We analyse the 2-dimensional distribution and kinematics of the stars as well as molecular and ionised gas in the central few hundred parsecs of 5 active and 5 matched inactive galaxies. The equivalent widths of the Brγ line indicate there is no on-going star formation in their nuclei, although recent (terminated) starbursts are possible in the active galaxies. The stellar velocity fields show no signs of non-circular motions, while the 1-0 S(1) H 2 kinematics exhibit significant deviations from simple circular rotation. In the active galaxies the H 2 kinematics reveal inflow and outflow superimposed on disk rotation. Steady-state circumnuclear inflow is seen in three AGN, and hydrodynamical models indicate it can be driven by a large scale bar. In three of the five AGN, molecular outflows are spatially resolved. The outflows are oriented such that they intersect, or have an edge close to, the disk -which may be the source of molecular gas in the outflow. The relatively low speeds imply the gas will fall back onto the disk; and with moderate outflow rates, they will have only a local impact on the host galaxy. H 2 was detected in two inactive galaxies. These exhibit chaotic circumnuclear dust morphologies and have molecular structures that are counter-rotating with respect to the main gas component, which could lead to gas inflow in the near future. In our sample, all four galaxies with chaotic dust morphology in the circumnuclear region exist in moderately dense groups with 10-15 members where accretion of stripped gas can easily occur.

We combine two approaches to isolate the AGN luminosity at near-IR wavelengths and relate the near-IR pure AGN luminosity to other tracers of the AGN. Using integral-field spectroscopic data of an archival sample of 51 local AGNs, we estimate the fraction of non-stellar light by comparing the nuclear equivalent width of the stellar 2.3 µm CO absorption feature with the intrinsic value for each galaxy. We compare this fraction to that derived from a spectral decomposition of the integrated light in the central arcsecond and find them to be consistent with each other. Using our estimates of the near-IR AGN light, we find a strong correlation with presumably isotropic AGN tracers. We show that a significant offset exists between type 1 and type 2 sources in the sense that type 1 sources are 7 (10) times brighter in the near-IR at log L MIR AGN = 42.5 (log L X AGN = 42.5). These offsets only become clear when treating infrared type 1 sources as type 1 AGNs. All AGNs have very red near-to mid-IR dust colors. This, as well as the range of observed near-IR temperatures, can be explained with a simple model with only two free parameters: the obscuration to the hot dust and the ratio between the warm and hot dust areas. We find obscurations of A hot V = 5 . . . 15 mag for infrared type 1 sources and A hot V = 15 . . . 35 mag for type 2 sources. The ratio of hot dust to warm dust areas of about 1000 is nicely consistent with the ratio of radii of the respective regions as found by infrared interferometry.

We present optical integral field spectroscopy of the circum-nuclear gas of the Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC 1386. The data cover the central 7 × 9 (530 × 680 pc) at a spatial resolution of 0. 9 (68 pc), and the spectral range 5700-7000Å at a resolution of 66 km s −1 . The line emission is dominated by a bright central component, with two lobes extending ≈ 3 north and south of the nucleus. We identify three main kinematic components. The first has low velocity dispersion (σ ≈ 90 km s −1 ), extends over the whole field-of-view, and has a velocity field consistent with gas rotating in the galaxy disk. We interpret the lobes as resulting from photoionization of disk gas in regions where the AGN radiation cones intercept the disk. The second has higher velocity dispersion (σ ≈ 200 km s −1 ) and is observed in the inner 150 pc around the continuum peak. This component is double peaked, with redshifted and blueshifted components separated by ≈ 500 km s −1 . Together with previous HST imaging, these features suggest the presence of a bipolar outflow for which we estimate a mass outflow rate ofṀ 0.1 M yr −1 . The third component is revealed by velocity residuals associated with enhanced velocity dispersion and suggests that outflow and/or rotation is occurring approximately in the equatorial plane of the torus. A second system of velocity residuals may indicate the presence of streaming motions along dusty spirals in the disk.

Using new APEX and JCMT spectroscopy of the CO 2→1 line, we undertake a controlled study of cold molecular gas in moderately luminous (L bol = 10 43−44.5 erg s −1 ) Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) and inactive galaxies from the Luminous Local AGN with Matched Analogs (LLAMA) survey. We use spatially resolved infrared photometry of the LLAMA galaxies from 2MASS, WISE, IRAS & Herschel, corrected for nuclear emission using multi-component spectral energy distribution (SED) fits, to examine the dust-reprocessed star-formation rates (SFRs), molecular gas fractions and star formation efficiencies (SFEs) over their central 1-3 kpc. We find that the gas fractions and central SFEs of both active and inactive galaxies are similar when controlling for host stellar mass and morphology (Hubble type). The equivalent central molecular gas depletion times are consistent with the disks of normal spiral galaxies in the local Universe. Despite energetic arguments that the AGN in LLAMA should be capable of disrupting the observable cold molecular gas in their central environments, our results indicate that nuclear radiation only couples weakly with this phase. We find a mild preference for obscured AGN to contain higher amounts of central molecular gas, which suggests a connection between AGN obscuration and the gaseous environment of the nucleus. Systems with depressed SFEs are not found among the LLAMA AGN. We speculate that the processes that sustain the collapse of molecular gas into dense pre-stellar cores may also be a prerequisite for the inflow of material on to AGN accretion disks.

We use high spectral resolution (R > 8000) data covering 3800-13000Å to study the physical conditions of the broad line region (BLR) of nine nearby Seyfert 1 galaxies. Up to six broad H I lines are present in each spectrum. A comparison -for the first time using simultaneous optical to near-infrared observations -to photoionisation calculations with our devised simple scheme yields the extinction to the BLR at the same time as determining the density and photon flux, and hence distance from the nucleus, of the emitting gas. This points to a typical density for the H I emitting gas of 10 11 cm −3 and shows that a significant amount of this gas lies at regions near the dust sublimation radius, consistent with theoretical predictions. We also confirm that in many objects the line ratios are far from case B, the best-fit intrinsic broad-line Hα/Hβ ratios being in the range 2.5-6.6 as derived with our photoionization modeling scheme. The extinction to the BLR, based on independent estimates from H I and He II lines, is A V 3 for Seyfert 1-1.5s, while Seyfert 1.8-1.9s have A V in the range 4-8. A comparison of the extinction towards the BLR and narrow line region (NLR) indicates that the structure obscuring the BLR exists on scales smaller than the NLR. This could be the dusty torus, but dusty nuclear spirals or filaments could also be responsible. The ratios between the X-ray absorbing column N H and the extinction to the BLR are consistent with the Galactic gas-to-dust ratio if N H variations are considered.