Satoki Matsushita (ASIAA/JAO)

10-100 pc Scale Circum-AGN Molecular Gas Imaging of Nearby Galaxies - Satoki Matsushita Colloquium

ATNF Marsfield Lecture Theatre

Abstract

We present the images and kinematics of circumnuclear molecular gas of nearby AGNs at a linear scale down to 10 pc using SMA and PdBI. We have observed several nearby galaxies that host AGNs, such as radio galaxy Centaurus A, Seyfert 2 galaxy M51, Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC 1097, and Seyfert 2 / starburst composite galaxy NGC 4945, in CO lines to see the molecular gas distribution, kinematics, and physical conditions at 10 - 100 pc scale. In 100 pc scale, most of the circumnuclear molecular gas shows regular rotating feature, and the physical conditions often shows dense and warm nature, suggesting the existence of active sources to make the gas dense and warm. In 10 pc scale, on the other hand, the molecular gas kinematics shows various characteristics, some shows very disturbed kinematics such as a jet-entrained feature, but some still shows regular rotation feature that the AGN unified model predicts. Our results will be a good precursor for the circumnuclear molecular gas studies in the coming ALMA era.