Title: The interplay between AGN and gas in galaxies Speaker: Dr. Samuel Ward (CCA, the Flatiron Institute, NYC, US) Date: 2026-01-08 • 12:00 PM - 13:00 PM Location: Modulo 15, Sala 201

Abstract: Active galactic nuclei (AGN) drive powerful, multiphase outflows into their host galaxies which are expected to play a key role in galaxy evolution. However, exactly how small-scale accretion disc winds couple to the ISM to drive these outflows remains an open question. In this talk, I will discuss our AGN in Clumpy DisCs (ACDC) simulations which feature a physically-motivated AGN wind model embedded in an idealised galaxy disc with a resolved ISM, manually distributed in a clumpy substructure. We find that the hot wind causes the cold ISM clumps to fragment and become entrained in the outflow as small cloudlets. Mixing between these outflow phases produces X-ray emission on kpc-scales which could be detected above the level from star formation with telescopes such as Chandra or AXIS. I will also present early results from the SANGRiA (Simulated Absorption of Neutral Gas for Radio Astronomy) project, where we have forward-modelled galaxies from the SIMBA simulation to compare to 21cm HI absorption results from the ASKAP-FLASH radio survey.

Read more: https://weiguangcui.github.io/DECAF/blog#2026-01-08