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Lookup NU author(s): Dr David RosarioORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
© 2026. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society. Original content from this work may be used under the terms of the https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI. We present Northern Extended Millimeter Array observations of the CO (2–1) molecular gas kinematics in the nearby Compton-thick Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC 3079, with an angular resolution of 0 (Formula presented).″ 5 (∼40 pc). To interpret the observed CO (2–1) kinematics, we model the rotating disk using two software tools, 3D-Barolo and DysmalPy, to generate mock 3D data cubes. Both models indicate, in addition to the rotating disk, the presence of a spatially unresolved nuclear component characterized by high velocity dispersion. Analysis of the visibility data reveals that the blueshifted, high-velocity component is spatially offset from the continuum peak by 0 (Formula presented).″ 17 (∼14 pc) and exhibits line-of-sight velocities of v − vsys = −350 to −450 km s−1, which we interpret as a nuclear molecular outflow. We calculate a molecular gas mass outflow rate of 8.82 M⊙ yr−1, with a kinetic power ((Formula presented) Ėout) of 3.8 ×1041 erg s−1 and a momentum rate ((Formula presented) ṗout) of 2.05 × 1034 Dyne. The momentum rate exceeds the AGN radiation momentum rate by a factor of ∼15, suggesting an energy-driven outflow. Furthermore, we argue that the derived kinetic power of the nuclear molecular outflow favors a jet-powered scenario that explains the slowdown and brightening of the parsec-scale radio source observed with the Very Long Baseline Array.
Author(s): Lin M-Y, Medling AM, Davies RI, Krips M, Barcos-Munoz L, Genzel R, Gonzalez-Alfonso E, Gracia-Carpio J, Lutz D, Neri R, de Xivry GO, Rosario D, Schnorr-Muller A, Shimizu T, Sternberg A, Sturm E, Tacconi L
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Astrophysical Journal
Year: 2026
Volume: 1004
Issue: 2
Print publication date: 20/06/2026
Online publication date: 11/06/2026
Acceptance date: 27/04/2026
Date deposited: 24/06/2026
ISSN (print): 0004-637X
ISSN (electronic): 1538-4357
Publisher: American Astronomical Society
URL: https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ae6654
DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/ae6654
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