The Megamaser Cosmology Project. XII. VLBI Imaging of H₂O Maser Emission in Three Active Galaxies and the Effect of AGN Winds on Disk Dynamics

2019/10/31 by Cheng‐Yu Kuo, J. A. Braatz, Kuo, C. Y. +17 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA) #FOS: Physical sciences #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena

paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1910.14314

openalex publication_date 2019/10/31 · openalex created_date 2019/11/08 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

We present VLBI images and kinematics of water maser emission in three active galaxies: NGC 5728, Mrk 1, and IRAS 08452-0011. IRAS 08452-0011 is a triple-peaked H2O megamaser, consistent with a Keplerian rotating disk, indicating a black hole mass of (3.3+/-0.2)x10⁷ M_sun. NGC 5728 and Mrk 1 display double-peaked spectra and VLBI imaging reveal complicated gas kinematics, which do not allow for a robust determination of black hole mass. The two systems are either gas disks perturbed by AGN winds or part of outflows. We find that disturbed morphology and kinematics are a ubiquitous feature of all double-peaked maser systems, implying that these maser sources may reside in environments where AGN winds are prominent at ~1 pc scale and have significant impact on the masing gas. Such AGN tend to have black hole mass M_BH < 8x10⁶ M_sun and Eddington ratios lambda_Edd >~ 0.1, while the triple-peaked megamasers show an opposite trend.

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• Mass and distance of AGN black holes from warped accretion disks

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