Kinematic results in the inner kiloparsec of nearby active galaxies as revealed by molecular (ALMA) and ionized gas (Gemini-GMOS/IFU)


Friday, 01 February 2019 8 a.m. — 9 a.m. MST

AURA Lecture Hall

NOIRLab South Colloquia
ROY LAWRENCE SLATER CLEMENT (Universidad de Concepcion, Universidad Andres Bello, Chile and Gemini South Visiting Astronomer)

Tracing nuclear inflows and outflows in AGNs, determining the mass of gas involved in these, and their impact on the host galaxy and nuclear black hole, requires investigating the 3-D images of both the ionized and molecular gases. We present the most recent results obtained by our group where we have analyzed the distribution and kinematics of molecular and ionized gases in a sample of nearby seyfert galaxies via ALMA observations of the CO J:2-1 emission at the inner 1 kiloparsec scales in spatial resolution and ~2.6 km s-1 in spectral resolution. Also the Gemini-GMOS/IFU observations of ionized gas emission lines at similar spatial resolution will be discussed. While both ionized and molecular gas show rotation signatures, there are significant non-circular motions within the central kpc of the sources in our sample which can then be interpreted in different ways. This talk focusses in showing different approaches in explaining the disturbed gas kinematics in the inner kpc and the signature of the existence of molecular and ionized gas outflows which seems to be present with relative frequency at the innermost scales in nearby active galaxies. As a concluding remark, possible future directions related to the kinematic study in nearby galaxies in general will be discussed.