Related papers: AGN and Megamasers
Galactic nuclei are well known sources of OH and H2O maser emission. It appears that intense star formation in ultra-luminous infrared galaxies drives most OH sources. In contrast, nuclear activity appears to drive most H2O sources. When…
Very luminous extragalactic water masers, the megamasers, are associated with active galactic nuclei (AGN) in galaxies characterized by accretion disks, radio jets, and nuclear outflows. Weaker masers, the kilomasers, seem to be mostly…
Recent spectroscopic and VLBI-imaging observations of bright extragalactic water maser sources have revealed that the megamaser emission often originates in thin circumnuclear disks near the centers of active galactic nuclei (AGNs). Using…
The 25 years following the serendipitous discovery of megamasers have seen tremendous progress in the study of luminous extragalactic H$_2$O emission. Single-dish monitoring and high resolution interferometry have been used to identify…
Extragalactic water maser emissions at 22 GHz have been playing vital roles in astrophysics. The limited detection rate of these masers has been motivating researchers to find clues that can help characterise them. The physical environments…
Using the Green Bank Telescope, we conducted a ``snapshot'' survey for water maser emission toward the nuclei of 611 galaxies and detected eight new sources. The sample consisted of nearby (v < 5000 km/s) and luminous (M_B < -19.5)…
High-resolution observations of the central few 100 pc of the galactic nuclear environments remain prohibitive for large statistical samples, which are crucial for tracing the links between central black hole formation, galaxy formation and…
Luminous water maser emission in the 6_(16)-5_(23) line at 22 GHz has been detected from two dozen galaxies. In all cases the emission is confined to the nucleus and has been found only in AGN, in particular, in Type 2 Seyferts and LINERs.…
Water megamaser emission at 22 GHz has proven to be a powerful tool for astrophysical studies of AGN allowing an accurate determination of the central black hole mass and of the accretion disc geometry and dynamics. However, after searches…
Presently there are several classes of detected gamma-ray extragalatic sources. They are mostly associated to active galactic nuclei (AGN) and (at soft gamma rays) to gamma-ray bursts (GRB), but not only. Active galactic nuclei consist of…
We report the discovery of water maser emission in five active galactic nuclei (AGN) with the 100-m Green Bank Telescope (GBT). The positions of the newly discovered masers, measured with the VLA, are consistent with the optical positions…
Offset active galactic nuclei (AGNs) are AGNs that are in ongoing galaxy mergers, which produce kinematic offsets in the AGNs relative to their host galaxies. Offset AGNs are also close relatives of dual AGNs. We conduct a systematic search…
Galaxy-scale outflows, which are thought to provide the link connecting the central black hole to its host galaxy, are now starting to be observed. However, the physical origin of the mechanism driving the observed outflows, whether due to…
Optical emission-line profiles were evaluated in order to explore the structure of galactic nuclei containing H2O megamaser sources. Galactic rotation and outflow of narrow-line gas are common features of this sample of water megamaser…
Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) are highly energetic astrophysical sources powered by accretion onto supermassive black holes in galaxies, which present unique observational signatures covering the full electromagnetic spectrum (and more) over…
Theoretical research on extragalactic masers (and hence this review) is almost entirely directed toward 22 GHz water masers in circumnuclear disks with the focus being the near ideal masing disk at the nucleus of the galaxy NGC4258. The…
We present single-dish monitoring of the spectra of 13 extragalactic water megamasers taken over a period of 9 years and a single epoch of sensitive spectra for 7 others. Our data include the first K-band science observations taken with the…
Powerful winds driven by active galactic nuclei (AGN) are often invoked to play a fundamental role in the evolution of both supermassive black holes (SMBHs) and their host galaxies, quenching star formation and explaining the tight…
Jets associated with Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) have been observed for almost a century, initially at optical and radio wavelengths. They are now widely accepted as "exhausts" produced electromagnetically by the central, spinning, massive…
The study of the content, distribution and kinematics of interstellar gas is a key to understand the origin and maintenance of both starburst and nuclear (AGN) activity in galaxies. The processes involved in AGN fueling encompass a wide…