Masers in AGN environments

2007/03/01 by L. J. Greenhill
Physics and Astronomy · #Accretion (finance) #Accretion disc #Active galactic nucleus #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Galaxy #Infrared #Maser #Star formation #astro-ph

paper · pdf · doi:10.1017/s1743921307013439

10 pages, 6 figures, to appear in proceedings of IAU Symposium 242 "Astrophysical Masers and their Environments", held in Alice Springs, March 2007

openalex publication_date 2007/03/01 · arxiv created 2007/08/02 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

Abstract Galactic nuclei are well known sources of OH and H 2 O maser emission. It appears that intense star formation in ultra-luminous infrared galaxies drives most OH sources. In contrast, nuclear activity appears to drive most H 2 O sources. When H 2 O emission originates in accretion disk structures, constrained geometry and dynamics enable robust interpretation of spectroscopic and imaging data. The principal science includes study of AGN geometry at parsec and sub-parsec radii and measurement of geometric distances in the Hubble Flow. New high accuracy estimates of the “Hubble constant, H○” obtained from maser distances may enable new substantively improved constraints on fundamental cosmological parameters (e.g., dark energy).

Citations

• The Discovery of H 2 O Maser Emission in Seven Active Galactic Nuclei and at High Velocities in the Circinus Galaxy
• Sensitive Very Long Baseline Interferometry Studies of the OH Megamaser Emission from IRAS 17208−0014
• A 4% Geometric Distance to the Galaxy NGC4258 from Orbital Motions in a Nuclear Gas Disk
• The Proper Motion of Sagittarius A*. II. The Mass of Sagittarius A*
• Discovery of Water Maser Emission in Five AGNs and a Possible Correlation Between Water Maser and Nuclear 2–10 keV Luminosities
• Probing the feeding and feedback of AGN through molecular line maps
• A New Cepheid Distance to the Maser‐Host Galaxy NGC 4258 and Its Implications for the Hubble Constant
• Three‐YearWilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe(WMAP) Observations: Implications for Cosmology