Santiago Garcia-Burillo

Title: Galactic inflows / outflows (II) : Observational constraints

Galaxy nuclei are a unique laboratory to study gas flows. High-resolution imaging of the gas 
flows in galactic nuclei are instrumental in the study of the fueling and the feedback of star 
formation and nuclear activity in nearby galaxies. Nuclear activity must be fed with material 
which lies originally away from the gravitational influence of the black hole. On its way to 
central engine gas must lose virtually of its angular momentum. Several fueling mechanisms, 
which have been long discussed in the literature, can be now confronted in detail with 
observations done with state of the art interferometers like ALMA. Furthermore, the study of gas 
flows in galactic nuclei can probe the feedback of activity on the energy balance/redistribution of 
the interstellar medium of galaxies. Feedback action from star formation and AGN activity is 
invoked to prevent galaxies from becoming overly massive, but also to explain scaling laws like 
BH-bulge mass correlations and the bimodal color distribution of galaxies. There is mounting 
observational evidence for the existence of gas outflows  in different populations of starbursts 
and active galaxies, including ultra luminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs), radio galaxies, quasars 
and Seyferts. The outflow phenomenon concerns virtually all the phases of the interstellar 
medium (ISM).

In this talk I will summarize the main results recently obtained from the observation of galactic 
inflows and outflows in a variety of active galaxies with current millimeter interferometers like 
ALMA or the IRAM array. Synergies with future instruments like the SKA or the JWST will be 
mentioned.