SO coloquio: Investigating the impact of quasar feedback on the central kiloparsecs of galaxies

Active galactic nuclei (AGN) feedback is the effect that nuclear activity produces in the interstellar and circumgalactic medium of galaxies. Different modes of AGN feedback, which can be broadly divided into radiative/quasar and kinetic/radio, are now considered key processes in the evolution of massive galaxies by regulating black hole and galaxy growth. Indeed, a wealth of observational evidence demonstrates that feedback from supermassive black holes impacts the galaxies and the haloes they inhabit on a wide range of scales: from the central parsecs to hundreds of kpc. What we are still far from understanding is how AGN feedback couples with the host galaxy, which is what ultimately determines its efficiency. The aim of the Quasar Feedback (QSOFEED) project is to answer this question by quantifying the impact of multi-phase quasar-driven outflows on the nuclear regions of galaxies, which have the same dynamical timescales as AGN activity and the outflows that it drives. In this talk I will present recent results from the project based on high angular resolution data from cutting-edge telescopes including the GTC, Gemini, and ALMA, and comparison with tailored hydrodynamical simulations of dense gas.