Radio Observations of Neutral Hydrogen in Four Seyfert Galaxies

Abstract

The 21-cm wavelength radiation from neutral hydrogen in NGC 1068, NGC 3227, NGC 4051 and NGC 4151 has been observed with the large radio telescope at Nanĉay, France. Since the angular sizes of these galaxies are of the same order as the telescope right ascension beam-width, no information on the angular distribution of the neutral hydrogen was obtained. However the radial velocity distribution of the total hydrogen (the ‘integrated profile’) of the whole galaxy was measured for each of the four galaxies. The hydrogen masses and total masses can be calculated from these profiles using simple models of galaxy shapes and rotation curves.

Optical spectra sometimes show evidence for explosive phenomena and radial outflow of gas in the central regions of Seyfert galaxies. We have examined the integrated radio profiles for indications of large-scale radial motions of neutral hydrogen in two ways. First, for all four galaxies observed, we compare the ratios of hydrogen mass to total mass with the values obtained from other galaxies (not Seyfert) of the same morphological type. Second, for these galaxies where the optical data are available, we compare the estimates of total mass obtained from the optical spectra with the estimates based on the width of the radio profile.

We conclude from these comparisons that the integrated profile of NGC 1068 is unusually broad. One possible interpretation which is qualitatively consistent with the optical data is that an appreciable fraction (about ⅓) of the neutral hydrogen content of NGC 1068 is moving radially outward with velocities of about 200 km s⁻¹ An indication of similar phenomena (although less extreme) is obtained for NGC 4051. The widths of the integrated profiles of NGC 3227 and NGC 4151 do not seem unusual.