To understand “how did we get here?” and realize the origin and fate of galaxies like our own Milky Way, we must uncover how baryons, i.e., the stars and gas, behave and ultimately shape the galaxies over cosmic time. We know that active supermassive black holes, or AGNs, are energetic powerhouses that can disrupt the host galaxy’s baryons, drastically altering star formation and their evolution. But the physics of how black holes comparable in size to our Solar System influence galaxies on scales millions of times larger remains a central mystery. With powerful observatories like JWST and the emergence of spatially resolved spectroscopy, we can finally solve this problem. In this talk, I will present a holistic, data-driven spatially resolved view of the physics of AGN feedback and its impact on the host galaxy. 

I will present the first-ever spatially resolved view of early radio galaxies (z>4) that host monstrous jets. Using JWST data, we find that these jets pierce through the surrounding gas, inflate shocked cocoons, and launch extremely fast ionized outflows ejected from the host. I will discuss how our measured spatially resolved gas kinematics, momentum flux, and energy budget across tens of kpc strongly constrain theoretical models. I will then connect smaller scale ISM observations to larger scale CGM probes to demonstrate, for the first time, how far AGN energy truly propagates in their hosts. Turning to the nearby Universe (z<0.1), I will introduce the enigmatic class of “red geyser” galaxies. I will show that they exhibit direct evidence for a long-theorized “galactic-fountain” cycle, where AGN-driven gas gets ejected, cools, and recycles back to feed the AGN itself. Finally, I will highlight our MSA-3D survey, which repurposes JWST slits as a large-scale spatially resolved survey machine. I will present our discovery of weak AGNs with modest outflows hidden in normal star-forming disks. I will end the talk by summarizing the emerging physical picture of the complex AGN-galaxy co-evolution process and highlight how our community can seize a grand discovery opportunity in the coming decade.