X-ray Photons in the CO 2-1 'Lacuna' of NGC 2110

Abstract

A recent ALMA study of the Seyfert 2 Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN) NGC 2110 by Rosario et al. (2019) has reported a remarkable lack of CO 2-1 emission from the circumnuclear region, where optical lines and H2 emission are observed, leading to the suggestion of excitation of the molecular clouds by the AGN. Since interaction with X-ray photons could be the cause of this excitation, we have searched the archival Chandra data for corroborating evidence. We report an extra-nuclear ~1'' (~170 pc) feature found in the soft (<1.0 keV) Chandra data of the Seyfert 2 Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN) NGC 2110. This feature is elongated to the north of the nucleus and its shape matches well that of the optical lines and H2 emission observed in this region, which is devoid of CO 2-1 emission. The Chandra image completes the emerging picture of a multi-phase circumnuclear medium excited by the X-rays from the AGN, with dense warm molecular clouds emitting in H2 but depleted of CO 2-1 emission.

ApJ Letters - in press

References in corpus (8)

• Mapping of the molecular gas inflow towards the Seyfert nucleus of NGC4051 using Gemini NIFS
• Radio Variability in Seyfert Nuclei
• The 300 kpc Long X-ray Jet in PKS 1127-145, z=1.18 Quasar: Constraining X-ray Emission Models
• Discovery of Kiloparsec Extended Hard X-ray Continuum and Fe K alpha from the Compton Thick AGN ESO428-G014
• An accreting supermassive black hole irradiating molecular gas in NGC 2110
• The Chandra, HST, and VLA View of the Circumnuclear Extended Emission in the Narrow Emission Line Galaxy NGC 2110
• Transient and Highly Polarized Double-Peaked H-alpha Emission in the Seyfert 2 Nucleus of NGC 2110
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• Hard X-ray Irradiation Potentially Drives Negative AGN Feedback by Altering Molecular Gas Properties
• The changing impact of radio jets as they evolve: The view from the cold gas
• Chandra X-ray Observatory study of the X-ray emission of PKS 0023-26 and comparison with recent ALMA results
• AGN-host interaction in IC 5063. I. Large-scale X-ray morphology and spectral analysis