The AGNIFS survey: distribution and excitation of the hot molecular and ionized gas in the inner kpc of nearby AGN hosts

Galaxie

Gemini NIFS survey of feeding and feedback processes in nearby active galaxies – II. The sample and surface mass density profiles

We present and characterize a sample of 20 nearby Seyfert galaxies selected for having BAT 14–195 keV luminosities LX ≥ 1041.5 erg s−1, redshift z ≤ 0.015, being accessible for observations with the Gemini Near-Infrared Field Spectrograph (NIFS) and showing extended [O III]λ5007 emission. Our goal is to study Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN) feeding and feedback processes from near-infrared integral-field spectra, which include both ionized (H II) and hot molecular (H2) emission. This sample is complemented by other nine Seyfert galaxies previously observed with NIFS. We show that the host galaxy properties (absolute magnitudes MB, MH, central stellar velocity dispersion and axial ratio) show a similar distribution to those of the 69 BAT AGN. For the 20 galaxies already observed, we present surface mass density (Σ) profiles for H II and H2 in their inner ∼500  pc, showing that H II emission presents a steeper radial gradient than H2. This can be attributed to the different excitation mechanisms: ionization by AGN radiation for H II and heating by X-rays for H2. The mean surface mass densities are in the range (0.2 ≤ ΣH II ≤ 35.9) M⊙ pc−2, and (0.2 ≤ ΣH2 ≤ 13.9)× 10−3 M⊙ pc−2, while the ratios between the H II and H2 masses range between ∼200 and 8000. The sample presented here will be used in future papers to map AGN gas excitation and kinematics, providing a census of the mass inflow and outflow rates and power as well as their relation with the AGN luminosity