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Session 36 - Active Galactic Nuclei.
Display session, Tuesday, June 09
Atlas Ballroom,
We present initial results from an Owens Valley millimeter array survey of the molecular gas in ten nearby active galaxies. Our sample is drawn from those systems in whose nuclei Ho et al. (1997, ApJS, 112, 391) detect broad H\alpha emission. We have so far mapped five Seyfert galaxies with d < 20\,Mpc at arcsecond resolution in the CO(2\rightarrow 1) rotational transition, and at lower resolution in the CO(1\rightarrow 0) transition. We find these galaxies' nuclei harbor massive molecular gas structures, which are flattened and show strong velocity gradients along axes which are perpendicular to emergent ionization cones and/or radio jets. From the intensity ratios of the two CO lines, we deduce that the transitions have high excitation temperatures and are optically thin in at least some systems. We interpret the observed \sim 400\,pc structures as molecular disks or rings which serve as reservoirs for the replenishment of molecular tori and accretion disks at smaller radii.
