The Star‐forming Torus and Stellar Dynamical Black Hole Mass in the Seyfert 1 Nucleus of NGC 3227

Abstract

We report R ∼ 4300 Very Large Telescope SINFONI adaptive optics integral field K-band spectroscopy of the nucleus of the Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC 3227 at a spatial resolution of 0.085 ′′ (7 pc). We present the morphologies and kinematics of emission lines and absorption features, and give the first derivation of a black hole mass in a Seyfert 1 nucleus from spatially resolved stellar dynamics. We show that the gas in the nucleus has a mean column density of order 10 24 -10 25 cm −2 and that it is geometrically thick, in agreement with the standard 'molecular torus' scenario. We discuss which heating processes may be responsible for maintaining the vertical height of the torus. We have also resolved the nuclear stellar distribution, and find that within a few parsecs of the AGN there has been an intense starburst. The most recent episode of which began ∼40 Myr ago but has now ceased. The current luminosity of stars within 30 pc of the AGN, ∼3 × 10 9 L ⊙ , is comparable to that of the AGN. Based on a comparison of the respective size scales, we argue that the star formation has been occuring in the obscuring torus. Finally, we present the first derivation of a black hole mass in a Seyfert 1 nucleus from stellar dynamics which marginally spatially resolve the black hole's sphere of influence. We apply Schwarzschild orbit superposition models to our full 2-dimensional data and derive the mass of the black hole, paying careful attention to the input parameters which are often uncertain: the contribution of the large scale bulge and its mass-to-light ratio; the recent star formation in the nucleus and its mass-to-light ratio; the contribution of the gas mass to the potential; and the inclination. Our models yield a 1σ range for the black hole mass of M BH = 7 × 10 6 -2 × 10 7 M ⊙ .

AGN and Host Galaxies in the COSMOS Survey

“…Given the size of the broad line region and its velocity, mass is given by the virial theorem M B H = fR B LR v 2 f w hm (f represents the unknown BLR geometry and v f w hm is the velocity width of the broad emission line). In general, masses estimated from the scaling relations are accurate to ∼ 0.4 dex (Vestergaard et al 2006, Shen et al 2008 and agree with local AGN masses from dynamical estimators (Davies et al 2006, Onken et al 2007 and the M B H -σ * correlation (Onken et al 2004, Greene et al 2006. Together the mass and the intrinsic accretion luminosity L I can be used to describe the fueling rate of an AGN in terms of the Eddington ratio, L I /L E dd , where L E dd = 1.26 × 10 38 (M/M ) erg s −1 .…”

A variable-density absorption event in NGC 3227 mapped withSuzakuandSwift

“…Below 4000 Å, UVOT measures extra emission that can not be fitted with an accretion disk. According to Davies et al (2006), the central 30 parsecs show remainders of starburst emission accounting for 20% to 60% of the galaxy's bolometric luminosity. We therefore add a starburst template (Kinney et al 1996) below 4000 Å.…”

The Co-Evolution of Galaxies and Black Holes: Current Status and Future Prospects

“…1. With JWST and an AO-fed GSMT/E-ELT, we will just be able access this regime and map the emission of hot dust (Tristram et al 2007) and hot molecular hydrogen (Davies et al 2006;Hicks & Malkan 2008). On larger spatial scales, JWST, GSMT/E-ELT, and ALMA could be used to map out the distribution and kinematics of ionized and molecular gas for a large and complete sample of AGN and suitable control sample (e.g., Fathi et al 2006;Storchi-Bergmann et al 2007;Riffel et al 2008;Davies et al 2009a;Lindt-Krieg et al 2008;Schinnerer et al 2000).…”