The nuclear environment of NGC 2442: a Compton-thick low-luminosity AGN
  The detailed study of nuclear regions of galaxies is important because it can
help understanding the active galactic nucleus (AGN) feedback mechanisms, the
connections between the nuclei and their host galaxies, and ultimately the
galaxy formation processes. We present the analysis of an optical data cube of
the central region of the galaxy NGC 2442, obtained with the integral field
unit (IFU) of the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS). We also performed a
multiwavelength analysis, with Chandra data, XMM--Newton and NuSTAR spectra,
and Hubble Space Telescope (HST) images. The analysis revealed that the nuclear
emission is consistent with a Low Ionization Nuclear Emission-line Region
(LINER) associated with a highly obscured compact hard X-ray source, indicating
a Compton-thick AGN. The HST image in the F658N filter (H$\alpha$) reveals an
arched structure corresponding to the walls of the ionization cone of the AGN.
The gas kinematic pattern and the high gas velocity dispersion values in the
same region of the ionization cone suggest an outflow emission. The stellar
archaeology results indicate the presence of only old stellar populations
($\sim$ 10 Gyr), with high metallicity (z = 0.02 and 0.05), and the absence of
recent star formation in the central region of NGC 2442, which is possibly a
consequence of the AGN feedback, associated with the detected outflow, shutting
off star formation. NGC 2442 is a late-type galaxy similar to the Milky Way,
and comparisons show that the main difference between them is the presence of a
low-luminosity AGN.
