The Narrow Line Region of the Seyfert 2 galaxy Mrk 78. An infrared view

Abstract

We report near-infrared spectroscopic data for the Seyfert 2 galaxy Mrk 78, taken with the LIRIS near-infrared camera/spectrometer at the William Herschel Telescope (WHT). The long-slit spectra clearly show extended emission. The resolution and depth of the near-infrared spectra allows the examination of its morphology and ionization regions, and a direct comparison with similarly deep visible spectra. The emission-line ratios obtained are used to derive the extinction towards the nucleus. The detection of strong features such as [Fe II], H${}_2$, hydrogen recombination lines and the coronal [Si VI]$\lambda$1.962 line is used to study the kinematics and excitation mechanisms occurring in Mrk 78, revealing that despite of the strong radio-jet interaction present in this object, photoionization from the active nucleus dominates the narrow line region emission, while UV fluorescence is the source of the H${}_2$ emission. Lines with extended emission yield velocity distributions with an amplitude of about 600 km/s, the consequence of an eastern lobe moving away from us plus a western lobe with the opposite contribution. We used the photoionization code CLOUDY to recreate a typical narrow line region region, to derive the ionization parameter, and to compare our spectral data with diagnostic diagrams.

18 pages, 12 figures, 4 tables. Accepted by ApJ

References in corpus (17)

• Maps of Dust IR Emission for Use in Estimation of Reddening and CMBR Foregrounds
• A Method of Correcting Near-Infrared Spectra for Telluric Absorption
• Molecular Hydrogen and [FeII] in Active Galactic Nuclei
• A Near Infrared Spectroscopic Survey of LINER Galaxies
• Ionization Structure and Spectra of Iron in Gaseous Nebulae}
• Spatial Resolution of High-Velocity Filaments in the Narrow-Line Region of NGC 1068: Associated Absorbers Caught in Emission?
• Near-infrared spectroscopy of nearby Seyfert galaxies. I. First results
• A Medium-Resolution Near-Infrared Spectral Library of Late Type Stars: I
• Near-infrared spectroscopy of nearby Seyfert galaxies - II. Molecular content and coronal emission
• NICS-TNG infrared spectroscopy of NGC1068: the first extragalactic measurement of [PII] and a new tool to constrain the origin of [FeII] line emission in galaxies
• Moderate resolution near-infrared spectroscopy of cool stars: a new K-band library
• Molecular Hydrogen Excitation around Active Galactic Nuclei
• Testing the AGN-Starburst Connection in Seyfert Galaxies
• Near-Infrared Coronal Lines in Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 Galaxies
• The Seyfert-Starburst Connection in X-rays. I. The Data
• NICMOS Imaging of Molecular Hydrogen Emission in Seyfert Galaxies
• On the ionizing continuum in active galactic nuclei: clues from ISO

Cited by in corpus (23)

• The Galaxy Zoo survey for giant AGN-ionized clouds: past and present black-hole accretion events
• HST Observations of the Double-Peaked Emission Lines in the Seyfert Galaxy Markarian 78: Mass Outflows from a Single AGN
• The Near-Infrared Coronal Line Spectrum of 54 Nearby Active Galactic Nuclei
• Near-Infrared Spectroscopy of Seyfert Galaxies. Nuclear Activity and Stellar Population
• Quantifying Feedback from Narrow Line Region Outflows in Nearby Active Galaxies. III. Results for the Seyfert 2 Galaxies Markarian 3, Markarian 78, and NGC 1068
• The circumnuclear environment of NGC613: a nuclear starburst caught in the act?
• First demonstration of OH suppression in a high efficiency near-infrared spectrograph
• Spectroscopic Survey of 1.4 GHz and 24 Micron Sources in the Spitzer First Look Survey with WIYN/Hydra
• Mrk 609: resolving the circum-nuclear structure with near-infrared integral field spectroscopy
• The complex, dusty narrow-line region of NGC 4388: Gas-jet interactions, outflows, and extinction revealed by near-IR spectroscopy
• A comparison between the soft X-ray and [O III] morphologies of active galactic nuclei
• Chemical abundances in the nuclear region of nearby galaxies from the Palomar Survey
• Tracing the origin of the AGN fuelling reservoir in MCG--6-30-15
• Unveiling the Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 Nature of Mrk 573 using near-Infrared spectroscopy
• The soft X-ray and narrow-line emission of Mrk573 on kiloparcec scales
• Near-infrared spectroscopy of nearby Seyfert galaxies: Is there evidence for the shock excitation in narrow-line regions?
• The redshift and broad band spectral energy distribution of NRAO 150
• Chemical abundances in Seyfert galaxies X. Sulphur abundance estimates
• Near-infrared spectra of Seyfert galaxies and line production mechanisms
• Distribution of the heavy elements throughout the extended narrow line region of the Seyfert galaxy NGC 7212
• ALMA Observation of NGC5135: The Circumnuclear CO(6-5) and Dust Continuum Emission at 45 Parsec Resolution[$\star$]
• GATOS XI : Excess dust heating in the Narrow Line Regions of nearby AGN revealed with JWST/MIRI
• QSOFEED: Investigating warm molecular, low- and high-ionization atomic gas in six type-2 quasars with GTC/EMIR