# Gemini NIFS survey of feeding and feedback processes in nearby Active Galaxies: I - Stellar kinematics

## TL;DR

This study maps stellar kinematics in 16 nearby Seyfert galaxies using Gemini NIFS, revealing disk-like rotation, bulge influence, and nuclear features, with implications for AGN feedback and stellar dynamics.

## Contribution

First detailed stellar kinematic maps of nearby Seyfert galaxies at high spatial resolution, linking kinematic features to AGN activity and nuclear structures.

## Key findings

- Most galaxies show rotating disk kinematics.
- Kinematic PA aligns with large-scale photometry.
- Residual velocities correlate with X-ray luminosity.

## Abstract

We use the Gemini Near-Infrared Integral Field Spectrograph (NIFS) to map the stellar kinematics of the inner few hundred parsecs of a sample of 16 nearby Seyfert galaxies, at a spatial resolution of tens of parsecs and spectral resolution of 40 km/s. We find that the line-of-sight (LOS) velocity fields for most galaxies are well reproduced by rotating disk models. The kinematic position angle (PA) derived for the LOS velocity field is consistent with the large scale photometric PA. The residual velocities are correlated with the hard X-ray luminosity, suggesting that more luminous AGN have a larger impact in the surrounding stellar dynamics. The central velocity dispersion values are usually higher than the rotation velocity amplitude, what we attribute to the strong contribution of bulge kinematics in these inner regions. For 50% of the galaxies, we find an inverse correlation between the velocities and the $h_3$ Gauss-Hermitte moment, implying red wings in the blueshifted side and blue wings in the redshifted side of the velocity field, attributed to the movement of the bulge stars lagging the rotation. Two of the 16 galaxies (NGC 5899 and Mrk 1066) show an S-shape zero velocity line, attributed to the gravitational potential of a nuclear bar. Velocity dispersion maps show rings of low-$\sigma$ values (50-80 km/s) for 4 objects and "patches" of low-sigma for 6 galaxies at 150-250 pc from the nucleus, attributed to young/ intermediate age stellar populations.