Submillimeter H2O Maser in Circinus Galaxy - A New Probe for the Circumnuclear Region of Active Galactic Nuclei

TL;DR

This study reports the first detection of extragalactic submillimeter H2O maser emission in the Circinus galaxy, revealing a new probe for the galaxy's circumnuclear region and potentially tracing molecular material very close to the active galactic nucleus.

Contribution

It presents the first detection of 321 GHz H2O maser emission in an external galaxy and compares it with known 22 GHz maser features to probe the nuclear environment.

Findings

Detected 321 GHz H2O maser in Circinus galaxy.

Maser features are unresolved at ~15 pc scale.

Tentative high-velocity feature suggests proximity to the central black hole.

Abstract

We present the first detection of extragalactic submillimeter H2O maser in the 321 GHz transition toward the center of Circinus galaxy, the nearby Type 2 Seyfert using the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array. We find that Doppler features of the detected 321 GHz H2O maser straddle the systemic velocity of the galaxy as seen in the spectrum of the known 22 GHz H2O maser in the galaxy. By comparing the velocities of the maser features in both transitions, it can be deduced that the 321 GHz maser occurs in a region similar to that of the 22 GHz maser, where the sub-parsec-scale distribution of the 22 GHz maser was revealed by earlier very long baseline interferometry observations. The detected maser features remain unresolved at the synthesized beam of ~0".66 (~15 pc) and coincide with the 321 GHz continuum peak within small uncertainties. We also present a tentative detection of the highest velocity feature (redshifts up to ~635 km/s) in the galaxy. If this high-velocity feature arises from a Keplerian rotating disk well established in this galaxy, it is located at a radius of ~0.018 pc (~1.2 x 10^5 Schwarzschild radii), which might probe molecular material closest to the central engine.