VLBI Imaging of Water Maser Emission from the Nuclear Torus of NGC 1068

Abstract

We have made the first VLBI synthesis images of the H₂O maser emission associated with the central engine of the Seyfert galaxy NGC 1068. Emission extends about ±300 km s^-1 from the systemic velocity. Images with sub-milliarcsecond angular resolution show that the redshifted emission lies along an arc to the northwest of the systemic emission. (The blueshifted emission has not yet been imaged with VLBI.) Based on the maser velocities and the relative orientation of the known radio jet, we propose that the maser emission arises on the surface of a nearly edge-on torus, where physical conditions are conducive to maser action. The visible part of the torus is axially thick, with comparable height and radius. The velocity field indicates sub-Keplerian differential rotation around a central mass of ~1 × 10⁷ M_☉ that lies within a cylindrical radius of about 0.65 pc. The estimated luminosity of the central engine is about 0.5 of the Eddington limit. There is no detectable compact radio continuum emission near the proposed center of the torus (T_B < 5 × 10⁶ K on size scales of ~0.1 pc), so that the observed flat-spectrum core cannot be direct self-absorbed synchrotron radiation.