Positional Coincidence of H2O Maser and a Plasma Obscuring Torus in Radio Galaxy NGC 1052

TL;DR

This study uses multi-frequency VLBA observations to reveal a jet structure and locate H2O masers in NGC 1052, suggesting the presence of a circumnuclear torus associated with accretion processes.

Contribution

First simultaneous multi-frequency VLBA imaging of NGC 1052 showing the positional coincidence of H2O masers with a plasma-obscuring torus.

Findings

H2O masers are redshifted and projected against both jets.

Masers are located where free-free absorption is high.

Evidence supports a circumnuclear torus similar to NGC 4258.

Abstract

We present multi-frequency simultaneous VLBA observations at 15, 22 and 43 GHz towards the nucleus of the nearby radio galaxy NGC 1052. These three continuum images reveal a double-sided jet structure, whose relative intensity ratios imply that the jet axis is oriented close to the sky plane. The steeply rising spectra at 15-43 GHz at the inner edges of the jets strongly suggest that synchrotron emission is absorbed by foreground thermal plasma. We detected H2O maser emission in the velocity range of 1550-1850 km/s, which is redshifted by 50-350 km/s with respect to the systemic velocity of NGC 1052. The redshifted maser gas appears projected against both sides of the jet, in the same manner as the HI seen in absorption. The H2O maser gas are located where the free-free absorption opacity is large. This probably imply that the masers in NGC 1052 are associated with a circumnuclear torus or disk as in the nucleus of NGC 4258. Such circumnuclear structure can be the sence of accreting onto the central engine.