Extended forbidden high-ionisation gas as a signature of jet-driven outflows in AGN
The kinetic channel is usually regarded as the dominant feedback process in radio-galaxies. However, its effect in radio-weak AGN (RWAGN) is still uncertain and poorly assessed. In this context, we study the kinetic feedback in 7 bona-fide RWAGN by means of the high-ionisation gas (HIG) and MUSE spectroscopy. We found that the [FeVII] 608.7 nm, the [FeX] 637.4 nm, and the [SiVI] 1963 nm emission suitably traces that feedback component. In all cases the HIG is strongly aligned to the radio-jet and the X-ray emission, extending to scales of 2−3 kpc from the centre. Moreover, the gas kinematics is highly perturbed, decoupled from galaxy rotation, with velocities reaching ∼800 km/s relative to the systemic velocity at locations as far as 1 kpc from the AGN. Models combining the effects of both photoionization by central source and shocks support the scenario where the HIG is essentially shock-driven, most likely by the radio jet. We show that the detection of extended HIG unambiguously probes the presence of the kinetic channel in RWAGN, with outflow rates as large as those measured in radio-galaxies. Moreover, it can be used to measure the kinematics of the thermal X-ray emitting gas because of the interval in IP it covers.