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A model for the molecular accretion disk and H2O maser in the nucleus of the galaxy NGC 4258

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Abstract

A model is developed for the H2O maser source observed in the circumnuclear region of the galaxy NGC 4258. The maser emission originates at distances of 0.15–0.29 pc from the center in a thin, cold accretion disk (gas-dust torus) rotating around a supermassive black hole of mass 4 × 107 M ⊙. The conditions for the emergence of an inverse population of the signal 616−523 levels in ortho-H2O working molecules are simulated numerically. The complex line profile, which includes both central and high-velocity components, is calculated. A comparison of the calculations with radiointerferometric and spectrophotometric observations allowed the physical conditions in the emitting region to be determined.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ioffe Physicotechnical Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, ul. Politekhnicheskaya 26, St. Petersburg, 194021, Russia

    N. S. Babkovskaya & D. A. Varshalovich

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  1. N. S. Babkovskaya
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  2. D. A. Varshalovich
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Translated from Pis’ma v Astronomicheski\(\overset{\lower0.5em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\smile}$}}{l}\) Zhurnal, Vol. 26, No. 3, 2000, pp. 180–189.

Original Russian Text Copyright © 2000 by Babkovskaya, Varshalovich.

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Babkovskaya, N.S., Varshalovich, D.A. A model for the molecular accretion disk and H2O maser in the nucleus of the galaxy NGC 4258. Astron. Lett. 26, 144–152 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1134/1.20377

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/1.20377

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