The Nuclear Environments of Seyfert Galaxies: Black Hole Masses and the Molecular Gas and Stars within the Central 100 pc

Details The Nuclear Environments of Seyfert Galaxies: Black Hole Masses and the Molecular Gas and Stars within the Central 100 pc The Nuclear Environments of Seyfert Galaxies: Black Hole Masses and the Molecular Gas and Stars within the Central 100 pc

Dec 2009

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009aas...21460311h&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #214, #603.11

Physics

Optics

Scientific paper

We examine the molecular gas and stellar population within the nuclear environments of 18 Seyfert galaxies on scales of tens of parsecs using near-infrared integral field spectrometers with adaptive optics at Keck and VLT. Mapping the interstellar medium traced by H2 1-0 S(1) emission, we find evidence for geometrically, and in many cases also optically, thick disks with a characteristic radius of 30 pc. A clumpy medium is implied by the differences in column density derived from extinction of the stellar continuum and those suggested by the dynamical mass assuming the typical gas mass fraction of 10%. These gas disks are most likely spatially mixed with the nuclear stellar population given the similarity of their distribution and kinematics. The roles of nuclear star formation and gas inflow toward the central black hole in maintaining the thick disks implied by the high velocity dispersion are considered. We constrain the masses of the central black holes by modeling of the gas disk kinematics and demonstrate the significance of taking into account the gas velocity dispersion. These black hole mass estimates are then used to calibrate masses derived via the method of reverberation mapping.

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