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E. K. S. Hicks, M. A. Malkan (UCLA)
We present adaptive optics K-band spectroscopy of the inner arcsecond of the Seyfert 1 galaxies NGC 3227 and NGC 7469. The circumnuclear regions of both galaxies are well sampled at a high angular resolution out to radii of 1''.0 and 0.''5, respectively. The average point spread function has a full-width-half-max of 0.''1, which corresponds to 7 pc for NGC 3227 and 31 pc for NGC 7469, and under the best conditions a resolution of 4 pc and 22 pc, respectively, was achieved. The spectra of both objects contain many emission lines such as molecular hydrogen, Br\gamma, and, in NGC 3227, two coronal lines. The velocity fields, measured using both H2 1-0 S(1) and Br\gamma, exhibit a steep gradient of over 100 km s-1 across the central arcsecond of both galaxies. The peak H2 1-0 S(1) emission in NGC 3227 is found to be offset 0.''5 SE from the AGN, while Br\gamma peaks at the location of the AGN. Both H2 1-0 S(1) and Br\gamma are centered on the AGN in NGC 7469. Dynamical models have been constructed assuming a thin gas disk undergoing circular rotation. Included in the models are the point spread function for each spectroscopic exposure measured using the slit viewing camera, the stellar gravitational field estimated from HST NICMOS near-infrared images by separating the stellar light from the point source and assuming a constant mass-to-light ratio, as well as the emission line surface brightness. The dynamical models are sensitive to black holes of mass greater than 1 x 107 Mo. Results from modeling of the velocity fields as well as an analysis of the excitation of the molecular hydrogen in each galaxy will be presented.
The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: ehicks@astro.ucla.edu
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 36 5
© 2004. The American Astronomical Society.