Cold Molecular Gas in the Inner Two Kiloparsec of NGC4151

TL;DR

This study provides the first spatially resolved imaging of cold molecular gas in NGC4151's central 2.5 kpc, revealing gas distribution, kinematics, and the relationship with AGN activity, with implications for understanding gas dynamics in active galaxies.

Contribution

First spatially resolved CO(1-0) observations of NGC4151's central region, linking gas morphology and kinematics to AGN activity and circumnuclear structures.

Findings

Cold gas distributed along two curved lanes near the nucleus.

No cold molecular gas detected within 300 pc of the nucleus.

Total cold molecular mass is approximately 4.3×10^7 solar masses.

Abstract

We present the first spatially resolved spectroscopic imaging observations of the 12CO(1-0) line emission in the central 2.5 kpc of the Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC4151, obtained with the IRAM Plateau de Bure Interferometer (PdBI). Most of the cold molecular gas is distributed along two curved gas lanes about 1 kpc north and south of the active nucleus, coincident with the circumnuclear dust ring noted by previous authors. These CO arcs lie within the Inner Lindblad Resonance of the large scale oval bar and have kinematics consistent with those derived from neutral hydrogen observations of the disk and bar. Two additional gas clumps are detected that show non-circular motions - one associated with the southern gas lane and one lying ~600 pc north of the nucleus. Closer to the nucleus, no cold molecular gas is detected in the central 300 pc where abundant near-IR H2 line emission arises. This suggests that the H2 line emission is not a good indicator for a cold gas reservoir in NGC4151 and that the H2 is likely photo-excited by the AGN. The upper limit of the CO mass in the central 300 pc is sufficient to support the AGN activity at its current level for 10^7 yrs. The total cold molecular mass detected by PdBI is 4.3 10^7 Msun. Finally, 3 mm continuum emission arising from the location of the AGN is detected with a flux of S~14 mJy and appears to be unresolved at an angular resolution of 2.8" (~180 pc).