Unraveling the Complex Structure of AGN-driven Outflows. V. Integral-field Spectroscopy of 40 Moderate-luminosity Type-2 AGNs

Abstract

Abstract There is an ongoing debate on whether feedback from active galactic nuclei (AGNs) can effectively regulate the star formation activities in their host galaxies. To investigate the feedback effect of AGN-driven outflows, we perform integral-field spectroscopic observations of 40 moderate-luminosity ( erg s−1 ) Type-2 AGNs at z < 0.1, which present strong outflow signatures in the integrated [O iii] kinematics. Based on the radial profile of the normalized [O iii] velocity dispersion by stellar velocity dispersion, we measure the kinematic outflow size and extend the kinematic outflow size–luminosity relation reported in Kang & Woo into a wider luminosity range (over four orders of magnitude in [O iii] luminosity). The shallow slope of the kinematic outflow size–luminosity relation indicates that while ionizing photons can reach out further, kinetic energy transfer is much less efficient due to various effects, demonstrating the importance of kinematical analysis in quantifying the outflow size and energetics. By comparing the outflow kinematics with the host galaxy properties, we find that AGNs with strong outflows have higher star formation rate and higher H i gas fraction than those AGNs with weak outflows. These results suggest that the current feedback from AGN-driven outflows do not instantaneously suppress or quench the star formation in the host galaxies while its effect is delayed.