A systematic search for warm molecular gas in AGN and star forming galaxies at z=2 with MIRI

Abstract

Feedback from Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) have become the cornerstones of cosmological hydrodynamical simulations and they are believed to regulate the star formation in their host galaxies. A promising way to gauge the impact of AGN on the interstellar medium is by tracing their molecular gas content, as the gas experiences an immediate impact of the radiation, jets or outflows from the AGN, compared to star formation. Recent ALMA observations targeting CO emission in mass-matched sample of AGN and non-AGN host galaxies at high redshift have suggested that AGN display lower cold molecular gas content compared to their non-AGN counterparts. One of the hypothesis to explain this difference is the molecular gas in AGN host galaxies could be present in the warm molecular gas phase, traced using rest-frame near-infrared ro-vibrational transitions. This proposal aims to trace warm molecular gas via rest-frame H2 2.12 um transition in a mass-matched sample of AGN and non-AGN host galaxies at z~2.2 using MIRI/MRS. The selected sample is complemented by ground-based ionised gas and cold molecular gas observations. We will test if AGN host galaxies show a systematic difference in their warm molecular gas content compared to the non-AGN galaxies. We will also compute the total gas mass (ionised+molecular) in these galaxies which will provide a key input to current models of AGN feedback....

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