BIMA Observations of HCN in NGC 1068

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Session 30 -- Seyfert Galaxies
Oral presentation, Wednesday, January 12, 2:15-3:45, Salon IV Room (Crystal Gateway)

[30.07] BIMA Observations of HCN in NGC 1068

Tamara T. Helfer, Leo Blitz (UMD), and Eug\`ene de Geus (Caltech)

We present HCN observations of the starburst/Seyfert galaxy NGC 1068 made with the new 6-element Berkeley-Illinois-Maryland millimeter array (BIMA). Most of the HCN emission appears unresolved and centered on the active nucleus of this galaxy, though low-level emission associated with the 30$^{\prime \prime}$-diameter starburst ring is also apparent. To within calibration uncertainties, these observations recover all of the single-dish HCN flux, and thus there does not appear to be a significant extended component resolved out by the interferometer. The distribution of HCN is markedly different from that of the CO emission from this galaxy: only $\sim$ 6\% of the CO emission comes from the unresolved nuclear component (Planesas et al. 1991), while the balance of the CO emission appears to be associated with the starburst ring and more extended emission. The presence of strong HCN emission may provide the conceptual link between the kpc-scale starburst and fueling of the active galactic nucleus; emission from this dense (10$^5$ cm$^{-3}$) gas tracer suggests that there is a substantial amount of molecular mass close to the AGN.

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