Speaker
Description
The recent advent of high-throughput integral-field-unit spectrographs (IFS) has enabled unprecedented sensitivity in mapping low-density gas, opening new avenues for probing the dynamical states of the interstellar and circumgalactic medium (ISM and CGM). In this talk, I will present an investigation into turbulence and energy injection mechanisms in luminous quasar halos across redshifts 0.5<z<3, leveraging data from VLT/MUSE and JWST/NIRSpec IFU. By analyzing velocity structure functions (VSFs) of the extended ISM and CGM, we demonstrate how AGN-driven outflows and jet-induced bubbles primarily inject energy at scales <10 kpc, while larger-scale processes such as tidal interactions and galaxy mergers dominate energy injection further away from the central engine. In addition, elevated VSF amplitudes near halo centers reveal a stronger influence of AGN feedback in these regions. However, the overall turbulent energy contained in gas motions is subdominant in comparison to the quasar bolometric luminosity, suggesting inefficient energy coupling between quasar radiation and gas dynamics. These findings provide empirical constraints on the scale-dependent mechanisms of energy injection and feedback in quasar environments, offering new insights into their role in shaping galaxy evolution across cosmic time.
