2017/11/01 by R. A. Riffel, T. Storchi-Bergmann, R. Riffel +10 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #astro-ph.GA
paper · pdf · doi:10.1093/mnras/stx2857
Accepted for publication in MNRAS
arxiv created 2017/11/01 · arxiv updated 2017/12/20
We present and characterize a sample of 20 nearby Seyfert galaxies selected for having BAT 14--195keV luminosities LX ≥ 1041.5 erg s-1, redshift z≤0.015, being accessible for observations with the Gemini Near-Infrared Field Spectrograph (NIFS) and showing extended [OIII]λ5007 emission. Our goal is to study Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) feeding and feedback processes from near-infrared integral-field spectra, that include both ionized (HII) and hot molecular (H2) emission. This sample is complemented by other 9 Seyfert galaxies previously observed with NIFS. We show that the host galaxy properties (absolute magnitudes MB, MH, central stellar velocity dispersion and axial ratio) show a similar distribution to those of the 69 BAT AGN. For the 20 galaxies already observed, we present surface mass density (Σ) profiles for HII and H2 in their inner ∼500 pc, showing that HII emission presents a steeper radial gradient than H2. This can be attributed to the different excitation mechanisms: ionization by AGN radiation for HII and heating by X-rays for H2. The mean surface mass densities are in the range (0.2≤ ΣHII ≤ 35.9)M_\odotpc-2, and (0.2≤ ΣH2 ≤ 13.9)×10-3M_\odotpc-2, while the ratios between the HII and H2 masses range between ∼200 to 8000. The sample presented here will be used in future papers to map AGN gas excitation and kinematics, providing a census of the mass inflow and outflow rates and power as well as their relation with the AGN luminosity.