Cold molecular gas in local X-ray selected AGN with ionized outflows

Abstract

AGN play an active role in the formation and evolution of galaxies through a process known as feedback. Understanding this phenomenon is crucial for the study of star formation activity in the host galaxy, and therefore in galaxy evolution. Cold molecular gas observations offer a promising approach to assess the impact of AGN on the fuel available for star formation. The main goal of this work is to analyze sub-arcsec spatial resolution (≲ 300 pc) ALMA Band 6 CO(2 − 1) observations to investigate the influence of AGN on the cold molecular gas content, distribution and kinematics in a sample of local (z < 0.1) hard X-ray selected AGN displaying ionized outflow signatures. This sample covers a wide range in physical properties, allowing us to perform an unbiased statistical study of AGN activity and its effects on host galaxies. We find substantial amounts of cold molecular gas in the central regions of 16 out of 18 galaxies in our sample, with molecular gas masses ranging from (MH2 /M⊙) = 1.2 × 10^7 to 8.2 × 10^9 and integrated spectral velocities in the range of FWHMCO = 90-480 km/s. Using kinematic models derived with 3D Barolo, we study the occurrence of cold molecular gas non-circular motions and if the presence of AGN results in negative or positive feedback.