Feeding the monster... the nucleus of NGC1097 at sub-arcsec scale in the IR with the VLT

Abstract

Near-infrared images of the prototype LINER / Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC 1097 observed with the Very Large Telescope (VLT) using adaptive optics disclose with unprecedented detail a complex central network of filamentary structure spiralling down to the center of the galaxy. The structure, consisting of several spiral arms, some almost completing a revolution about the center, is most prominent within the radius of about 300 pc. Some filaments can be traced further out, where they seem to connect with the nuclear star-forming ring at 0.7 kpc radius. Straight principal shocks running along the primary large-scale bar of NGC 1097, seen in the optical images as prominent dust lanes, curve into this ring, but radio polarization vectors cross the nuclear ring under a rather large angle. Here we attempt to explain this morphology in terms of three-dimensional gas flow in a barred galaxy. In our scenario, parts of the principal shock, which propagate in the off-plane gas, can cross the nuclear star-forming ring, and excite waves inward from it. If the dispersion relation of the excited waves allows for their propagation, they will naturally take the shape of the observed central spiral. The nuclear region of NGC 1097 remains unresolved at sub-arcsec scales in the near-IR, with an upper size limit of <10 pc FWHM. Thus, any putative central dusty torus or gaseosus disk envisaged by the AGN unified schemes has to be smaller than 10 pc in diameter at near-IR wavelengths. The extinction in the region between the nuclear star-forming ring and the nucleus increases very moderately, reaching A_v~1 at the immediate surrounding of the nucleus. Thus, if the nuclear filaments are tracing cold dust, they contribute to a very low extinction in the line of sight and are likely to be distributed in a rather thin disk.

21 pages, 12 figures (reduced quality). Accepted for publication in Astronomical Journal

References in corpus (2)

• Nuclear spirals in galaxies: gas response to asymmetric potential. II. Hydrodynamical models
• Nuclear spirals in galaxies: gas response to asymmetric potential. I. Linear theory

Cited by in corpus (69)

• What Drives the Growth of Black Holes?
• A Close Look at Star Formation around Active Galactic Nuclei
• Galaxy Zoo : 'Hanny's Voorwerp', a quasar light echo?
• Radiative Transfer Modeling of Three-Dimensional Clumpy AGN Tori and its Application to NGC 1068
• Testing the Unification Model for AGN in the Infrared: are the obscuring tori of Type 1 and 2 Seyferts different?
• Mapping of the molecular gas inflow towards the Seyfert nucleus of NGC4051 using Gemini NIFS
• Observational Constraints on the Feeding of Supermassive Black Holes
• Magnetic fields in barred galaxies. IV. NGC 1097 and NGC 1365
• Stellar and Molecular Gas Kinematics of NGC1097: Inflow Driven by a Nuclear Spiral
• Spatially-resolved mid-infrared spectroscopy of NGC 1068: the nature and distribution of the nuclear material
• Radiatively Inefficient Accretion Flow in the Nucleus of NGC 1097
• Central Regions of Barred Galaxies: Two-Dimensional Non-self-gravitating Hydrodynamic Simulations
• A Strong Correlation between Circumnuclear Dust and Black Hole Accretion in Early-Type Galaxies
• The spectral energy distribution of the central parsecs of the nearest AGN
• Streaming Motions Towards the Supermassive Black Hole in NGC 1097
• The multiphase gas structure and kinematics in the circumnuclear region of NGC 5728
• Spectral Energy Distributions of Weak Active Galactic Nuclei Associated With Low-Ionization Nuclear Emission Regions
• Submillimeter ALMA Observations of the Dense Gas in the Low-Luminosity Type-1 Active Nucleus of NGC 1097
• Gaseous Structures in Barred Galaxies: Effects of the Bar Strength
• The effect of stellar feedback on the formation and evolution of gas and dust tori in AGN
• Compact molecular disc and ionized gas outflows within 350 pc of the active nucleus of Mrk 1066
• ALMA captures feeding and feedback from the active galactic nucleus in NGC613
• Kinematic analysis of nuclear spirals: feeding the black hole in NGC1097
• Time-resolved infrared emission from radiation-driven central obscuring structures in Active Galactic Nuclei
• Discovery of a strong spiral magnetic field crossing the inner pseudoring of NGC 4736
• Two-Dimensional Magnetohydrodynamic Simulations of Barred Galaxies
• The Structure of the Circumgalactic Medium of Galaxies: Cool Accretion Inflow Around NGC 1097
• The central parsecs of active galactic nuclei: challenges to the torus
• ALMA Observations of the Submillimeter Dense Molecular Gas Tracers in the Luminous Type-1 Active Nucleus of NGC 7469
• VLT diffraction-limited imaging at 11 and 18 micron of the nearest active galactic nuclei
• The narrow Fe K$\alpha$ line and the molecular torus in active galactic nuclei - an IR/X-ray view
• The Enhanced Resolution Imager and Spectrograph for the VLT
• A Study of Heating and Cooling of the ISM in NGC 1097 with Herschel-PACS and Spitzer-IRS
• Discovery of massive star formation quenching by nonthermal effects in the center of NGC 1097
• Interferometric 12CO(J=2-1) image of the Nuclear Region of Seyfert 1 Galaxy NGC 1097
• Mapping far-IR emission from the central kiloparsec of NGC 1097
• Mass Supply to Galactic Center due to Nested Bars in the Galaxy
• Dust and PAH emission in the star-forming active nucleus of NGC 1097
• Kinematics and excitation of the nuclear spiral in the active galaxy Arp 102B
• From kpcs to the central parsec of NGC 1097: feeding star formation and a black hole at the same time
• The warm molecular gas and dust of Seyfert galaxies: two different phases of accretion?
• Far-Infrared Line Imaging of the Starburst Ring in NGC 1097 with the Herschel/PACS Spectrometer
• Extragalactic magnetism with SOFIA (Legacy Program) -- II: A magnetically-driven flow in the starburst ring of NGC 1097
• COLA III. Radio Detection of AGN in Compact Moderate Luminosity Infra-Red Galaxies
• Strong spiral arms drive secular growth of pseudo bulges in disk galaxies
• The Black Hole and Central Stellar Population of MCG--6-30-15
• Bar pattern speed and position of the circumnuclear ring in NGC 1097
• The Central Region of the Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC1097 Probed by AKARI Near-Infrared Spectroscopy
• Large-scale HI in nearby radio galaxies (II): the nature of classical low-power radio sources
• On the disappearance of a cold molecular torus around the low-luminosity active galactic nucleus of NGC 1097
• VLT Observations of NGC 1097's "dog-leg" tidal stream
• Are SMBHs shrouded by "super-Oort" clouds of comets and asteroids?
• Clumpy winds and the obscuration of Active Galactic Nuclei
• Composite Bulges -- IV. Detecting Signatures of Gas Inflows in the IFU data: The MUSE View of Ionized Gas Kinematics in NGC 1097
• Dust in the central parsecs of unobscured AGN: more challenges to the torus
• 2D kinematic study of the central region of NGC 4501
• Constraining Torus Models for AGNs Using X-Ray Observations
• On the equivalent width of the Fe K$\alpha$ line produced by a dusty absorber in active galactic nuclei
• Magnetic fields and gas flows around circumnuclear starbursts
• The life cycle of starbursting circumnuclear gas discs
• Rediscovering the Milky Way with orbit superposition approach and APOGEE data II. Chrono-chemo-kinematics of the disc
• Adaptive Optics: Observations and Prospects for Studies of Active Galactic Nuclei
• Can gas dynamics in centres of galaxies reveal orbiting massive black holes?
• On the fate of the matter reinserted within young nuclear stellar clusters
• Multi-scale simulations of black hole accretion in barred galaxies: Self-gravitating disk models
• The Accretion Mode in Sub-Eddington Supermassive Black Holes: Getting into the Central Parsecs of Andromeda
• [The Impact of Nuclear Star Formation on Gas Inflow to AGN
• The relationship between nuclear rings and the overall galaxy morphology
• Torus feeding and outflow launching in the active nucleus of the Circinus galaxy