Related papers: Our Galactic Center: A laboratory for the feeding …
Understanding our Galactic Center is easier with insights from nearby galactic nuclei. Both the star formation activity in nuclear gas disks, driven by bars and nuclear bars, and the fueling of low-luminosity AGN, followed by feedback of…
I discuss feeding and feedback processes observed in the inner few hundred parsecs of nearby active galaxies using integral field spectroscopy at spatial resolutions of a few to tens of parsecs. Signatures of feedback include outflows from…
We discuss the efficiency of stellar gravity torques as a mechanism to account for the feeding of the central engines of four low luminosity AGN: NGC4321, NGC4826, NGC4579 and NGC6951. These galaxies have been observed as part of the NUGA…
Except in the most extreme cases of nuclear activity, either starbursts or AGN, it is difficult to find observationnally a close link between the dynamics and the activity. Theoretically however, the necessary step to fuel the gas to the…
The Galactic Center shows evidence for the presence of three important AGN ingredients: a Black Hole ($M_\bullet\sim10^6M_\odot$), an accretion disk ($10^{-8.5} - 10^{-7} M_\odot/{\rm yr}$) and a powerful jet (jet power $\ge$ 10\% disk…
The Galactic centre - as the closest galactic nucleus - holds both intrinsic interest and possibly represents a useful analogue to star-burst nuclei which we can observe with orders of magnitude finer detail than these external systems. The…
We investigate the process of rapid star formation quenching in a sample of 12 massive galaxies at intermediate redshift (z~0.6) that host high-velocity ionized gas outflows (v>1000 km/s). We conclude that these fast outflows are most…
Gamma ray observations have found evidence of an extremely energetic outflow emanating from the Galactic Centre, and an `excess' of emission at GeV energies towards the Galactic Centre over that expected from current models. Determining…
The Galactic Center is an excellent laboratory for studying phenomena and physical processes that may be occurring in many other galactic nuclei. The Center of our Milky Way is by far the closest galactic nucleus, and observations with…
Precise mechanisms by which Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) receive their gaseous fuel is still a mystery. Here I draw attention to the extra ordinary star formation event that took place in the central ~ 0.5 parsec of our Galaxy. The most…
We demonstrate that the accretion disk model for the Galactic Center region by Linden et al (1993a) is applicable for at least one order of magnitude in radius from the Galactic Center (10 ... 100 pc). The viscosity $\nu$ is shown to be…
The study of the content, distribution and kinematics of interstellar gas is a key to understand the origin and maintenance of both starburst and nuclear (AGN) activity in galaxies. The processes involved in AGN fueling encompass a wide…
Observations made during the last ten years with the Chandra X-ray Observatory have shed much light on the cooling gas in the centers of clusters of galaxies and the role of active galactic nucleus (AGN) heating. Cooling of the hot…
At a distance of 8 kpc only, the center of the Galaxy provides a unique testbed for studies about the physics of the interstellar medium and star formation in the nuclei of galaxies. Since it shares many properties of other, more…
Large-scale outflows driven by AGNs are an important element of galaxy evolution. Detailed analysis of their properties allows us to probe the activity history of the galactic nucleus and, potentially, other properties of the host galaxy. A…
We suggest that most nearby active galactic nuclei are fed by a series of small--scale, randomly--oriented accretion events. Outside a certain radius these events promote rapid star formation, while within it they fuel the supermassive…
On the basis of ``sticky particle'' calculations, it is argued that the gas features observed within 10 pc of the Galactic Centre-- the circumnuclear disk (CND) and the ionized gas filaments-- as well as the newly formed stars in the inner…
Our adaptive optics observations of nearby AGN at spatial resolutions as small as 0.085arcsec show strong evidence for recent, but no longer active, nuclear star formation. We begin by describing observations that highlight two contrasting…
There possibly was an AGN episode in the Galactic Centre about 6 Myr ago, powerful enough to produce the Fermi bubbles. We present numerical simulations of a possible scenario giving rise to an activity episode: a collision between a…
Warm absorbers are found in many AGN and consist of clouds moving at moderate radial velocities, showing complex ionization structures and having moderate to large column densities. Using 1D numerical calculations, we confirm earlier…