Molecular Outflows in the Nucleus of the Nearby Compton-thick AGN NGC 3079

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.