JWST/NIRSpec Reveals Diverse Nuclear Environments in Dwarf Galaxies Hosting AGN
Abstract
Dwarf galaxies, in the ΛCDM framework, are expected to dominate the galaxy number density at all redshifts. As such, studying AGN in these systems, including characterizing their local environments and emission properties, is essential in obtaining a comprehensive view of the AGN population and their influence on their host galaxy. To this end, we present JWST/NIRSpec IFU observations of four dwarf galaxies (M⋆<109.5M⊙) with evidence of AGN activity. Utilizing the improvements in resolution and sensitivity offered by JWST, we investigate the emission features of the central kiloparsec of these dwarfs. Our findings include the detection of over 100 emission lines across our sample, including coronal lines with ionization potentials greater than 300 eV. The nuclear spectra show diverse emission features. In two galaxies, we measure strong contributions from hot dust to the infrared continuum. We also detect both PAH and coronal line emission within 100 parsecs of the nuclei in three galaxies. We estimate the hot H2 gas mass to be between 1--20 M⊙ within 300 pc across our sample, where both thermal and non-thermal excitation are involved. Lastly, spatial flux maps reveal varied emission structures across all observed gas phases, ranging from radial symmetry around the nucleus to elongated plumes. Kinematic maps also show each galaxy has unique velocity structures despite all being isolated, affirming the diversity of rotation curves problem, a long standing tension between simulations and observations. These results showcase the unique and varied nuclear environments that can be found in dwarf galaxies hosting AGN.
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BibTeX
@misc{bohn2026jwstnirspec,
title = {{JWST/NIRSpec Reveals Diverse Nuclear Environments in Dwarf Galaxies Hosting AGN}},
author = {Thomas Bohn and Archana Aravindan and Gabriela Canalizo and Aditya Togi and Shobita Satyapal and Tohru Nagao and Matthew Malkan and Thomas S. Y. Lai and Hanae Inami and Weizhe Liu and Marina Bianchin and Tanio Diaz-Santos and Aaron Evans and Sean T. Linden and Vivian U and Lee Armus and Loreto Barcos-Munoz and Kirsten Larson and Yiqing Song and Sabrina Stierwalt and Jason Surace},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.04315},
eprint = {2609.04315},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.04315},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - JWST/NIRSpec Reveals Diverse Nuclear Environments in Dwarf Galaxies Hosting AGN
AU - Thomas Bohn
AU - Archana Aravindan
AU - Gabriela Canalizo
AU - Aditya Togi
AU - Shobita Satyapal
AU - Tohru Nagao
AU - Matthew Malkan
AU - Thomas S. Y. Lai
AU - Hanae Inami
AU - Weizhe Liu
AU - Marina Bianchin
AU - Tanio Diaz-Santos
AU - Aaron Evans
AU - Sean T. Linden
AU - Vivian U
AU - Lee Armus
AU - Loreto Barcos-Munoz
AU - Kirsten Larson
AU - Yiqing Song
AU - Sabrina Stierwalt
AU - Jason Surace
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/03
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.04315
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.04315
AB - Dwarf galaxies, in the ΛCDM framework, are expected to dominate the galaxy number density at all redshifts. As such, studying AGN in these systems, including characterizing their local environments and emission properties, is essential in obtaining a comprehensive view of the AGN population and their influence on their host galaxy. To this end, we present JWST/NIRSpec IFU observations of four dwarf galaxies (M_⋆<10^9.5M_⊙) with evidence of AGN activity. Utilizing the improvements in resolution and sensitivity offered by JWST, we investigate the emission features of the central kiloparsec of these dwarfs. Our findings include the detection of over 100 emission lines across our sample, including coronal lines with ionization potentials greater than 300 eV. The nuclear spectra show diverse emission features. In two galaxies, we measure strong contributions from hot dust to the infrared continuum. We also detect both PAH and coronal line emission within 100 parsecs of the nuclei in three galaxies. We estimate the hot H_2 gas mass to be between 1--20 M_⊙ within 300 pc across our sample, where both thermal and non-thermal excitation are involved. Lastly, spatial flux maps reveal varied emission structures across all observed gas phases, ranging from radial symmetry around the nucleus to elongated plumes. Kinematic maps also show each galaxy has unique velocity structures despite all being isolated, affirming the diversity of rotation curves problem, a long standing tension between simulations and observations. These results showcase the unique and varied nuclear environments that can be found in dwarf galaxies hosting AGN.
ER -