VLT and NTT spectra are used to examine the nuclear and extended coronal line
emission in a sample of well-known Seyfert 1 and 2 galaxies. The excellent
spatial resolution obtained with VLT allowed us to map [SiVI] 1.963 μm and
[SiVII] 2.48 μm on scales of up to 20 pc. Coronal line emission, extended
to distances of ∼100 pc, is detected in some of the lines analyzed,
particularly in [FeX] 6374\AA, [FeXI] 7891\AA, and [SiVII] 2.48μm. Most
coronal lines are strongly asymmetric towards the blue and broader than
low-ionization lines. This result is particularly important for Circinus, where
previous observations had failed at detecting larger widths for high-ionization
lines. Photoionization models are used to investigate the physical conditions
and continuum luminosities necessary to produced the observed coronal emission.
We found that an ionization parameter U> 0.10 is necessary to reproduce the
observations, although the clouds should be located at distances < 30 pc.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figures, to appear in proceedings of IAU Symposium No.
222, The Interplay Among Black Holes, Stars and ISM in Galacti Nucle