Quasar black hole masses are most commonly estimated using broad emission lines in single epoch spectra based on scaling relationships determined from reverberation mapping of small samples of low-redshift objects. Several effects have been identified requiring modifications to these scaling relationships, resulting in significant reductions of the black hole mass determinations at high redshift. Correcting these systematic biases is critical to understanding the relationships among black hole and host galaxy properties. We are completing a program using the Gemini North telescope, called the Gemini North Infrared Spectrograph (GNIRS) Distant Quasar Survey (DQS), that has produced rest-frame optical spectra of about 200 high-redshift quasars (z = 1.5–3.5). The GNIRS-DQS will produce new and improved ultraviolet-based black hole mass and accretion rate prescriptions, as well as new redshift prescriptions for velocity zero points of high-z quasars, necessary to measure feedback.

We used Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) long slit medium-resolution G430M and G750M spectra to analyze the extended [O III] λ5007 emission in a sample of twelve QSO2s from Reyes et al. (2008). The purpose of the study was to determine the properties of the mass outflows and their role in AGN feedback. We measured fluxes and velocities as functions of deprojected radial distances. Using photoionization models and ionizing luminosities derived from [O III], we were able to estimate the densities for the emission-line gas. From these results, we derived masses, mass outflow rates, kinetic energies and kinetic luminosity rates as a function of radial distance for each of the targets. Masses are several times 103 - 107 solar masses, which are comparable to values determined from a recent photoionization study of Mrk 34 (Revalski). Additionally, we are studying the possible role of X-ray winds in these QSO2s.

This work aims to explore the different processes of formation and evolution of dwarf spheroidal galaxies in the Local Group analyzing internal and external feedbacks, taking Leo II as a model of parametrization due to its adequate large distance to the Milky Way, in order to minimize potential external effects. We present a discussion of the first results regarding the processes of formation and galactic evolution from the gas hydrodynamics. Combined with previous studies for other similar systems, such results have the potential to establish strong links for the elaboration of a consistent and coherent scenario of formation and evolution of the dwarf spheroidal galaxies in the Local Group.

Galaxy mergers are known to drive an inflow of gas towards galactic centers, potentia- lly leading to both star formation and nuclear activity. In this work we aim to study how a major merger event in the ARP 245 system is linked with the triggering of an active galactic nucleus (AGN) in the NGC galaxy 2992. We employed three galaxy collision numerical simulations and calculated the inflow of gas through four different concentric spherical surfaces around the galactic centers, estimating an upper limit for the luminosity of an AGN being fed the amount of gas crossing the innermost spherical surface. We found that these simulations predict reasonable gas inflow rates when compared with the observed AGN luminosity in NGC 2992.

. Recent works have shown that early-type galaxies (ETGs) are much more complex than early studies suggested. We present early results from a combined analysis of optical spectra and ultraviolet photometry for a sample of 3453 red sequence galaxies in at z < 0.1 that are classified as elliptical by Galaxy Zoo. By measuring the Gini index of the star-formation histories derived by starlight, we investigate the complexity of the mixture of stellar populations required to describe ETGs in our sample. When fitting only optical spectra, starlight assigns more or less the same mixture of stellar populations to all ETGs, while the addition of UV data unveils a bimodallity in the star-formation histories of these galaxies. We find evidence for stellar populations younger than 1 Gyr in 17 per cent of our sample, indicating that some galaxies do not stay permanently quenched after reaching the red sequence.

We present the Catalogue of High REsolution Spectra of Obscured Sources (CHRESOS) from the XMM-Newton Science Archive. It comprises soft X-ray emission-lines from C to Si and the Fe 3C and Fe 3G L-shell transitions. Here, we concentrate on the oxygen emission-lines O VII(f) and O VIII Lyα to shed light onto the physical processes with which their formation can be related to: active galactic nucleus vs. star-forming regions. We are analysing the relationships between the oxygen lines and the luminosities of: [OIII]λ5007, [OIV]25.89μm, MIR-12μm, FIR-60μm, FIR-100μm, and hard X-rays continuum bands.

Understanding active galactic nuclei (AGN) feedback is essential for building a coherent picture of the evolution of the super massive black hole and its host galaxy. To that end we have analysed the inner kiloparsec of a sample of 30 local AGN with spatially resolved optical spectroscopy. In this talk I will review the analysis of the ionised gas for the galaxies in our sample, including kinematical maps, emission line ratios and fluxes. The W80 kinematical index is used to trace outflows, and also to provide an estimate for the outflowing velocity. Electron densities, derived from the [S II] ΛΛ6716, 6731Å lines, along with Hα luminosities and the sizes of the outflowing regions are employed in estimates of the outflowing gas mass. We find a median mass outflow rate of Ṁ = 0.3 M⊙ yr-1 and median outflow power of log [P/(erg s-1)] = 40.4.

Diffuse ionized gas (DIG) in galaxies can be found in early-type galaxies, in bulges of late-type galaxies, in the interarm regions of galaxy disks, and outside the plane of such disks. The emission-line spectrum of the DIG can be confused with that of a weakly active galactic nucleus. It can also bias the inference of chemical abundances and star formation rates in star forming galaxies. We discuss how one can detect and feasibly correct for the DIG contribution in galaxy spectra.

Radio-loud active galaxies are widely believed to have a strong impact on their environments, and often lie in groups and clusters of galaxies. In this article I summarize what we can understand about the sources’ effects on their surroundings from the perspective of radio galaxy physics, with special reference to the energetics of the impact on the external medium and its inference from large statistical studies of radio galaxies.

Observations at high redshift reveal that a population of massive, quiescent galaxies (called red nuggets) already existed 10 Gyr ago. These objects undergo a significant size evolution over time, likely due to minor mergers. In this work we present an analysis of local massive compact galaxies to assess if their properties are consistent with what is expected for unevolved red nuggets (relic galaxies). Using integral field spectroscopy (IFS) data from the MaNGA survey from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), we characterized the kinematics and properties of stellar populations of massive compact galaxies, and find that these objects exhibit, on average, a higher rotational support than a control sample of average sized early-type galaxies. This is in agreement with a scenario in which these objects have a quiet accretion history, rendering them candidates for relic galaxies.

The stellar mass–star formation rate–metallicity relation provides clues on the chemical evolution of galaxies. We revisit this relation by measuring the gas-phase metallicity using the direct method. For metal-rich galaxies this is not straightforward, because auroral emission lines sensitive the electron temperature are lost in spectral noise. In order to increase the spectral signal-to-noise ratio and detect faint auroral lines, we stack the spectra of similar galaxies. This allows us to use the direct method to obtain consistent metallicity measurements.

Dense environments have an impact on the star formation rate of galaxies. As stars form from molecular gas, looking at the cold molecular gas content of a galaxy gives useful insights on its efficiency in forming stars. However, most galaxies observed in CO (a proxy for the cold molecular gas content) at intermediate redshifts, are field galaxies. Only a handful of studies focused on cluster galaxies. I present new results on the environment of one medium mass cluster from the EDisCS survey at z ˜ 0.5. 27 star-forming galaxies were selected to evenly sample the range of densities encountered inside and around the cluster. We cover a region extending as far as 8 virial radii from the cluster center. Indeed there is ample evidence that star formation quenching starts already beyond 3 cluster virial radii. I discuss our CO(3-2) ALMA observations, which unveil a large fraction of galaxies with low gas-to-stellar mass ratios.

The gas evolution of a typical Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy is investigated by means of 3D hydrodynamic simulations, taking into account the feedback of type II and Ia supernovae, the outflow of an Intermediate Massive Black Hole (IMBH) and a static cored dark matter potential. When the IMBH’s outflow is simulated in an homogeneous medium a jet structure is created and a small fraction of the gas is pushed away from the galaxy. No jet structure can be seen, however, when the medium is disturbed by supernovae, but gas is still pushed away. In this case, the main driver of the gas removal are the supernovae. The interplay between the stellar feedback and the IMBH’s outflow should be taken into account.

Galaxy groups offer an important perspective on how the large-scale structure of the Universe has formed and evolved, being great laboratories to study the impact of the environment on the evolution of galaxies. We aim to investigate the properties of a galaxy group that is gravitationally lensing HELMS18, a submillimeter galaxy at z = 2.39. We obtained multi-object spectroscopy data using Gemini-GMOS to investigate the stellar kinematics of the central galaxies, determine its members and obtain the mass, radius and the numerical density profile of this group. Our final goal is to build a complete description of this galaxy group. In this work we present an analysis of its two central galaxies: one is an active galaxy with z = 0.59852 ± 0.00007, while the other is a passive galaxy with z = 0.6027 ± 0.0002. Furthermore, the difference between the redshifts obtained using emission and absorption lines indicates an outflow of gas with velocity v = 278.0 ± 34.3 km/s relative to the galaxy.

We have investigated the role of AGN feedback on galaxy downsizing in cluster and void environments, using the sample from Amieri et al. (2019). Our results indicate that, at least in the local universe, the correlation between black hole mass and (specific) star formation rate is statistically indistinguishable in the two environments. Therefore, the role of the environment in modulating AGN feedback effects on the host galaxy star formation is negligible.

In the current scenario of galaxy evolution, supermassive black holes (SMBH) are present in almost all galaxies. To trigger nuclear activity, large amounts of material have to fall from kpc to pc and even smaller scales. Hence, an efficient angular momentum removal mechanism is needed. A growing black hole could still not be fixed in the gravitational potential well of the galaxy. This can be observed as a break in the symmetry between the global structure of the galaxy and the central source and could be part of the mechanism that drives material from the last hundred parsecs onto accretion in the SMBH. We present spatial profile decomposition of 16 galaxies observed with GNIRS (Gemini North) in the Klong band. We have been able to measure off-centerings in 3 of 16 galaxies. We found a possible correlation between the presence of an off-centering and the SMBH mass.

Optically luminous early type galaxies host X-ray luminous, hot atmospheres. These hot atmospheres, which we refer to as coronae, undergo the same cooling and feedback processes as are commonly found in their more massive cousins, the gas rich atmospheres of galaxy groups and galaxy clusters. In particular, the hot coronae around galaxies radiatively cool and show cavities in X-ray images that are filled with relativistic plasma originating from jets powered by supermassive black holes (SMBH) at the galaxy centers. We discuss the SMBH feedback using an X-ray survey of early type galaxies carried out using Chandra X-ray Observatory observations. Early type galaxies with coronae very commonly have weak X-ray active nuclei and have associated radio sources. Based on the enthalpy of observed cavities in the coronae, there is sufficient energy to “balance” the observed radiative cooling. There are a very few remarkable examples of optically faint galaxies that are 1) unusually X-ray luminous, 2) have large dark matter halo masses, and 3) have large SMBHs (e.g., NGC4342 and NGC4291). These properties suggest that, in some galaxies, star formation may have been truncated at early times, breaking the simple scaling relations.

Despite many theoretical studies and observations, we still do not fully understand the feeding mechanism in AGNs even in nearby galaxies, and how feedback from AGNs affects the gas dynamics itself in the galactic central regions. In this article, we summarize our recent theoretical studies and preliminary results in terms of the mass inflow and outflows on sub-parsec to 100 parsecs scales around AGNs. We introduce different studies: 1) How do galaxy-galaxy mergers trigger AGN activity and obscuration?, 2) How do the radiative feedback affect formation of outflows and obscuration of the nucleus? and 3) How does the AGN plus starburst feedback contribute to the obscuration?

We employ Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) data to study the ionized and very ionized gas phase of the feedback in Circinus, the closest Seyfert 2 galaxy. The analysis of the nebular emission allowed us to detect a remarkable high-ionization gas outflow, out of the galaxy plane, traced by the coronal lines [Fe viii] 6089Å and [Fe x] 6374Å, extending up to 700 parsecs north-west from the nucleus. The gas kinematics reveal expanding gas shells with velocities of a few hundred km s-1, spatially coincident with prominent hard X-ray emission detected by Chandra. Density and temperature sensitive line ratios show that the extended high-ionization gas is characterized by a temperature of up to 18000 K and a gas density of ne > 102 cm−3. We propose two scenarios consistent with the observations to explain the high-ionization component of the outflow: an active galactic nuclei (AGN) ejection that took place ⁓105 yr ago or local gas excitation by shocks produced by the passage of a radio jet.

In this work, we performed two distinct non-cosmological, three-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations that evolved the gas component of a galaxy similar to the classical dwarf spheroidal galaxy Ursa Minor. Both simulations take into account types II and Ia supernovae feedback constrained by chemical evolution models, while ram-pressure stripping mechanism is added into one of them considering an intergalactic medium and a galactic velocity that resemble what is observed nowadays for the Ursa Minor galaxy. Our results show no difference in the amount of gas left inside the galaxy until 400 Myr of evolution. Moreover, the ram-pressure wind was stalled and inverted by thermal pressure of the interstellar medium and supernovae feedback during the same interval.