SiO and CH3OH mega-masers in NGC 1068

Junzhi Wang; Jiangshui Zhang; Yu Gao; Di Li; Min Fang; Yong Shi; Zhiyu Zhang

doi:10.1038/ncomms6449

SiO and CH3OH mega-masers in NGC 1068

Junzhi Wang^*, Jiangshui Zhang, Yu Gao, Di Li, Min Fang, Yong Shi, Zhiyu Zhang

^*Corresponding author for this work

School of Physics and Astronomy

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Maser is an acronym for microwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation; in astronomy mega-masers are masers in galaxies that are >= 10(6) times more luminous than typical galactic maser sources. Observational studies of mega-masers can help us to understand their origins and characteristics. More importantly, mega-masers can be used as diagnostic tracers to probe the physical properties of their parent galaxies. Since the late 1970s, only three types of molecules have been found to form mega-masers: H2O, OH and H2CO. Here we report the detection of both SiO and CH3OH mega-masers near the centre of Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC 1068 at millimetre wavelengths, obtained using the IRAM 30-m telescope. We argue that the SiO mega-maser originated from the nuclear disk and the CH3OH mega-maser originated from shock fronts. High-resolution observations in the future will enable us to investigate AGN feedback and determine the masses of central supermassive black holes in such galaxies.

Original language	English
Article number	5449
Number of pages	5
Journal	Nature Communications
Volume	5
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms6449
Publication status	Published - Nov 2014

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

MOLECULAR LINE EMISSION
METHANOL MASERS
MAGELLANIC CLOUDS
GALAXIES
SEARCH
GAS
OH
NGC-1068
DISTANCE
REGIONS

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10.1038/ncomms6449

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@article{597713213d3f40abbd3a8a1999a68982,

title = "SiO and CH3OH mega-masers in NGC 1068",

abstract = "Maser is an acronym for microwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation; in astronomy mega-masers are masers in galaxies that are >= 10(6) times more luminous than typical galactic maser sources. Observational studies of mega-masers can help us to understand their origins and characteristics. More importantly, mega-masers can be used as diagnostic tracers to probe the physical properties of their parent galaxies. Since the late 1970s, only three types of molecules have been found to form mega-masers: H2O, OH and H2CO. Here we report the detection of both SiO and CH3OH mega-masers near the centre of Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC 1068 at millimetre wavelengths, obtained using the IRAM 30-m telescope. We argue that the SiO mega-maser originated from the nuclear disk and the CH3OH mega-maser originated from shock fronts. High-resolution observations in the future will enable us to investigate AGN feedback and determine the masses of central supermassive black holes in such galaxies.",

keywords = "MOLECULAR LINE EMISSION, METHANOL MASERS, MAGELLANIC CLOUDS, GALAXIES, SEARCH, GAS, OH, NGC-1068, DISTANCE, REGIONS",

author = "Junzhi Wang and Jiangshui Zhang and Yu Gao and Di Li and Min Fang and Yong Shi and Zhiyu Zhang",

year = "2014",

month = nov,

doi = "10.1038/ncomms6449",

language = "English",

volume = "5",

journal = "Nature Communications",

issn = "2041-1723",

publisher = "Nature Publishing Group",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - SiO and CH3OH mega-masers in NGC 1068

AU - Wang, Junzhi

AU - Zhang, Jiangshui

AU - Gao, Yu

AU - Li, Di

AU - Fang, Min

AU - Shi, Yong

AU - Zhang, Zhiyu

PY - 2014/11

Y1 - 2014/11

N2 - Maser is an acronym for microwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation; in astronomy mega-masers are masers in galaxies that are >= 10(6) times more luminous than typical galactic maser sources. Observational studies of mega-masers can help us to understand their origins and characteristics. More importantly, mega-masers can be used as diagnostic tracers to probe the physical properties of their parent galaxies. Since the late 1970s, only three types of molecules have been found to form mega-masers: H2O, OH and H2CO. Here we report the detection of both SiO and CH3OH mega-masers near the centre of Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC 1068 at millimetre wavelengths, obtained using the IRAM 30-m telescope. We argue that the SiO mega-maser originated from the nuclear disk and the CH3OH mega-maser originated from shock fronts. High-resolution observations in the future will enable us to investigate AGN feedback and determine the masses of central supermassive black holes in such galaxies.

AB - Maser is an acronym for microwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation; in astronomy mega-masers are masers in galaxies that are >= 10(6) times more luminous than typical galactic maser sources. Observational studies of mega-masers can help us to understand their origins and characteristics. More importantly, mega-masers can be used as diagnostic tracers to probe the physical properties of their parent galaxies. Since the late 1970s, only three types of molecules have been found to form mega-masers: H2O, OH and H2CO. Here we report the detection of both SiO and CH3OH mega-masers near the centre of Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC 1068 at millimetre wavelengths, obtained using the IRAM 30-m telescope. We argue that the SiO mega-maser originated from the nuclear disk and the CH3OH mega-maser originated from shock fronts. High-resolution observations in the future will enable us to investigate AGN feedback and determine the masses of central supermassive black holes in such galaxies.

KW - MOLECULAR LINE EMISSION

KW - METHANOL MASERS

KW - MAGELLANIC CLOUDS

KW - GALAXIES

KW - SEARCH

KW - GAS

KW - OH

KW - NGC-1068

KW - DISTANCE

KW - REGIONS

U2 - 10.1038/ncomms6449

DO - 10.1038/ncomms6449

M3 - Article

SN - 2041-1723

VL - 5

JO - Nature Communications

JF - Nature Communications

M1 - 5449

ER -

SiO and CH3OH mega-masers in NGC 1068

Abstract

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

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