# NMA Survey of CO and HCN Emission from Nearby Active Galaxies

## 1. Differences between active and non-active galaxies

Molecular gas has been considered to be a promising fuel source which may be channeled into the central engines of active galaxies, and therefore the amount of molecular material in Seyfert galaxies is expected to be an important clue to understand the nature of active galactic nuclei. Surveys of CO emission from Seyfert galaxies with single-dish telescopes ($`e.g.`$ Maiolino et al. 1997; Vila-Vilaró et al. 1998) find, however, no significant differences on the total amount of molecular gas between active and quiescent spirals. In order to deduce the conditions which are necessary for nuclear activity, we have conducted aperture synthesis observations of CO(1$``$0) and HCN(1$``$0) emission in nearby Seyfert galaxies. The proximity of the sample ($`D<25`$ Mpc; Table 1) allows us to perform extensive studies of their molecular gas distribution, kinematics, and physical conditions at a few 100 pc scales.

## 2. Distributions and kinematics of molecular gas

Fig. 1 shows the integrated intensity maps and intensity-weighted mean velocity maps of the CO emission of Seyfert galaxies. The distributions of molecular gas show a wide variety, and it appears that there are no “typical” gas distributions either in type-1s or type-2s. It should be noted, however, that the observed features such as twin peaks (seen in NGC 4579, NGC 5033, and NGC 6951, for instance) have been often reported in the central regions of barred galaxies ($`e.g.`$ Kenney et al. 1992), and all the observed gas distributions and kinematics seem to be responding to a non-axisymmetric potential (Kohno et al. 1999b).

It has been claimed that there exist Seyfert galaxies without bars (e.g. McLeod & Rieke 1995; Mulchaey & Regan 1997). However, very weak bars (a few % or less in density), which may be not easy to detect even in near-infrared bands, can drastically affect the behavior of the gas (Wada & Habe 1992). Moreover, critical elements of the fuel supply need not be evident at a large-scale in the host galaxy (McLeod & Rieke 1995). We therefore suggest that small scale (a few 100 pc - a few kpc) distortions of the underlying potential are necessary for the Seyfert activity, although it is not a sufficient condition (Sakamoto et al. 1998).

## 3. Gravitational stabilities of molecular gas

Self-gravity of molecular gas is another important issue because circumnuclear molecular gas can lose angular momentum to fall quickly into the nucleus if the gas is gravitationally unstable. The Toomre’s $`Q`$ parameters were therefore computed to examine the gravitational stabilities of the circumnuclear molecular gas disk in Seyfert galaxies (Fig. 2). We also used CO data in the literature to calculate $`Q`$ values for non-Seyfert galaxies.

Fig. 2 shows that the molecular gas tends to be gravitationally stable near the Seyfert nuclei (Kohno et al. 1999b; Sakamoto et al. 1998). This result suggests that instabilities of molecular gas disk around the nuclei may not cause a further infall of gas in some Seyferts; if a circumnuclear gas disk becomes gravitationally unstable, it would result in a burst of star formation there, as in the case of pure starburst galaxies such as NGC 3504 and NGC 6946. Note that NGC 4051, which shows $`Q<1`$, has an evidence for recent burst of star formation around the nucleus (Baum et al. 1993).

Perhaps our results might be also related to the fact that Seyfert nuclei preferentially reside in early type hosts; it is well known that early type galaxies have smaller gas mass - to - dynamical mass ratio (Young & Scoville 1992), and this means molecular gas in early type galaxies tends to be gravitationally stable. Even in late type Seyferts such as NGC 5033, circumnuclear molecular gas disks may be similar to those of early type hosts in terms of gravitational stabilities.

## 4. Physical conditions of molecular gas

A striking enhancement of HCN(1$``$0) emission has been reported in the nuclear regions of some Seyfert galaxies such as NGC 1068 and NGC 5194 (Kohno et al. 1996 and references therein), implying extreme physical conditions of the molecular gas near active nuclei (e.g. Matsushita et al. 1998). Is an extremely enhanced HCN emission common or not in Seyfert galaxies?

The HCN/CO integrated intensity ratios ($`R_{\mathrm{HCN}/\mathrm{CO}}`$) in the observed Seyferts are listed in Table 1 together with $`R_{\mathrm{HCN}/\mathrm{CO}}`$ in non-Seyfert galaxies. The ratios range over an order of magnitude, from 0.086 to 0.6 among Seyfert galaxies. $`R_{\mathrm{HCN}/\mathrm{CO}}`$ values larger than 0.3 have never been reported in any non-Seyfert galaxies till date. We suggest that the observed $`R_{\mathrm{HCN}/\mathrm{CO}}`$ in Seyfert galaxies may be related to the size of dense obscuring material; NGC 1068 and NGC 5194 have a relatively extended ($`r100`$ pc scale) envelope of obscuring material, which consists of very dense interstellar medium and therefore shows extremely high $`R_{\mathrm{HCN}/\mathrm{CO}}`$. On the other hand, some Seyferts, NGC 6951 for example, may have only a small scale ($`r<`$ 10 pc) obscuring torus; in this case, our observing beam would be too large to find any significant enhancement of $`R_{\mathrm{HCN}/\mathrm{CO}}`$ associated with the dense obscuring material.

Note that the “high $`R_{\mathrm{HCN}/\mathrm{CO}}`$ Seyferts”, i.e. NGC 1068, NGC 3079, and NGC 5194, possess kpc scale jet/outflows. Circumnuclear dense molecular materials may also play a role in the confinement of large scale jet/outflows (Scoville et al. 1998). See Kohno et al. (1999a, b) against the discussion on the chemical abnormality of molecular gas in Seyfert galaxies.

We are grateful to Dr. T. Helfer for sending her CO data of NGC 1068. K. K. was financially supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.