http://arxiv.org/abs/1604.07937
We present further results of a search for extragalactic submillimeter H2O masers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA). The detection of a 321 GHz H2O maser in the nearby Type 2 Seyfert galaxy, the Circinus galaxy, has previously been reported, and here the spectral analysis of four other galaxies is described. A 321 GHz H2O maser is newly detected toward the center of NGC 4945, a nearby Type 2 Seyfert. The maser shows Doppler-shifted velocity features with velocity ranges similar to those of the 22 GHz H2O maser, however the non-contemporaneous observations also show differences in velocity offsets. The sub-parsec-scale distribution of the 22 GHz H2O masers revealed by earlier VLBI (Very Long Baseline Interferometry) observations suggests that the submillimeter masers could arise in an edge-on rotating disk. The maser features remain unresolved at the synthesized beam of ~0.54 (~30 pc) and are located toward the 321 GHz continuum peak within errors. There is some evidence for a high-velocity feature, redshifted by 579 km/s with respect to the systemic velocity of the galaxy. Assuming that this feature is real and arises from a Keplerian rotating disk in this galaxy, it is located at a radius of ~0.020 pc (~1.5 x 10^5 Schwarzschild radii), which would enable molecular material closer to the central engine to be probed. This detection confirms that submillimeter H2O masers are a potential tracer of the AGN circumnuclear region, which will benefit from higher angular resolution studies with ALMA.
Y. Hagiwara, S. Horiuchi, A. Doi, et. al.
Thu, 28 Apr 16
7/57
Comments: 9 pages, 3 figures, submitted to ApJ
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