Bibcode
Jiménez-Vicente, J.; Mediavilla, E.; Castillo-Morales, A.; Battaner, E.
Bibliographical reference
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 406, Issue 1, pp. 181-186.
Advertised on:
7
2010
Citations
3
Refereed citations
3
Description
We present integral field spectroscopic observations of the central
region of the active galaxy NGC 4258 obtained with the fibre IFU system
INTEGRAL. We have been able to detect cold neutral gas by means of the
interstellar NaD doublet absorption and to trace its distribution and
kinematics with respect to the underlying disc. The neutral gas is
blueshifted with projected velocities in the 120-370kms-1
range. We have also detected peculiar kinematics in part of the ionized
gas in this region by means of a careful kinematic decomposition. The
bipolar spatial distribution of the broader component is roughly
coincident with the morphology of the X-ray diffuse emission. The
kinematics of this gas can be explained in terms of expansion at very
high (projected) velocities of up to 300 km s-1. The
observations also reveal the existence of a strip of neutral gas,
parallel to the major kinematic axis, that is nearly coincident with a
region of very high [SII]/Hα ratio tracing the shocked gas. Our
observations are consistent with the jet model presented by Wilson, Yang
& Cecil in which a cocoon originating from the nuclear jet is
shocking the gas in the galaxy disc. Alternatively, our observations are
also consistent with the bipolar hypershell model of Sofue and Sofue
& Vogler. On balance, we prefer the latter model as the most likely
explanation for the puzzling features of this peculiar object.