The drivers and energetics of ionized gas outflows in powerful Type 2 AGN in the local Universe

There exist scaling relations that link the mass of supermassive black holes with both the velocity dispersion and the mass of the central stellar cusp of their host galaxies. This implies that galaxies co-evolve with their central black holes, potentially through the feedback from actively accreting supermassive black holes (AGN). We use integral field spectroscopy data from the 8.2m Gemini-North telescope to investigate ionized gas outflows in luminous local (z<0.1) Type 2 AGN. Our sample of 6 galaxies was selected based on their [OIII] dust-corrected luminosity (>$10^{42}erg/s$) and signatures of outflows in the [OIII] line profile of their SDSS spectra. These are arguably the best candidates to explore AGN feedback in action since they are < 1% of a large local type 2 AGN SDSS sample selected based on their [OIII] kinematics. Expanding on previously reported results concerning the kinematic decomposition and size determination of these outflows, here we report their photoionization properties and energetics. We find strong evidence that connect the extreme kinematics of the ionized gas with AGN photoionization. The kinematic component related to the AGN-driven outflow is clearly separated from other kinematic components, such as gravitation- or stellar-driven motions, on the velocity and velocity dispersion diagram. Our spatially resolved kinematic analysis reveals that up to 90% of the mass and kinetic energy of the outflow is contained within the central kiloparcec of the galaxy. The total mass and kinetic energy of the outflow correlate well with the AGN bolometric luminosity, resulting in energy conversion efficiencies between 0.01% and 1%. Intriguingly, we detect ubiquitous signs of ongoing circumnuclear star formation. Their small size, the centrally contained mass and energy, and the universally detected circumnuclear star formation cast doubts on the potency of these AGN-driven outflows as agents of negative feedback.