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High Resolution CO Images of Seyfert Galaxies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 August 2017

Margaret Meixner
Affiliation:
Astronomy Dept., Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA 94720 USA
Melvyn Wright
Affiliation:
Astronomy Dept., Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA 94720 USA
Rich Puchalsky
Affiliation:
Astronomy Program, Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742 USA
Leo Blitz
Affiliation:
Astronomy Program, Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742 USA
Tim Heckmen
Affiliation:
Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins Univ., Baltimore, MD 21218 USA

Abstract

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Summary The Berkeley-Illinois-Maryland millimeter array has been used to image the CO (J=1−0) emission of three Seyfert galaxies, NGC 3227, NGC 7469 and NGC 5033, selected for their strong single-dish CO detections. Extensive u-v coverage was obtained for all three galaxies resulting in 2″-3″resolution. The CO emission in NGC 3227 and NGC 7469 appears as compact structures centered on the active nuclei, containing substantial fractions (∼ 80% and ∼ 50%) of the single-dish flux. In NGC 3227, 10% of the CO flux detected by the interferometer is contained within the ionized narrow line region. The unresolved molecular gas concentrations in the nucleus of NGC 3227 imply a CO mass of 6.5 × 107 M concentrated within a diameter ≍ 50 pc. The CO emission in NGC 5033 is not detected at this resolution, implying a CO structure size of 20″-60″(1.2-3.6 kpc). Continuum emission at 2.7mm is not detected in any of the three galaxies. In the center of NGC 7469, the H2 mass is comparable to the dynamical mass. Kinematic studies of the detected gas reveal a rotational motion of the gas in NGC 3227 and NGC 7469, allowing identification of the gas in NGC 7469 with a nuclear starburst. These data are consistent with the idea that interactions between galaxies cause gas to concentrate in their nuclei thereby feeding starburst and Seyfert activity.

Type
IX- Galaxy Nuclei
Copyright
Copyright © Kluwer 1991