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.

Context. Transition disks offer the extraordinary opportunity to look for newly born planets and investigate the early stages of planet formation. Aims. In this context we observed the Herbig A5 star MWC 758 with the L'-band vector vortex coronagraph installed in the nearinfrared camera and spectrograph NIRC2 at the Keck II telescope, with the aim of unveiling the nature of the spiral structure by constraining the presence of planetary companions in the system. Methods. Our high-contrast imaging observations show a bright (∆L = 7.0 ± 0.3 mag) point-like emission, south of MWC 758 at a deprojected separation of ∼20 au (r = 0 . 111 ± 0 . 004) from the central star. We also recover the two spiral arms (south-east and north-west), already imaged by previous studies in polarized light, and discover a third one to the south-west of the star. No additional companions were detected in the system down to 5 Jupiter masses beyond 0 . 6 from the star. Results. We propose that the bright L'-band emission could be caused by the presence of an embedded and accreting protoplanet, although the possibility of it being an asymmetric disk feature cannot be excluded. The spiral structure is probably not related to the protoplanet candidate, unless on an inclined and eccentric orbit, and it could be due to one (or more) yet undetected planetary companions at the edge of or outside the spiral pattern. Future observations and additional simulations will be needed to shed light on the true nature of the point-like source and its link with the spiral arms.

Narrow‐line Seyfert 1 (NLS1) galaxies show extreme properties with respect to the other Seyfert galaxies. Indeed, they are thought to be accreting at Eddington rates and to possess low‐mass black holes. Therefore, they may represent a key class of objects for understanding the co‐evolution of black holes and their host galaxies. We propose that NLS1s represent a class of active galactic nucleus in which the black hole growth is, and has always been, dominated by secular evolution. First, by looking at the NLS1 host galaxy properties in the literature, we show that the evolution of NLS1s is presently driven by secular processes, much more so than for broad‐line Seyfert 1s (BLS1s). Secondly, we study the bulges of NLS1 and BLS1 galaxies. Our results demonstrate that NLS1 host bulges are pseudo‐bulges and are statistically different from BLS1 bulges. This difference points to the particular importance of secular processes in the past evolution of their hosts. We build on this result to understand the implications on their evolution and the duration of their duty cycle. We show that NLS1s are not necessarily in a special phase of black hole growth and that several Gyr are required for their black hole masses to become similar to BLS1s. Finally, in the light of our results, we discuss the location of NLS1 galaxies on the MBH–σ plane and speculate about the connection between the NLS1 galaxy properties and their black hole spin.

We report on the determination of electron densities, and their impact on the outflow masses and rates, measured in the central few hundred parsecs of 11 local luminous active galaxies. We show that the peak of the integrated line emission in the AGN is significantly offset from the systemic velocity as traced by the stellar absorption features, indicating that the profiles are dominated by outflow. In contrast, matched inactive galaxies are characterised by a systemic peak and weaker outflow wing. We present three independent estimates of the electron density in these AGN, discussing the merits of the different methods. The electron density derived from the [SII] doublet is significantly lower than than that found with a method developed in the last decade using auroral and transauroral lines, as well as a recently introduced method based on the ionization parameter. The reason is that, for gas photoionized by an AGN, much of the [SII] emission arises in an extended partially ionized zone where the implicit assumption that the electron density traces the hydrogen density is invalid. We propose ways to deal with this situation and we derive the associated outflow rates for ionized gas, which are in the range 0.001–0.5 M⊙ yr−1 for our AGN sample. We compare these outflow rates to the relation between $\dot{M}_{\rm out}$ and LAGN in the literature, and argue that it may need to be modified and rescaled towards lower mass outflow rates.

The optical classification of a Seyfert galaxy and whether it is considered X-ray absorbed are often used interchangeably. There are many borderline cases, however, and also numerous examples where the optical and X-ray classifications appear to be in disagreement. In this article we revisit the relation between optical obscuration and X-ray absorption in active galactic nuclei (AGNs). We make use of our "dust colour" method to derive the optical obscuration A V , and consistently estimated X-ray absorbing columns using 0.3-150 keV spectral energy distributions. We also take into account the variable nature of the neutral gas column N H and derive the Seyfert subclasses of all our objects in a consistent way. We show in a sample of 25 local, hard-X-ray detected Seyfert galaxies (log L X /(erg/s) ≈ 41.5−43.5) that there can actually be a good agreement between optical and X-ray classification. If Seyfert types 1.8 and 1.9 are considered unobscured, the threshold between X-ray unabsorbed and absorbed should be chosen at a column N H = 10 22.3 cm −2 to be consistent with the optical classification. We find that N H is related to A V and that the N H /A V ratio is approximately Galactic or higher in all sources, as indicated previously. However, in several objects we also see that deviations from the Galactic ratio are only due to a variable X-ray column, showing that (1) deviations from the Galactic N H /A V can be simply explained by dust-free neutral gas within the broad-line region in some sources; that (2) the dust properties in AGNs can be similar to Galactic dust and that (3) the dust colour method is a robust way to estimate the optical extinction towards the sublimation radius in all but the most obscured AGNs.