Gas inflows towards the nucleus of NGC 1358

Abstract

We use optical spectra from the inner 1.8×2.5 kpc2 of the Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC1358, obtained with the GMOS integral field spectrograph on the Gemini South telescope at a spatial resolution of ≈165 pc, to assess the feeding and feedback processes in this nearby active galaxy. Five gaseous kinematical components are observed in the emission line profiles. One of the components is present in the entire field-of-view and we interpret it as due to gas rotating in the disc of the galaxy. Three of the remaining components we interpret as associated with active galactic nucleus (AGN) feedback: a compact unresolved outflow in the inner 1 arcsec and two gas clouds observed at opposite sides of the nucleus, which we propose have been ejected in a previous AGN burst. The disc component velocity field is strongly disturbed by a large-scale bar. The subtraction of a velocity model combining both rotation and bar flows reveals three kinematic nuclear spiral arms: two in inflow and one in outflow. We estimate the mass inflow rate in the inner 180 pc obtaining ˙Min ≈1.5×10−2M yr−1, about 160 times larger than the accretion rate necessary to power this AGN.