- Vivian, U;
- Lai, Thomas;
- Bianchin, Marina;
- Remigio, Raymond P;
- Armus, Lee;
- Larson, Kirsten L;
- Díaz-Santos, Tanio;
- Evans, Aaron;
- Stierwalt, Sabrina;
- Law, David R;
- Malkan, Matthew A;
- Linden, Sean;
- Song, Yiqing;
- van der Werf, Paul P;
- Gao, Tianmu;
- Privon, George C;
- Medling, Anne M;
- Barcos-Muñoz, Loreto;
- Hayward, Christopher C;
- Inami, Hanae;
- Rich, Jeff;
- Aalto, Susanne;
- Appleton, Philip;
- Bohn, Thomas;
- Böker, Torsten;
- Brown, Michael JI;
- Charmandaris, Vassilis;
- Finnerty, Luke;
- Howell, Justin;
- Iwasawa, Kazushi;
- Kemper, Francisca;
- Marshall, Jason;
- Mazzarella, Joseph M;
- McKinney, Jed;
- Muller-Sanchez, Francisco;
- Murphy, Eric J;
- Sanders, David;
- Surace, Jason
The nearby, luminous infrared galaxy NGC 7469 hosts a Seyfert nucleus with a circumnuclear star-forming ring and is thus the ideal local laboratory for investigating the starburst-AGN (active galactic nucleus) connection in detail. We present integral-field observations of the central 1.3 kpc region in NGC 7469 obtained with the JWST Mid-InfraRed Instrument. Molecular and ionized gas distributions and kinematics at a resolution of ∼100 pc over the 4.9-7.6 μm region are examined to study the gas dynamics influenced by the central AGN. The low-ionization [Fe ii] λ5.34 μm and [Ar ii] λ6.99 μm lines are bright on the nucleus and in the starburst ring, as opposed to H2 S(5) λ6.91 μm, which is strongly peaked at the center and surrounding ISM. The high-ionization [Mg v] line is resolved and shows a broad, blueshifted component associated with the outflow. It has a nearly face-on geometry that is strongly peaked on the nucleus, where it reaches a maximum velocity of −650 km s−1, and extends about 400 pc to the east. Regions of enhanced velocity dispersion in H2 and [Fe ii] ∼ 180 pc from the AGN that also show high L(H2)/L(PAH) and L([Fe ii])/L(Pfα) ratios to the W and N of the nucleus pinpoint regions where the ionized outflow is depositing energy, via shocks, into the dense interstellar medium between the nucleus and the starburst ring. These resolved mid-infrared observations of the nuclear gas dynamics demonstrate the power of JWST and its high-sensitivity integral-field spectroscopic capability to resolve feedback processes around supermassive black holes in the dusty cores of nearby luminous infrared galaxies.