Discovery of a nuclear gas bar feeding the active nucleus in Circinus

Details Discovery of a nuclear gas bar feeding the active nucleus in Circinus Discovery of a nuclear gas bar feeding the active nucleus in Circinus

1999-10-08

arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/9910160v1

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

14 pages, 7 figures (3 color plates), accepted for publication in ApJ

Scientific paper

10.1086/308444

We report the discovery of gas inflow motions towards the active nucleus of the Circinus galaxy caused by the non-axisymmetric potential of a nuclear gas bar. Evidence for dust associated with the bar comes from the HST/NICMOS H-K color map, whereas the streaming motions along the gas bar are seen in the velocity field of the H2 S(1)(1-0) emission line. The gas bar is about 100 pc long with a visual extinction in excess of 10 mag. Indication for the gaseous nature of this bar comes from the lack of a stellar counterpart even in the K band where the extinction is greatly reduced. We also use the NICMOS emission line images (Pa-alpha, [SiVI], and [FeII]) to study the innermost region of the ionization cones and the nuclear star forming activity. We discuss the possible relationship of these components with the gaseous bar.

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