Circumnuclear Structures in Megamaser Host Galaxies
Journal Article
·
· Astrophysical Journal
- Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University, 4 Ivy Lane, Princeton, NJ 08544 (United States)
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112 (United States)
- National Radio Astronomy Observatory, 520 Edgemont Road, Charlottesville, VA 22903 (United States)
- Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie, Auf dem Hügel 69, D-53121 Bonn (Germany)
- Finnish Centre for Astronomy with ESO (FINCA), University of Turku, Väisäläntie 20, FI-21500 Kaarina (Finland)
Using the Hubble Space Telescope , we identify circumnuclear (100–500 pc scale) structures in nine new H{sub 2}O megamaser host galaxies to understand the flow of matter from kpc-scale galactic structures down to the supermassive black holes (SMBHs) at galactic centers. We double the sample analyzed in a similar way by Greene et al. and consider the properties of the combined sample of 18 sources. We find that disk-like structure is virtually ubiquitous when we can resolve <200 pc scales, in support of the notion that non-axisymmetries on these scales are a necessary condition for SMBH fueling. We perform an analysis of the orientation of our identified nuclear regions and compare it with the orientation of megamaser disks and the kpc-scale disks of the hosts. We find marginal evidence that the disk-like nuclear structures show increasing misalignment from the kpc-scale host galaxy disk as the scale of the structure decreases. In turn, we find that the orientation of both the ∼100 pc scale nuclear structures and their host galaxy large-scale disks is consistent with random with respect to the orientation of their respective megamaser disks.
- OSTI ID:
- 22663304
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 844; ISSN ASJOAB; ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
USING MEGAMASER DISKS TO PROBE BLACK HOLE ACCRETION
THE MEGAMASER COSMOLOGY PROJECT. III. ACCURATE MASSES OF SEVEN SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLES IN ACTIVE GALAXIES WITH CIRCUMNUCLEAR MEGAMASER DISKS
THE MEGAMASER COSMOLOGY PROJECT. IX. BLACK HOLE MASSES FOR THREE MASER GALAXIES
Journal Article
·
Wed Jul 10 00:00:00 EDT 2013
· Astrophysical Journal
·
OSTI ID:22140149
THE MEGAMASER COSMOLOGY PROJECT. III. ACCURATE MASSES OF SEVEN SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLES IN ACTIVE GALAXIES WITH CIRCUMNUCLEAR MEGAMASER DISKS
Journal Article
·
Wed Jan 19 23:00:00 EST 2011
· Astrophysical Journal
·
OSTI ID:21567615
THE MEGAMASER COSMOLOGY PROJECT. IX. BLACK HOLE MASSES FOR THREE MASER GALAXIES
Journal Article
·
Sat Dec 31 23:00:00 EST 2016
· Astrophysical Journal
·
OSTI ID:22661402