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arxiv: 2603.12200 · v2 · pith:J5U4V3DJnew · submitted 2026-03-12 · 🌌 astro-ph.GA

GATOS XIV: The first direct kinematic evidence of dusty outflows from AGN via PAH kinematics of local Seyfert galaxies with JWST

classification 🌌 astro-ph.GA
keywords kinematicspahsdiskfeaturesoutflowdetectdustevidence
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We present the first spatially resolved kinematic evidence for dust in the outflows of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN). We utilise observations from JWST with NIRSpec IFU and MIRI MRS data of 10 local Seyferts and use Principal Component Analysis (PCA) tomography to extract the kinematics of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon (PAH) features. PAHs comprise the smallest carbonaceous dust molecules in the Interstellar Medium (ISM), and produce emission features in the infrared providing the potential to measure kinematics. This is however challenging due to their broad shapes and variations in their intrinsic profile, prompting the need for techniques such as PCA tomography. We find that the velocity of the PAHs is similar to the molecular gas as traced by the rotational transitions of H$_2$, where for NGC 5728 and NGC 7582, both disk and outflow are present. We detect the outflow in the kinematics of large and neutral PAHs, namely the 11.3 $\mu$m and 17 $\mu$m PAH features, where after subtracting the disk, the velocity field matches that of high-ionisation potential lines such as [NeVI] (7.65 $\mu$m, IP = 158 eV). Finally, we fail to detect kinematics of the 6.2 $\mu$m PAH due to an altered intrinsic profile while the the 3.3 $\mu$m PAH kinematics purely trace the circumnuclear disk. This suggests the PAHs in the outflow are more neutral and larger than in star-forming regions, consistent with PAH band ratios in previous studies of AGN.

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Cited by 2 Pith papers

Reviewed papers in the Pith corpus that reference this work. Sorted by Pith novelty score.

  1. PAHSPECS: Spatially Resolved PAH Spectroscopy at cosmic noon with JWST MIRI MRS

    astro-ph.GA 2026-06 unverdicted novelty 7.0

    JWST observations of z~1.1 galaxies produce PAH ratio maps showing larger and more neutral PAHs at larger radii, opposite local trends, linked to UV hardness via photo-destruction.

  2. Decoupling the AGN outflow and star-forming disk kinematics in the nuclear region of NGC 7582 with JWST NIRSpec and MIRI/MRS

    astro-ph.GA 2026-04 unverdicted novelty 6.0

    In NGC 7582, low-ionization lines trace ordered disk rotation while high-ionization lines trace the AGN outflow, with intermediate lines separated via a thin disk plus hollow-bicone model showing the outflow exceeds e...