Physical properties of dense molecular gas in centres of Seyfert galaxies

TL;DR

This study uses high-resolution observations of dense molecular gas in Seyfert galaxy centers to analyze their kinematics, morphology, and stability, revealing conditions unfavorable for star formation within the central 100 parsecs.

Contribution

It provides detailed kinematic and morphological analysis of dense gas in Seyfert nuclei, demonstrating the gas's stability and large scale height, and linking these properties to star formation activity.

Findings

Dense gas exhibits large line widths and significant scale heights.

The gas is stable against rapid star formation, with Q parameter above critical.

Star formation is absent in the central 100 pc, occurring only in circumnuclear rings.

Abstract

We present new ~1" resolution data of the dense molecular gas in the central 50-100 pc of four nearby Seyfert galaxies. PdBI observations of HCN and, in 2 of the 4 sources, simultaneously HCO+ allow us to carefully constrain the dynamical state of the dense gas surrounding the AGN. Analysis of the kinematics shows large line widths of 100-200 km/s FWHM that can only partially arise from beam smearing of the velocity gradient. The observed morphological and kinematic parameters (dimensions, major axis position angle, red and blue channel separation, and integrated line width) are well reproduced by a thick disk, where the emitting dense gas has a large intrinsic dispersion (20-40 km/s), implying that it exists at significant scale heights (25-30% of the disk radius). To put the observed kinematics in the context of the starburst and AGN evolution, we estimate the Toomre Q parameter. We find this is always greater than the critical value, i.e. Q is above the limit such that the gas is stable against rapid star formation. This is supported by the lack of direct evidence, in these 4 Seyfert galaxies, for on-going star formation close around the AGN. Instead, any current star formation tends to be located in a circumnuclear ring. We conclude that the physical conditions are indeed not suited to star formation within the central ~100 pc.