The Galaxy Activity, Torus, and Outflow Survey (GATOS). XIII. Coupling Driven H <sub>2</sub> Excitation in Seyferts
Abstract We utilize James Webb Space Telescope/Mid Infrared Instrument (JWST/MIRI) Integral Field Unit observations from the Galaxy Activity, Torus and Outflow Survey to investigate the diverse range of ionized outflow rates of obscured active galactic nuclei (AGN) with similar bolometric luminosity and explore potential associations with AGN feedback. We explore spatial correlations between ionized emission potentially associated with fast shocks ([Fe II ] 5.34 μ m ) and the excitation of H 2 . We further constrain our investigation to the inner 400 pc (the nuclear and circumnuclear regions r < 200 pc), and estimate the excitation temperature and column density of H 2 assuming local thermodynamic equilibrium and using the S(1)–S(8) rotational H 2 emission lines visible to JWST/MIRI spectroscopy. We report the molecular gas temperature of the deprojected 400 pc nuclear region to correlate with the ionized mass outflow rate. We also observe a stronger degree of spatial correlation between [Fe II ] 5.34 μ m emission and H 2 gas temperature. We observe regions of enhanced [Fe II ] 5.34 μ m /[Ar II ] 6.99 μ m spatially coincident with the ionization cones of objects with higher ionized outflow rates and [Fe II ] 5.34 μ m /[Ar II ] 6.99 μ m in the deprojected 400 pc nuclear region to scale positively with both the ionized outflow rate and the estimated molecular gas temperature. We do not observe the estimated jet cavity power within the central 400 pc as strongly correlated with the ionized mass outflow rate or molecular gas temperature of the nuclear region. We take the preceding observations to suggest a higher degree of interaction between AGN outflows and the circumnuclear disk.
Authors
- Takuma Izumi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9452-0813)
- Lindsay Fuller (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4809-6147)
- H. Haidar (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3741-6136)
- S. Hoenig (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6353-1111)
- D. J. Rosario (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0001-3587)
- I. García-Bernete (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9627-5281)
- Cláudio Ricci (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5231-2645)
- Laura Hermosa Muñoz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9610-0123)
- Steph Campbell
- A. Alonso‐Herrero (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6794-2519)
- C. Ramos Almeida (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8353-649X)
- Alvaro Labiano (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0690-8824)
- N. A. Levenson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4209-639X)
- E. K. S. Hicks (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4457-5733)
- A. Audibert (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3589-3294)
- R. Davies (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4949-7217)
- M. J. Ward (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1810-0889)
- Donají Esparza-Arredondo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8042-9867)
- Lulu Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4937-9077)
- Rogemar A. Riffel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0483-3723)
- D. Rigopoulou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6854-7545)
- Françoise Combes (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2658-7893)
- Federico Esposito (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5775-6285)
- Enrique López-Rodríguez (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5357-6538)
- M. Pereira-Santaella (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4005-9619)
- Marko Stalevski (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5146-8330)
- E. Bellocchi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9791-4228)
- O. González-Martín (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2356-8358)
- Daniel E. Delaney (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-6992-2555)
- Oscar Veenema (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-0466-9223)
- Chris Packham
- Santiago García-Burillo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0444-6897)
- Daniel Rouan
- Taro Shimizu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2125-4670)
Publication Details
- Journal
- The Astrophysical Journal
- Published
- 2026-04-22
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ae548a
- Primary Topic
- Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Comunidad de Madrid
- Space Telescope Science Institute
- Government of the United Kingdom
- UK Research and Innovation
- Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades
- European Commission
- Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung
- Agencia Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo
- HORIZON EUROPE Framework Programme
- Science and Technology Facilities Council
- European Regional Development Fund
- Agencia Estatal de Investigación