Program: GN-2020B-Q-236

Minkowski's Object is a starforming dwarf galaxy that is being struck by the radio jet from a nearby giant elliptical. Both observations and simulations are in agreement that the star formation in Minkowski's Object is consistent with being triggered by the interaction with the radio jet. This positive feedback is in contrast to the role that radio jets are thought to play in suppressing star formation in galaxies as part of negative AGN feedback. We have therefore begun a campaign to study Minkowski's Object in detail, using HST imaging data in the optical, VLA and ALMA data in the radio/mm to constrain the physical conditions in the object. We will then compare the observed conditions to those in new simulations. As part of this campaign, we require Gemini IFU observations. These will be used to locate and estimate the strength of the shocks induced by the radio jets at sub-kpc resolution, and to estimate the electron density (and hence, by comparison to radio polarimetry data, magnetic field strength) in order to further refine the simulations. By doing so, we will constrain the parameter space in which jet-induced star formation can occur.