Determining how AGN accelerate outflows using current and next-generation surveys

Despite playing a crucial role in feedback, it remains unclear how AGN accelerate gas outflows, particularly given that different accretion regimes have distinct energetic outputs (i.e. radiation, jets, and winds). To address this, we applied a probabilistic classification scheme to optical spectroscopy from the DESI survey and 144 MHz radio observations from the LOFAR Two-meter Sky Survey (LoTSS), thereby producing a sample of tens of thousands of high-confidence AGN, classified into HERGs, LERGs, and radio-quiet AGN — the largest sample of its kind. This has permitted us to statistically determine the roles of optical luminosity (correlated with radiation pressure) and radio luminosity (tracing shocks and jets) simultaneously in driving warm (T>10,000K), ionised outflows. For radiatively-efficient systems (HERGs and RQAGN), we recover the result that the highest outflow velocities are found at intermediate radio luminosities, and show for the first time that this occurs only at high optical luminosities, indicating that both radiation pressure and shocks/jets are important. Moreover, within this luminosity regime, we discover a correlation between optical luminosity and outflow velocity, indicating a complex interplay between these mechanisms. In contrast, no such relations are found for radiatively-inefficient systems (LERGs), suggesting different acceleration mechanisms — this is critical for understanding how different AGN types regulate the growth of their galaxies.