R. B. Menezes

NGC 4258 is an SABbc Seyfert galaxy, located at a distance of 7.2 ± 0.3 Mpc. This object is well known by its nearly edge-on molecular nuclear disc, located between 0.16 and 0.28 pc from the nucleus, whose H₂O maser emission allows a very precise measurement of the central supermassive black hole mass (M_•(maser) = 3.78 ± 0.01 × 10⁷ M_⊙). We analyse the emission line properties and the stellar kinematics in a data cube of the central region of NGC 4258, obtained, in the K band, with the near-infrared integral field spectrograph, at the Gemini-North telescope. The nuclear spectrum, after the starlight subtraction, shows only the H₂λ2.1218 μm and Br γ emission lines, the latter having a broad component with FWHM_Br γ(broad) = 1600 ± 29 km s⁻¹. The spatial morphology and kinematics of the H₂λ2.1218 μm line are consistent with a rotating molecular disc around the supermassive black hole, with an upper limit for its diameter of 15.7 pc. The inner radio jet in this object is, in projection, almost perpendicular to the H₂ emitting disc detected in this work, and also to the H₂O maser emitting disc. The main features of the maps of the stellar kinematic parameters are well reproduced by a model of a thin rotating stellar circular disc. The supermassive black hole mass provided by this dynamical modelling (M_•(broad) = 2.8 ± 1.0 × 10⁷ M_⊙) is compatible, at 1σ level, with the precise measurement resulting from the H₂O maser emission.

We analysed the centre of NGC 1566, which hosts a well-studied active galactic nucleus (AGN), known for its variability. With the aid of techniques such as Principal Component Analysis Tomography, analysis of the emission-line spectra, channel maps, Penalized Pixel Fitting and spectral synthesis applied to the optical and near-infrared data cubes, besides the analysis of Hubble Space Telescope images, we found that: (1) the AGN has a Seyfert 1 emission, with a very strong featureless continuum that we described as a power law with spectral index of 1.7. However, this emission may come not only from the AGN [as its point spread function (PSF) is broader than the PSF of the broad-line region (BLR)], but from hot and young stars, the same ones that probably account for the observed σ-drop. (2) There is a correlation between redshift and the full width at half-maximum of the BLR emission lines. With a simple model assuming gravitational redshift, we described it as an emitting ring with varying emitting radii and small inclination angles. (3) There is an H ii region close to the AGN, which is composed of many substructures forming an apparent spiral with a velocity gradient. (4) We also detected a probable outflow coming from the AGN and it seems to contaminate the H ii region emission. (5) We identified an H₂ rotating disc with orientation approximately perpendicular to this outflow. This suggests that the rotating disc is an extension of an inner torus/disc structure, which collimates the outflow emission, according to the Unified Model.

We present a study of the central 200 pc of the galaxy NGC 6951, SAB(rs)bc, an active twin of the Milky Way, at a distance of 24 Mpc. Its nucleus has been observed in the optical with the Integral Field Unit of the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph, showing an outflow, and with the HST/ACS, revealing two extended structures with similar orientation, suggesting the presence of a collimating and/or obscuring structure. In order to ascertain this hypothesis, adaptive optics assisted NIR integral field spectroscopic observations were obtained with the Near-Infrared Integral Field Spectrograph in the Gemini North telescope. We detected a compact structure of H₂ molecular gas, interpreted as a nearly edge-on disc with diameter of ∼47 pc, PA = 124° and velocity range from −40 to +40 km s⁻¹. This disc is misaligned by 32° with respect to the radio jet and the ionization cones seen in the optical. There are two regions of turbulent gas, with position angles similar to the jet/cones, seen both in molecular and ionized phases; these regions are connected to the edges of the molecular disc and coincide with a high ratio of [N ii]/H α = 5, suggesting that these regions are shock excited, partially ionized or both. We explain these structures as a consequence of a ‘digging process’ that the jet inflicts on the disc, ejecting the molecular gas towards the ionization cones. The dynamical mass within 17 pc is estimated as 6.3 × 10⁶ M_⊙. This is an interesting case of an object presenting evidence of a connected feeding-feedback structure.