WISDOM project -- XVIII. Molecular gas distributions and kinematics of three megamaser galaxies

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Main Authors: Liang, Fu-Heng, Smith, Mark D., Bureau, Martin, Gao, Feng, Davis, Timothy A., Cappellari, Michele, Elford, Jacob S., Greene, Jenny E., Iguchi, Satoru, Lelli, Federico, Lu, Anan, Ruffa, Ilaria, Williams, Thomas G., Zhang, Hengyue
Format: Preprint
Published: 2023
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author Liang, Fu-Heng
Smith, Mark D.
Bureau, Martin
Gao, Feng
Davis, Timothy A.
Cappellari, Michele
Elford, Jacob S.
Greene, Jenny E.
Iguchi, Satoru
Lelli, Federico
Lu, Anan
Ruffa, Ilaria
Williams, Thomas G.
Zhang, Hengyue
author_facet Liang, Fu-Heng
Smith, Mark D.
Bureau, Martin
Gao, Feng
Davis, Timothy A.
Cappellari, Michele
Elford, Jacob S.
Greene, Jenny E.
Iguchi, Satoru
Lelli, Federico
Lu, Anan
Ruffa, Ilaria
Williams, Thomas G.
Zhang, Hengyue
contents The co-evolution of galaxies and supermassive black holes (SMBHs) underpins our understanding of galaxy evolution, but different methods to measure SMBH masses have only infrequently been cross-checked. We attempt to identify targets to cross-check two of the most accurate methods, megamaser and cold molecular gas dynamics. Three promising galaxies are selected from all those with existing megamaser SMBH mass measurements. We present Atacama Large Millimeter/sub-millimeter Array (ALMA) 12CO(2-1) and 230-GHz continuum observations with angular resolutions of about 0.5". Every galaxy has an extended rotating molecular gas disc and 230-GHz continuum source(s), but all also have irregularities and/or non-axisymmetric features: NGC1194 is highly inclined and has disturbed and lopsided central 12CO(2-1) emission; NGC3393 has a nuclear disc with fairly regular but patchy 12CO(2-1) emission with little gas near the kinematic major axis, faint emission in the very centre and two brighter structures reminiscent of a nuclear ring and/or spiral; NGC5765B has a strong bar and very bright 12CO(2-1) emission concentrated along two bisymmetric offset dust lanes and two bisymmetric nuclear spiral arms. 12CO(2-1) and 12CO(3-2) observations with the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope are compared with the ALMA observations. Because of the disturbed gas kinematics and the impractically long integration times required for higher angular resolution observations, none of the three galaxies is suitable for a future SMBH mass measurement. Nonetheless, increasing the number of molecular gas observations of megamaser galaxies is valuable, and the ubiquitous disturbances suggest a link between large-scale gas properties and the existence of megamasers.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2311_15447
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle WISDOM project -- XVIII. Molecular gas distributions and kinematics of three megamaser galaxies
Liang, Fu-Heng
Smith, Mark D.
Bureau, Martin
Gao, Feng
Davis, Timothy A.
Cappellari, Michele
Elford, Jacob S.
Greene, Jenny E.
Iguchi, Satoru
Lelli, Federico
Lu, Anan
Ruffa, Ilaria
Williams, Thomas G.
Zhang, Hengyue
Astrophysics of Galaxies
The co-evolution of galaxies and supermassive black holes (SMBHs) underpins our understanding of galaxy evolution, but different methods to measure SMBH masses have only infrequently been cross-checked. We attempt to identify targets to cross-check two of the most accurate methods, megamaser and cold molecular gas dynamics. Three promising galaxies are selected from all those with existing megamaser SMBH mass measurements. We present Atacama Large Millimeter/sub-millimeter Array (ALMA) 12CO(2-1) and 230-GHz continuum observations with angular resolutions of about 0.5". Every galaxy has an extended rotating molecular gas disc and 230-GHz continuum source(s), but all also have irregularities and/or non-axisymmetric features: NGC1194 is highly inclined and has disturbed and lopsided central 12CO(2-1) emission; NGC3393 has a nuclear disc with fairly regular but patchy 12CO(2-1) emission with little gas near the kinematic major axis, faint emission in the very centre and two brighter structures reminiscent of a nuclear ring and/or spiral; NGC5765B has a strong bar and very bright 12CO(2-1) emission concentrated along two bisymmetric offset dust lanes and two bisymmetric nuclear spiral arms. 12CO(2-1) and 12CO(3-2) observations with the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope are compared with the ALMA observations. Because of the disturbed gas kinematics and the impractically long integration times required for higher angular resolution observations, none of the three galaxies is suitable for a future SMBH mass measurement. Nonetheless, increasing the number of molecular gas observations of megamaser galaxies is valuable, and the ubiquitous disturbances suggest a link between large-scale gas properties and the existence of megamasers.
title WISDOM project -- XVIII. Molecular gas distributions and kinematics of three megamaser galaxies
topic Astrophysics of Galaxies
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2311.15447