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Abstract We present Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) Cycle 2 observations of CO(2–1) emission from the circumnuclear disks in two early-type galaxies, NGC 1380 and NGC 6861. The disk in each galaxy is highly inclined (i∼ 75°), and the projected velocities of the molecular gas near the galaxy centers are ∼300 km s−1in NGC 1380 and ∼500 km s−1in NGC 6861. We fit thin disk dynamical models to the ALMA data cubes to constrain the masses of the central black holes (BHs). We created host galaxy models using Hubble Space Telescope images for the extended stellar mass distributions and incorporated a range of plausible central dust extinction values. For NGC 1380, our best-fit model yieldsMBH= 1.47 × 108M⊙with a ∼40% uncertainty. For NGC 6861, the lack of dynamical tracers within the BH’s sphere of influence due to a central hole in the gas distribution precludes a precise measurement ofMBH. However, our model fits require a value forMBHin the range of (1–3) × 109M⊙in NGC 6861 to reproduce the observations. The BH masses are generally consistent with predictions from local BH–host galaxy scaling relations. Systematic uncertainties associated with dust extinction of the host galaxy light and choice of host galaxy mass model dominate the error budget of both measurements. Despite these limitations, the measurements demonstrate ALMA’s ability to provide constraints on BH masses in cases where the BH’s projected radius of influence is marginally resolved or the gas distribution has a central hole.
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This content will become publicly available on October 1, 2025
Neutral atomic and molecular gas dynamics in the nearby spiral galaxies NGC 1512, NGC 4535, and NGC 7496
Neutral atomic gas (H I) effectively traces galactic dynamics across mid to large galactocentric radii. However, its limitations in observing small-scale changes within the central few kiloparsecs, coupled with the often observed H Ideficit in galactic centers, necessitates the use of molecular gas emission as a preferred tracer in these regions. Understanding the dynamics of both neutral atomic and molecular gas is crucial for a more complete understanding of how galaxies evolve, funnel gas from the outer disk into their central parts, and eventually form stars. In this work we aim to quantify the dynamics of both, the neutral atomic and molecular gas, in the nearby spiral galaxies NGC 1512, NGC 4535, and NGC 7496 using new MeerKAT H Iobservations together with ALMA CO (2-1) observations from the PHANGS collaboration. We use the analysis tool3DBarolo to fit tilted ring models to the H Iand CO observations. A combined approach of using the H Ito constrain the true disk orientation parameters before applying these to the CO datasets is tested. This paper sets expectations for the results of the upcoming high-resolution H Icoverage of many galaxies in the PHANGS-ALMA sample using MeerKAT or VLA, to establish a robust methodology for characterizing galaxy orientations and deriving dynamics from combing new H Iwith existing CO data.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2102625
- PAR ID:
- 10568507
- Author(s) / Creator(s):
- ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; more »
- Publisher / Repository:
- Astronomy & Astrophysics
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Astronomy & Astrophysics
- Volume:
- 690
- ISSN:
- 0004-6361
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- A169
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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