We employ MUSE/VLT data to study the ionised and highly ionised gas phases of the feedback in Circinus, the closest Seyfert 2 galaxy to us. The analysis of the nebular emission allowed us to detect a remarkable high-ionisation gas outflow beyond the galaxy plane traced by the coronal lines [Fe vii] λ6089 and [Fe x] λ6374, extending up to 700 pc and 350 pc NW from the nucleus, respectively. This is the first time that the [Fe x] emission is observed at such distances from the central engine in an AGN. The gas kinematics reveals expanding gas shells with velocities of a few hundred  km s−1, spatially coincident with prominent hard X-ray emission detected by Chandra. Density and temperature sensitive line ratios show that the extended high-ionisation gas is characterized by a temperature reaching 25000 K and an electron density >102 cm−3 . We found that local gas excitation by shocks produced by the passage of a radio jet leads to the spectacular high-ionisation emission in this object. This hypothesis is fully supported by photoionisation models that accounts for the combined effects of the central engine and shocks. They reproduce the observed emission line spectrum at different locations inside and outside of the NW ionisation cone. The energetic outflow produced by the radio jet is spatially located close to an extended molecular outflow recently reported using ALMA which suggests that they both represent different phases of the same feedback process acting on the AGN.

We report the first characterization of an extended outflow of high ionized gas in the Circinus Galaxy by means of the coronal line (CL) [Fe vii] λ6087. This emission is located within the ionization cone already detected in the [O iii] λ5007 line and is found to extend up to a distance of ∼700 pc from the active galactic nucleus. The gas distribution appears clumpy, with several knots of emission. Its kinematics is complex, with split profiles and line centroids shifted from the systemic velocity. The physical conditions of the gas show that the extended coronal emission is likely the remnant of shells inflated by the passage of a radio jet. This scenario is supported by extended X-ray emission, which is spatially coincident with the morphology and extension of the [Fe vii] λ6087 gas in the NW side of the galaxy. The extension of the coronal gas in the Circinus galaxy is unique among active galaxies and demonstrates the usefulness of CLs for tracing the shock ionization component in these objects.

In this work, we study the optical properties of compact radio sources selected from the literature in order to determine the impact of the radio-jet in their circumnuclear environment. Our sample includes 58 Compact Steep Spectrum (CSS) and GigaHertz Peaked Spectrum (GPS) and 14 Megahertz-Peaked spectrum (MPS) radio sources located at z ≤ 1. The radio luminosity (LR) of the sample varies between Log LR ∼ 23.2 and 27.7 W Hz−1. We obtained optical spectra for all sources from SDSS-DR12 and performed a stellar population synthesis using the starlight code. We derived stellar masses (M⋆), ages 〈t⋆〉, star formation rates (SFR), metallicities 〈Z⋆〉 and internal reddening AV for all young AGNs of our sample. A visual inspection of the SDSS images was made to assign a morphological class for each source. Our results indicate that the sample is dominated by intermediate to old stellar populations and there is no strong correlation between optical and radio properties of these sources. Also, we found that young AGNs can be hosted by elliptical, spiral and interacting galaxies, confirming recent findings. When comparing the optical properties of CSS/GPS and MPS sources, we do not find any significant difference. Finally, the Mid-Infrared WISE colours analysis suggest that compact radio sources defined as powerful AGNs are, in general, gas-rich systems.

We study the ionised and highly ionised gas phases in the Seyfert 2 galaxy IC 5063 by means of VLT/MUSE integral field spectroscopy. Our analysis allowed us to detect a high-ionisation gas outflow traced by the coronal lines [Fe vii] λ6087 and [Fe x] λ6375. Both emissions are found to be extended. The former up to 1.2 kpc and 700 pc NW and SE from the nucleus, respectively. The latter reaches 700 pc NW of the nucleus. This is the first time that [Fe x] emission is observed at such distances from the central engine in an active galactic nucleus. The [Fe vii] λ6087 emission peaks at the nucleus, with two secondary peaks at the position of the NW and SE radio-lobes. The gas kinematics is complex, with the coronal emission displaying split line profiles along the radio jet and line widths of several hundreds km s−1. Velocity shifts of up to 600 km s−1 in excess of the systemic velocity of the galaxy are found very close to the radio lobes and along the jet propagation. The extended coronal gas is characterised by temperatures reaching 20000 K and electron densities >102 cm−3, with the larger values associated to the regions of larger turbulence, likely due to the passage of the radio jet. This hypothesis is supported by photoionisation models that combine the effects of the central engine and shocks. Our work highlights the strong relationship between extended coronal emission and the radio jet, with the former suitably tracing the latter, which in the case of IC 5063, propagates very close to the galaxy disc.