Bibcode
DOI
Cecil, G.; Greenhill, L. J.; DePree, C. G.; Nagar, N.; Wilson, A. S.; Dopita, M. A.; Pérez-Fournon, I.; Argon, A. L.; Moran, J. M.
Referencia bibliográfica
The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 536, Issue 2, pp. 675-696.
Fecha de publicación:
6
2000
Revista
Número de citas
71
Número de citas referidas
64
Descripción
We present images and spectra of the active jet and anomalous arms on
subparsec through kiloparsec scales in the LINER/Seyfert galaxy NGC 4258
(M106). New VLBA and multiconfiguration VLA images show that, on 0.3-300
pc scales, the jet in projection aligns with (1) the spin axis of the
underlying accretion disk and (2) two radio hot spots 24" S (840 pc) and
49" N (1.7 kpc) from the nucleus. Hubble Space Telescope WFPC2 [N II]
λ6583 + Hα images locate interactions between the jet and
the interstellar medium (ISM). The most prominent is a pair of emission
line arcs whose apices face away from the galaxy nucleus and envelop the
leading edges of the radio hot spots. Ground-based (WHT) spectra with 2
Å resolution confirm that the gaseous kinematics and excitation of
both arcs have the spatio-kinematic structure expected for jet working
surfaces with a shock velocity 350+/-100 km s-1. The north
shock is oblique and may lie in a nuclear ionization cone. The south
shock shows a detached, putative Mach disk. Models suggest that the S
shock is a bow shock around a jet whose progress toward us through the
galaxy ISM has stalled. This is notable because the inferred outflow
axis is misaligned by ~65° (in three dimensions) with the spin axis
of the accretion disk. Our emission line ratios and profiles diagnose
the physical properties of the shocks, possible Mach disk, and thence
the jets. The shocks lie at one end of a swath of kinematically
disturbed gas that reaches back to the previously recognized spiral
``anomalous arms,'' suggesting that they are linked dynamically by
precession of the central engine; although claimed elsewhere to be bar
shocks, the anomalous arms are probably a fossil record of changing jet
activity in NGC 4258. Our results imply that the jet has recently moved
a long way out of the plane of the galaxy. A deep Taurus Tunable Filter
Hα image shows that discrete strands in the anomalous arms persist
to galactocentric radii of at least 4' (>8 kpc), indicating an
ongoing ISM interaction. Based on observations made with the NASA Hubble
Space Telescope, obtained at the Space Telescope Science Institute,
which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in
Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS5-26555.