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J. S. Golub (Vassar College), J. A. Braatz (NRAO)
Currently there are 18 galaxies known to harbor water megamasers, all of which are associated with an active galactic nucleus (AGN). Using data taken with the VLA in B configuration, we mapped the X-, C-, and L-band radio continua of four of these galaxies: Markarian 1210, IC 2560, IC 1481, and TXFS 2226-184. The radio structures are unresolved by the VLA in each case. High resolution (VLA-A or VLA-B) radio data are now available for 13 of the maser-detected galaxies, and we used this data to investigate whether these galaxies tend to have greater nuclear radio luminosity than a sample of undetected AGNs. Nonparametric statistical tests from the ASURV software package were used to compare the galaxies. The results from the new data suggest that megamaser-detected galaxies in fact do tend to have greater radio luminosity. This trend may be a result of physical processes occuring in the accretion disk of the black hole in the AGN.
The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: jegolub@vassar.edu