Program: GN-2017B-Q-44

Title:GMOS+NIFS survey of feeding and feedback processes in nearby Active Galaxies
PI:Luis Gabriel D. Hahn
Co-I(s): Daniel Ruschel-Dutra, Rogemar A. Riffel, Thaisa Storchi-Bergmann, Rogerio Riffel

Abstract

Current models and simulations of gas inflows around active galaxy nuclei (AGN) lead to episodes of circumnuclear star formation. So far, there is no consensus on whether AGN fueling is coeval with the star formation (SF), or follows it during a post-starburst phase or if there is no correlation between them. Although we are making great progress in the study of the circumnuclear stellar populations (CNSPs) in the NIR, this wavelength range is not very sensitive to the youngest ages. To better constrain their ages it is fundamental to use the combination of the optical and NIR spectral ranges. We have, therefore, started a new methodology for the analysis of the CNSPs by combining optical and NIR data cubes in order to test the proposed co-evolution scenarios by mapping the CNSPs ages distribution and comparing our results with predictions from simulations. Our sample builds on that of the LLP02 and on previous NIFS observations. Nevertheless, only a fraction of this sample has archival optical data cubes available. We thus propose to obtain GMOS-IFU data for the remaining objects and thus to put together a ``legacy value" database of 3D spectroscopy of nearby AGN.

Publications using this program's data