GOALS-JWST: Tracing AGN Feedback on the Star-Forming ISM in NGC 7469

Understand

We present James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Mid-InfraRed Instrument (MIRI) integral-field spectroscopy of the nearby merging, luminous infrared galaxy, NGC 7469.

• This galaxy hosts a Seyfert type-1.5 nucleus, a highly ionized outflow, and a bright, circumnuclear star-forming ring, making it an ideal target to study AGN feedback in the local Universe.
• We take advantage of the high spatial/spectral resolution of JWST/MIRI to isolate the star-forming regions surrounding the central active nucleus and study the properties of the dust and warm molecular gas on ~100 pc scales.
• The starburst ring exhibits prominent Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon (PAH) emission, with grain sizes and ionization states varying by only ~30%, and a total star formation rate of $\rm 10 - 30 \ M_\odot$/yr derived from fine structure and recombination emission lines.