Galaxies SIG Seminar

From Jets to Fountains: How Black Holes Shape Galactic Gas across Cosmic Time

Speaker

Namrata Roy (ASU)

Abstract

We are entering a remarkable moment in astronomy. New space and ground-based observatories with IFU spectroscopy allow us to dissect galaxies in unprecedented detail and directly probe the physics of how they grow, evolve, and eventually shut down. In this talk, I will show how actively accreting AGNs can reshape the gas that fuels galaxy growth, and how mass and energy flow from galaxy centers into the larger gas reservoirs around them. I will highlight how extreme systems in the early Universe that are powered by monstrous black hole jets reveal a rapid and violent transformation. They show some of the clearest demonstrations yet of how radio jets significantly disrupt the ambient medium. In contrast, nearby galaxies with weaker central activity from less luminous AGNs provide a complementary view of slow, long-term regulation over billions of years. The compact, weaker AGNs in some cases show evidence for a long-theorized “galactic-fountain” cycle, where outflowing material and infalling gas coexist. In some others, the impact on the gas reservoir and outflows can be hidden in plain sight amidst normal star forming disks. These opposite regimes suggest that galaxy evolution is driven not by a single dramatic event but by a range of processes. I will demonstrate how tracing gas across physical scales and cosmic times reveals the full reach of AGN’s impact and set the stage for HWO to open a new window on the diffuse baryon cycle. 

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