New Insights on Multiphase Feedback in Galaxy Mergers from JWST

seminar default logo
Speaker :  
Dr. Vivian U (University of California Irvine, USA)
Location :  
2nd Floor Seminar Room & Online
Date :  

Time : 

Video
Abstract :

Feedback plays a pivotal role in regulating the galactic life cycle through its manifestation in shocks and turbulent gas within the galaxy and out into the circumgalactic medium. Yet, the complex interplay between outflowing winds and their host galaxy remains largely unconstrained at relevant physical scales in star-forming clouds and shocked gas clumps. The lack of direct observational measurements of small-scale properties of the multiphase interstellar medium is a big hurdle for constraining feedback prescriptions in cosmological models, prompting a systematic resolved study of extreme environments in galaxy mergers known to host these dynamic events. In this talk, I will highlight early JWST results from our Great Observatories All-sky LIRG Survey (GOALS) designed to probe the nuclear environments of active galactic nuclei (AGN) in galaxy mergers. Surprises and controversies thus far include the presence (or absence) of AGN in some merging systems, the larger (or smaller) dust grain size close to the AGN that resulted from its radiation field, and the effect of its feedback on the local ISM (or lack thereof). The power of resolved studies in dissecting how systems dynamically evolve will become indispensable for understanding multiphase feedback from nuclear to galactic scales.