Linking the Supermassive Black Hole Growth with the Megamaser Emission

TL;DR

This paper investigates the relationship between supermassive black hole growth and megamaser emission, proposing new methods to connect black hole accretion physics with galactic nuclear activity using water maser observations.

Contribution

It introduces novel quantitative approaches to link water maser emission characteristics with nuclear galactic activity, aiding in identifying mega-maser systems and understanding black hole evolution.

Findings

Proposes criteria to identify mega-maser systems in galactic centers.

Establishes potential evolutionary links between maser emission and nuclear activity.

Suggests observational strategies combining high-resolution and large array telescopes.

Abstract

High-resolution observations of the central few 100 pc of the galactic nuclear environments remain prohibitive for large statistical samples, which are crucial for tracing the links between central black hole formation, galaxy formation and AGN activity over cosmic time. With this contribution, we present novel ways of connecting the physics of black hole accretion with its immediate environs via a new quantitative evaluation of the degree to which the strength and spatial configuration of the water maser emission is associated with the nuclear nebular galactic activity. We discuss possible evolutionary/causal connections between these two types of emission, together with criteria that could dramatically enhance our search for mega-maser systems in nearby galactic centers. These are timely results given the interest in combining high-resolution observations with extremely large optical telescopes and large arrays that start to conquer the sub-millimeter window.