner $\sim 1.0-3.0$ kpc of nine Red Geysers selected from the MaNGA survey to study the gas ionisation and kinematics. The emission-line ratios suggest the presence of Seyfert/LINER (Low Ionisation Nuclear Emission Region) nuclei in all sources. Two galaxies show H$\alpha$ equivalent width (H$\alpha$ EW) larger than 3 \AA (indicative of AGN ionisation) within an aperture 2.5 arcsec of diameter ($1.3-3.7$ kpc at the distance of galaxies) for MaNGA data, while with the higher resolution GMOS data, four galaxies present H$\alpha$ EW$>3$ \AA within an aperture equal to the angular resolution ($0.3-0.9$ kpc). For two objects with GMOS-IFU data, the H$\alpha$ EW is lower than 3 \AA but larger than 1.5 \AA, most probably due to a faint AGN. The spatially resolved electron density maps show values between $100-3000$ cm$^{-3}$ and are consistent with those determined in other studies. The large (MaNGA) and the nuclear scale (GMOS-IFU) gas velocity fields are misaligned, with a kinematic position angle difference between 12$^{\circ}$ and 60$^{\circ}$. The [NII]$\lambda$6583 emission-line profiles are asymmetrical, with blue wings on the redshifted side of the velocity field and red wings on the blueshifted side. Our results support previous indications that the gas in Red Geysers is ionised by an AGN, at least in their central region, with the presence of outflows, likely originating in a precessing accretion disc., Comment: Accepted for publication in August 3, 2022

We present a simple model for low-luminosity active galactic nucleus (LLAGN) feedback through winds produced by a hot accretion flow. The wind carries considerable energy and deposits it on the host galaxy at kiloparsec scales and beyond, heating the galactic gas thereby quenching star formation. Our model predicts that the typical LLAGN can quench more than $10\%$ of star formation in its host galaxy. We find that long-lived LLAGN winds from supermassive black holes (SMBH) with masses $\geq 10^8 M_{\odot}$ and mass accretion rates $\dot{M} > 10^{-3} \medd \ (0.002 \msun / yr)$ can prevent gas collapse and significantly quench galactic star formation compared to a scenario without AGN, if the wind persists over 1 Myr. For sustained wind production over timescales of 10 Myr or longer, SMBHs with $10^8 M_{\odot}$ or larger masses have important feedback effects with $\dot{M} > 10^{-4} \medd \ (0.0002 \msun / yr)$., Comment: Accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Main Journal. 7 pages, 5 figures

Despite the importance of AGN in galaxy evolution, accurate AGN identification is often challenging, as common AGN diagnostics can be confused by contributions from star formation and other effects (e.g., Baldwin-Phillips-Terlevich diagrams). However, one promising avenue for identifying AGNs are ``coronal emission lines" (``CLs"), which are highly ionized species of gas with ionization potentials $\ge$ 100 eV. These CLs may serve as excellent signatures for the strong ionizing continuum of AGN. To determine if CLs are in fact strong AGN tracers, we assemble and analyze the largest catalog of optical CL galaxies using the Sloan Digital Sky Survey's Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory (MaNGA) catalog. We detect CL emission in 71 MaNGA galaxies, out of the 10,010 unique galaxies from the final MaNGA catalog, with $\ge$ 5$\sigma$ confidence. In our sample, we measure [NeV]$\lambda$3347, $\lambda$3427, [FeVII]$\lambda$3586, $\lambda$3760, $\lambda$6086, and [FeX]$\lambda$6374 emission and crossmatch the CL galaxies with a catalog of AGNs that were confirmed with broad line, X-ray, IR, and radio observations. We find that [NeV] emission, compared to [FeVII] and [FeX] emission, is best at identifying high luminosity AGN. Moreover, we find that the CL galaxies with the least dust extinction yield the most iron CL detections. We posit that the bulk of the iron CLs are destroyed by dust grains in the galaxies with the highest [OIII] luminosities in our sample, and that AGN in the galaxies with low [OIII] luminosities are possibly too weak to be detected using traditional techniques., Comment: 21 pages, 6 figures, 8 tables

For the first time, the helium abundance relative to hydrogen (He/H), which relied on direct measurements of the electron temperature, has been derived in the narrow line regions (NLRs) from a local sample of Seyfert 2 nuclei. In view of this, optical emission line intensities [$3000 \: < \lambda \: < \: 7000$] of 65 local Seyfert 2 nuclei ($z \: < \: 0.2$), taken from Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 15 and additional compilation from the literature, were considered. We used photoionization model grid to derive an Ionization Correction Factor (ICF) for the neutral helium. The application of this ICF indicates that the NLRs of Seyfert 2 present a neutral helium fraction of $\sim$50 per cent in relation to the total helium abundance. We find that Seyfert 2 nuclei present helium abundance ranging from 0.60 to 2.50 times the solar value, while $\sim$85 per cent of the sample present over-solar abundance values. The derived (He/H)-(O/H) abundance relation from the Seyfert 2 is stepper than that of star-forming regions (SFs) and this difference could be due to excess of helium injected into the Interstellar Medium by the winds of Wolf Rayet stars. From a regression to zero metallicity, by using Seyfert 2 estimates combined with SFs estimates, we obtained a primordial helium mass fraction $Y_{\rm p}$=0.2441$\pm$0.0037, a value in good agreement with the one inferred from the temperature fluctuations of the cosmic microwave background by the Planck Collaboration, i.e. $Y_{\rm p}$=0.2471$\pm$0.0003, Comment: 23 pages, 12 figures, 3 tables, accepted for publication in MNRAS

Gas-phase metallicity gradients in galaxies provide important clues to those galaxies' formation histories. Using SDSS-IV MaNGA data, we previously demonstrated that gas metallicity gradients vary systematically and significantly across the galaxy mass--size plane: at stellar masses beyond approximately $10^{10}$ $\mathrm{M_\odot}$, more extended galaxies display steeper gradients (in units of $\mathrm{dex/R_e}$) at a given stellar mass. Here, we set out to develop a physical interpretation of these findings by examining the ability of local $\sim$kpc-scale relations to predict the gradient behaviour along the mass--size plane. We find that local stellar mass surface density, when combined with total stellar mass, is sufficient to reproduce the overall mass--size trend in a qualitative sense. We further find that we can improve the predictions by correcting for residual trends relating to the recent star formation histories of star-forming regions. However, we find as well that the most extended galaxies display steeper average gradients than predicted, even after correcting for residual metallicity trends with other local parameters. From these results, we argue that gas-phase metallicity gradients can largely be understood in terms of known local relations, but we also discuss some possible physical causes of discrepant gradients., Comment: 21 pages, 23 figures. Accepted by MNRAS; some minor corrections made following receipt of journal proofs

Changing-look (CL) AGN are unique probes of accretion onto supermassive black holes (SMBHs), especially when simultaneous observations in complementary wavebands allow investigations into the properties of their accretion flows. We present the results of a search for CL behaviour in 412 Swift-BAT detected AGN with multiple epochs of optical spectroscopy from the BAT AGN Spectroscopic Survey (BASS). 125 of these AGN also have 14-195 keV ultra-hard X-ray light-curves from Swift-BAT which are contemporaneous with the epochs of optical spectroscopy. Eight CL events are presented for the first time, where the appearance or disappearance of broad Balmer line emission leads to a change in the observed Seyfert type classification. Combining with known events from the literature, 21 AGN from BASS are now known to display CL behaviour. Nine CL events have 14-195 keV data available, and five of these CL events can be associated with significant changes in their 14-195 keV flux from BAT. The ultra-hard X-ray flux is less affected by obscuration and so these changes in the 14-195 keV band suggest that the majority of our CL events are not due to changes in line-of-sight obscuration. We derive a CL rate of 0.7-6.2 per cent on 10-25 year time-scales, and show that many transitions happen within at most a few years. Our results motivate further multi-wavelength observations with higher cadence to better understand the variability physics of accretion onto SMBHs., Comment: 14 pages, 7 figures, plus appendix. v2: updated references. Published in MNRAS

Context. The ZOA does not allow clear optical observations of extragalactic sources behind the Milky Way due to the meaningful extinction of the optical emission of these objects. The observations in NIR wavelengths represent a potential source of astronomical discoveries supporting the detection of new galaxies, completing the picture of the large scale structure in this still little explored area of the sky. Aims. Our aim is to decipher the nature of the overdensity located behind the Milky Way, in the tile b204 of the VVV survey. Methods. We studied an area of six arcmin around a galaxy concentration located at l = 354.82{\deg} and b = -9.81{\deg}. We selected five galaxies taking into account the source distribution on the sky, in order to optimise the requested time for the observations, and we obtained the spectra with Flamingos 2 long-slit spectrograph at Gemini South 8.1-meter telescope. To identify and characterise the absorption features we have fitted the galaxies underlying spectrum using the starlight code together with the IRTF stellar library. In addition, the spectroscopic findings are reinforced using complementary photometric techniques such as red-sequence and photometric redshift estimation. Results. The mean spectroscopic redshift estimated from the NIR spectra is z = 0.225 +- 0.014. This value presents a good agreement with that obtained from photometric analysis, photoz = 0.21 +- 0.08, and the probability distribution function of the galaxies in the studied region. Also, the red-sequence slope is consistent with the one expected for NIR observations of galaxy clusters. Conclusions. The redshifts obtained from both, photometric and spectroscopic techniques are in good agreement allowing the confirmation of the nature of this structure at z = 0.225 +- 0.014, unveiling a new galaxy cluster, VVVGCl-B J181435-381432, behind the Milky Way bulge., Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures

Post-starburst galaxies (PSBs) have recently and rapidly quenched their star-formation, thus they are an important way to understand how galaxies transition from star-forming late-types to quiescent early-types. The recent discovery of large cold gas reservoirs in PSBs calls into question the theory that galaxies must lose their gas to become quiescent. Optical Integral Field Spectroscopy (IFS) surveys have revealed two classes of PSBs: central PSBs with central quenching regions and ring PSBs with quenching in their outskirts. We analyze a sample of 13 nearby (z < 0.1) PSBs with spatially resolved optical IFS data from the Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory (MaNGA) survey and matched resolution Atacama Large (sub-)Millimeter Array (ALMA) observations of $^{12}$CO(1-0). Disturbed stellar kinematics in 7/13 of our PSBs and centrally concentrated molecular gas is consistent with a recent merger for most of our sample. In galaxies without merger evidence, alternate processes may funnel gas inwards and suppress star-formation, which may include outflows, stellar bars, and minor mergers or interactions. The star-formation efficiencies of the post-starburst regions in nearly half our galaxies are suppressed while the gas fractions are consistent with star-forming galaxies. AGN feedback may drive this stabilization, and we observe AGN-consistent emission in the centers of 5/13 galaxies. Finally, our central and ring PSBs have similar properties except the ionized and molecular gas in central PSBs is more disturbed. Overall, the molecular gas in our PSBs tends to be compact and highly disturbed, resulting in concentrated gas reservoirs unable to form stars efficiently., Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal

We present a detailed analysis of the ionised gas distribution and kinematics in the inner ~ 200 pc of NGC 4546, host of a Low Luminosity Active Galactic Nucleus (LLAGN). Using GMOS-IFU observations, with a spectral coverage of 4736-6806 A and an angular resolution of 0.7 arcsec, we confirm that the nuclear emission is consistent with photoionisation by an AGN, while the gas in the circumnuclear region may be ionised by hot low-mass evolved stars. The gas kinematics in the central region of NGC 4546 presents three components: (i) a disc with major axis oriented along a position angle of 43deg +/- 3deg, counter rotating relative to the stellar disc; (ii) non-circular motions, evidenced by residual velocities of up to 60 km/s, likely associated to a previous capture of a dwarf satellite by NGC 4546; and (iii) nuclear outflows in ionised gas, identified as a broad component (sigma ~ 320 km/s) in the line profiles, with a mass outflow rate of dMout = 0.3 +/- 0.1 Msun/yr and a total mass of Mout = (9.2 +/- 0.8)E3 Msun in ionised gas, corresponding to less than 3 per cent of the total mass of ionised gas in the inner 200 pc of NGC 4546. The kinetic efficiency of the outflow is roughly 0.1 per cent, which is smaller than the outflow coupling efficiencies predicted by theoretical studies to AGN feedback become efficient in suppressing star formation in the host galaxy., Comment: 13 pages, accepted for publication in MNRAS

We present, for the first time, the relationship between local stellar mass surface density, $\mathrm{\Sigma_{*}}$, and N/O derived from SDSS-IV MaNGA data, using a sample of $792765$ high signal-to-noise ratio star-forming spaxels. Using a combination of phenomenological modelling and partial correlation analysis, we find that $\mathrm{\Sigma_{*}}$ alone is insufficient to predict the N/O in MaNGA spaxels, and that there is an additional dependence on the local star formation rate surface density, $\mathrm{\Sigma_{SFR}}$. This effect is a factor of $3$ stronger than the dependence of 12+log(O/H) on $\mathrm{\Sigma_{SFR}}$. Surprisingly, we find that the local N/O scaling relations also depend on the total galaxy stellar mass at fixed $\Sigma_{*}$ as well as the galaxy size at fixed stellar mass. We find that more compact galaxies are more nitrogen rich, even when $\mathrm{\Sigma_{*}}$ and $\mathrm{\Sigma_{SFR}}$ are controlled for. We show that $\sim50\%$ of the variance of N/O is explained by the total stellar mass and size. Thus, the evolution of nitrogen in galaxies is set by more than just local effects and does not simply track the build up of oxygen in galaxies. The precise form of the N/O-O/H relation is therefore sensitive to the sample of galaxies from which it is derived. This result casts doubt on the universal applicability of nitrogen-based strong-line metallicity indicators derived in the local universe., Comment: 22 pages, 14 figures. Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal

We derive the metallicity (traced by the O/H abundance) of the Narrow Line Region ( NLR) of 108 Seyfert galaxies as well as radial metallicity gradients along their galaxy disks and of these of a matched control sample of no active galaxies. In view of that, observational data from the SDSS-IV MaNGA survey and strong emission-line calibrations taken from the literature were considered. The metallicity obtained for the NLRs %each Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN) was compared to the value derived from the extrapolation of the radial oxygen abundance gradient, obtained from \ion{H}{ii} region estimates along the galaxy disk, to the central part of the host galaxies. We find that, for most of the objects ($\sim 80\,\%$), the NLR metallicity is lower than the extrapolated value, with the average difference ($$) between these estimates ranging from 0.16 to 0.30 dex. We suggest that $$ is due to the accretion of metal-poor gas to the AGN that feeds the nuclear supermassive black hole (SMBH), which is drawn from a reservoir molecular and/or neutral hydrogen around the SMBH. Additionally, we look for correlations between $D$ and the electron density ($N_{\rm e}$), [\ion{O}{iii}]$\lambda$5007 and H$\alpha$ luminosities, extinction coefficient ($A_{V})$ of the NLRs, as well as the stellar mass ($M_{*}$) of the host galaxies. Evidences of an inverse correlation between the $D$ and the parameters $N_{\rm e}$, $M_{*}$ and $A_{\rm v}$ were found.

We use Gemini Near-Infrared Integral Field Spectrograph (NIFS) adaptive optics assisted data-cubes to map the stellar population of the inner few hundred parsecs of a sample of 18 nearby Seyfert galaxies. The near-infrared light is dominated by the contribution of young to intermediate old stellar populations, with light-weighted mean ages $_L\ \lesssim $ 1.5\,Gyr. Hot dust ($HD$) emission is centrally peaked (in the unresolved nucleus), but it is also needed to reproduce the continuum beyond the nucleus in nearly half of the sample. We have analysed the stellar population properties of the nuclear region and their relation with more global properties of the galaxies. We find a correlation between the X-ray luminosity and the contributions from the $HD$, featureless continuum $FC$ and reddening $A_V$. We attribute these correlations to the fact that all these properties are linked to the mass accretion rate to the active galactic nuclei (AGN). We also find a correlation of the bolometric luminosity $log(LBol_{obs})$ with the mass-weighted mean age of the stellar population, interpreted as due a delay between the formation of new stars and the triggering/feeding of the AGN. The gas reaching the supermassive black hole is probably originated from mass loss from the already somewhat evolved intermediate-age stellar population ($_L \lesssim $ 1.5\,Gyr). In summary, our results show that there is a significant fraction of young to intermediate age stellar populations in the inner few 100\,pc of active galaxies, suggesting that this region is facing a rejuvenation process in which the AGN, once triggered, precludes further star formation, in the sense that it can be associated with the lack of new star formation in the nuclear region., Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS

We analyse the kinematics of 170 AGN host galaxies as compared to those of a matched control sample of non-active galaxies from the MaNGA survey in order to characterise and estimate the extents of the Narrow Line Region (NLR) and of the kinematically disturbed region (KDR) by the AGN. We define the observed NLR radius as the farthest distance from the nucleus within which both [Oiii]/H\beta and [Nii]/H\alpha ratios fall in the AGN region of the BPT diagram and the H\alpha equivalent width is required to be larger than 3.0\AA. The extent of the KDR is defined as the distance from the nucleus within which the AGN hosts galaxies shows a more disturbed gas kinematics than the control galaxies. The kinematics derived from the [Oiii] line profiles reveal that, on average, the most luminous AGN (L[Oiii] > 3.8 * 10^40 erg s^-1) possess higher residual difference between the gaseous and stellar velocities and velocities dispersion than their control galaxies. Spatially resolved NLR's and KDR's were found in 55 and 46 AGN host galaxies, with corrected radii 0.2 < r_KDR,c < 2.3 kpc and 0.4 < r_NLR,c < 10.1 kpc, with a relation between the two given by log r_KDR,c = (0.53\pm0.12) log r_NLR,c + (1.07\pm0.22), respectively. The extension of the KDR corresponds to about 30 per cent of that of the NLR. Assuming that the KDR is due to an AGN outflow, we have estimated ionised gas mass outflow rates that range between 10^-5 and \approx 1 Myr^-1, and kinetic powers that range from 10^34 to 10^40 erg s^-1. Comparing the power of the AGN ionised outflows with the AGN luminosities, they are always below the 0.05 L_AGN model threshold for having an important feedback effect on their respective host galaxies. The mass outflow rates (and power) of our AGN sample correlate with their luminosities, populating the lowest AGN luminosity range of the correlations previously found for more powerful sources., Comment: 13 pages, 11 figures