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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 August 2017
It is argued that the tightly wound spiral structure in the nuclei of some galaxies -generally referred to as rings- provides evidence of nuclear activity. It is shown that such spirals are the loci of plasma ejected in a bi-polar fashion from the equator of a rotating nucleus and funneled by a magnetic field. The equation of the loci is derived and applied to the nuclear spiral of NGC 4736. The observed rotational and angle-dependent ejection velocities, as well as polarization of non-thermal continua give support to our model.