Evidence of Jet-ambient Gas Interactions in the Emission-line Region of Seyfert Galaxies

Collimated outflows (ranging from barely collimated winds to actual jets) are present in a wide range of astrophysical objects, four types of them being represented at this conference, namely young stellar objects, planetary nebulae, radio galaxies and Seyfert galaxies. In this paper, I first try to give a brief overview of the basic properties of the outflows and their environments, as they are observed in these four very different categories of objects. I then go back on safer grounds and focus on my own research topic, i.e., the study of jet-ambient gas interactions in the emission-line regions of Seyfert galaxies, using the emerging techniques of 3D spectroscopy. After listing the various groups working on this subject around the world, I present two examples of results of integral field spectroscopy of nearby Seyfert galaxies (Mrk 573 and NGC 1068). In Mrk 573, the ground-based 3D (x, y, λ) data are used in combination with high spatial resolution HST imaging to probe the nature of the emission-line arcs and knots observed in this object and their relationship with the radio jet. In NGC 1068, we show that we have probably found the optical counterpart of the beautiful bowshock which terminates the radio jet.