Gemini Near Infrared Field Spectrograph Observations of the Seyfert 2 Galaxy Mrk 573: In Situ Acceleration of Ionized and Molecular Gas Off Fueling Flows

TL;DR

This study uses near-infrared and optical spectroscopy to map the kinematics of gas and stars in the Seyfert 2 galaxy Mrk 573, revealing in situ acceleration of gas and limited outflows, which impacts understanding of AGN fueling and feedback.

Contribution

It provides detailed kinematic maps showing in situ acceleration of gas in the NLR, combining infrared and optical data to improve understanding of gas dynamics in Seyfert galaxies.

Findings

Gas kinematics are a combination of rotation and in situ acceleration.

Outflows extend less than 1 kpc, indicating limited impact on bulge evacuation.

Rotation dominates the gas motion in the circumnuclear region.

Abstract

We present near-infrared and optical emission-line and stellar kinematics of the Seyfert 2 galaxy Mrk 573 using the Near-Infrared Field Spectrograph (NIFS) at Gemini North and Dual Imaging Spectrograph (DIS) at Apache Point Observatory, respectively. By obtaining full kinematic maps of the infrared ionized and molecular gas and stellar kinematics in a 700 x 2100 pc^2 circumnuclear region of Mrk 573, we find that kinematics within the Narrow-Line Region (NLR) are largely due to a combination of both rotation and in situ acceleration of material originating in the host disk. Combining these observations with large-scale, optical long-slit spectroscopy that traces ionized gas emission out to several kpcs, we find that rotation kinematics dominate the majority of the gas. We find that outflowing gas extends to distances less than 1 kpc, suggesting that outflows in Seyfert galaxies may not be powerful enough to evacuate their entire bulges.