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Stephan's Quintet (SQ) is a nearby compact galaxy group and a perfect laboratory for studying the process of galaxy evolution through galaxy harassment and interaction. By analysing the kinematics of SQ we aim to provide an increased understanding of the group, the history of the interactions, their cause and effect, and the details regarding the physical processes occurring as galaxies interact. We have studied the ionised gas and stellar kinematics using the Large Binocular Telescope, and the molecular gas kinematics via CO using the IRAM 30m. Large areas of the group have been mapped and analysed. We obtain a total ionised gas mass in the regions chosen for closer analysis of 20.1$\pm$0.2x10^10 Msun and a total H2 gas mass of 21$\pm$2x10^9 Msun in the observed area (spectra integrated over the velocity range of SQ), while the star-forming (SF) clouds show an impressive complexity, with gas congregations at multiple velocities throughout the group. We map the large-scale nuclear wind in NGC7319 and its decoupled gas and stellar disk. With our high resolution data we can, for the first time, reveal the Seyfert 1 nature of NGC7319 and fit the narrow-line and broad-line regions. While the 12CO(1-0) map shows significant emission in the area of NGC7319, the bridge, and the SF ridge, the 12CO(2-1) emission shows a prevalence to the SF ridge, an area south of the NGC7318 pair, and an extension towards NGC7317 - connecting NGC7317 to the centre of the group, indicating a previous interaction. NGC7317 may also be a prime candidate for studies of the process of galaxy harassment. Furthermore, we connect the kinematical structures in SQ to the history of the group and the ongoing interaction with NGC7318B. Through our extensive observations of SQ we trace the kinematics and evolution of the complex processes and structures occurring in this nearby interactive group. [Abstract abridged], Comment: 40 pages, 64 images, 15 tables. Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics

We trace several dusty infrared sources on their orbit around the supermassive black hole (SMBH) SgrA* in the center of our galaxy. We give an overview of known and unknown sources in the direct vicinity of our SMBH in a radius of around 0.04pc. For that, we are using NACO (K- and L'-band) and SINFONI (H+K-band) data (VLT, Chile/Paranal) between 2002 and 2018. Our spectroscopic analysis reveals a Doppler-shifted line emission of Br_gamma and HeI. Additionally, we report the detection of [FeIII] lines that are found exclusively in the investigated dusty sources west of SgrA*. We speculate, that the known [FeIII] emission in the GC is partially generated due to the line emission of the Dusty sources investigated in this work. However, we extend our analysis of the GC by taking the bright Br_gamma-bar close (< 120 mas) to SgrA* into account. The finding of this feature is in line with a reported SgrA* X-ray bubble that consists of an open side towards G359.945-0.044 (North-West-West direction). The location of the open side of this X-ray bubble coincides with the emission of the bright Br_gamma-bar detected in our SINFONI data-cubes., Comment: 34 pages, 19 figures

We present results of 3 mm observations of SiO maser sources in the Galactic Centre (GC) from observations with the Australia Telescope Compact Array between $2010-2014$, along the transitions of the SiO molecule at $v = 1, J = 2-1$ at 86.243 GHz and $v = 2, J = 2-1$ at 85.640 GHz. We also present the results of the 3 mm observations with Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA). We detected 5 maser sources from the ATCA data, IRS 7, IRS 9, IRS 10EE, IRS 12N, and IRS 28; and 20 sources from the ALMA data including 4 new sources. These sources are predominantly late-type giants or emission line stars with strong circumstellar maser emission. We analyse these sources and calculate their proper motions. We also study the variability of the maser emission. IRS 7, IRS 12N and IRS 28 exhibit long period variability of the order of $1 - 2$ years, while other sources show steady increase or decrease in flux density and irregular variability over observation timescales. This behaviour is consistent with the previous observations., Comment: 22 pages, 5 figures, to be published in the proceedings of the XIII workshop on "Multifrequency Behaviour of High Energy Cosmic Sources - XIII - MULTIF2019", held on 3-8 June, 2019, in Palermo, Italy

We report on the nature of prominent sources of light and shadow in the Galactic Center. With respect to the Bremsstrahlung X-ray emission of the hot plasma in that region the Galactic Center casts a 'shadow'. The 'shadow' is caused by the Circum Nuclear Disk that surrounds SgrA* at a distance of about 1 to 2 parsec. This detection allows us to do a detailed investigation of the physical properties of the surroundings of the super massive black hole. Further in, the cluster of high velocity stars orbiting the central super massive black hole SgrA* represents an ideal probe for the gravitational potential and the degree of relativity that one can attribute to this area. Recently, three of the closest stars (S2, S38, and S55/S0-102) have been used to conduct these investigations. In addition to the black hole mass and distance a relativistic parameter defined as ${\Upsilon}=r_s/r_p$ could be derived for star S2. The quantity $r_s$ is the Schwarzschild radius and $r_p$ is the pericenter distance of the orbiting star. Here, in this publication, we highlight the robustness and significance of this result. If one aims at investigating stronger relativistic effects one needs to get closer to SgrA*. Here, one can use the emission of plasma blobs that orbit SgrA*. This information can be obtained by modeling lightcurves of bright X-ray flares. Finally, we comment on the shadow of the SgrA* black hole expected due to light bending and boosting in its vicinity., Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures; Proceeding given at the conference 'Frontier Research in Astrophysics - III' 28 May - 2 June, 2018, Palermo, Italy

The Galactic Center is the closest galactic nucleus that allows us to determine the multi-frequency behavior of the supermassive black hole counterpart Sagittarius A* in great detail. We put SgrA*, as a nucleus with weak activity, into the context of nearby low luminosity nuclei. Possible hints for galaxy evolution of these sources across the [NII]-based diagnostic diagram can be inferred from dependencies on the masses, excitation ratios, and radio luminosities within this diagram. For SgrA* we also discuss responsible radiation mechanisms covering results from the radio, infrared, and X-ray regime. We also address the question of justifying the hot-spot model for describing flare profiles in light curves. Since the brightness of LLAGN is also linked to star formation we briefly discuss the possibility of having stars formed in the immediate vicinity of supermassive black holes and possibly even in a mildly relativistic environment., Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures, to be published in the proceedings of the XII workshop on 'Multifrequency Behavior of High Energy Cosmic Sources', held on 12-17 June, 2017, in Palermo, Italy

Bright Active Galactic Nuclei are powered by accretion of mass onto the super massive black holes at the centers of the host galaxies. For fainter objects star formation may significantly contribute to the luminosity. We summarize experimental indicators of the accretion processes in Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN), i.e., observable activity indicators that allow us to conclude on the nature of accretion. The Galactic Center is the closest galactic nucleus that can be studied with unprecedented angular resolution and sensitivity. Therefore, here we also include the presentation of recent observational results on Sagittarius A* and the conditions for star formation in the central stellar cluster. We cover results across the electromagnetic spectrum and find that the Sagittarius A* (SgrA*) system is well ordered with respect to its geometrical orientation and its emission processes of which we assume to reflect the accretion process onto the super massive black hole., Comment: 16 pages, 4 figures, conference proceeding: Accretion Processes in Cosmic Sources - APCS2016 - 5-10 September 2016, Saint Petersburg, Russia

We address a question whether the observed light curves of X-ray flares originating deep in galactic cores can give us independent constraints on the mass of the central supermassive black hole. To this end we study four brightest flares that have been recorded from Sagittarius A*. They all exhibit an asymmetric shape consistent with a combination of two intrinsically separate peaks that occur at a certain time-delay with respect to each other, and are characterized by their mutual flux ratio and the profile of raising/declining parts. Such asymmetric shapes arise naturally in the scenario of a temporary flash from a source orbiting near a super- massive black hole, at radius of only 10-20 gravitational radii. An interplay of relativistic effects is responsible for the modulation of the observed light curves: Doppler boosting, gravitational redshift, light focusing, and light-travel time delays. We find the flare properties to be in agreement with the simulations (our ray-tracing code sim5lib). The inferred mass for each of the flares comes out in agreement with previous estimates based on orbits of stars; the latter have been observed at radii and over time-scales two orders of magnitude larger than those typical for the X-ray flares, so the two methods are genuinely different. We test the reliability of the method by applying it to another object, namely, the Seyfert I galaxy RE J1034+396., Comment: MNRAS in press; 12 pages; 9 figures; 3 tables Accepted 2017 September 4. Received 2017 September 4; in original form 2017 May 22; minor changes applied

The Galactic Center is the closest galactic nucleus that can be studied with unprecedented angular resolution and sensitivity. We summarize recent basic observational results on Sagittarius A* and the conditions for star formation in the central stellar cluster. We cover results from the radio, infrared, and X-ray domain and include results from simulation as well. From (sub-)mm and near-infrared variability and near-infrared polarization data we find that the SgrA* system (supermassive black hole spin, a potential temporary accretion disk and/or outflow) is well ordered in its geometrical orientation and in its emission process that we assume to reflect the accretion process onto the supermassive black hole (SMBH)., Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures, 1 table; published in PoS-SISSA Proceedings of the: Frontier Research in Astrophysics - II, 23-28 May 2016, Mondello (Palermo), Italy

We investigate an infrared-excess source called G2 or Dusty S-cluster Object (DSO) moving on a highly eccentric orbit around the Galaxy's central black hole, Sgr A*. We use, for the first time, near-infrared polarimetric imaging data to determine the nature and the properties of the DSO, and obtain an improved K_s-band identification of this source in median polarimetry images of different observing years. The source starts to deviate from the stellar confusion in 2008, and it does not show any flux density variability over the years we analyzed it. We measure the polarization degree and angle of the DSO between 2008 and 2012 and conclude, based on the significance analysis on polarization parameters, that it is an intrinsically polarized source (>20%) with a varying polarization angle as it approaches Sgr A* position. DSO shows a near-infrared excess of K_s-L' > 3 that remains compact close to the pericenter of its orbit. Its observed parameters and the significant polarization obtained in this work show that the DSO might be a dust-enshrouded young star, forming a bow shock as it approaches the super massive black hole. The significantly high measured polarization degree indicates that it has a non-spherical geometry and it can be modelled as a combination of a bow shock with a bipolar wind of the star. We use a 3D radiative transfer model that can reproduce the observed properties of the source such as the total flux density and the polarization degree. We obtain that the change of the polarization angle can be due to an intrinsic change in the source structure. Accretion disc precession of the young star in the gravitational field of the black hole can lead to the change of the bipolar outflow and therefore the polarization angle variation. It might also be the result of the source interaction with the ambient medium., Comment: 15 pages, 12 figures, Accepted to be published in Astronomy & Astrophysics

The supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*), at the centre of the Milky Way undergoes regular flaring activity which is thought to arise from the innermost region of the accretion flow. We performed the monitoring observations of the Galactic Centre to study the flux-density variations at 3mm using the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) between 2010 and 2014. We obtain the light curves of Sgr A* by subtracting the contributions from the extended emission around it, and the elevation and time dependent gains of the telescope. We perform structure function analysis and the Bayesian blocks representation to detect flare events. The observations detect six instances of significant variability in the flux density of Sgr A* in three observations, with variations between 0.5 to 1.0 Jy, which last for 1.5 $-$ 3 hours. We use the adiabatically expanding plasmon model to explain the short time-scale variations in the flux density. We derive the physical quantities of the modelled flare emission, such as the source expansion speed $v_{\mathrm{exp}}$, source sizes, spectral indices, and the turnover frequency. These parameters imply that the expanding source components are either confined to the immediate vicinity of Sgr A* by contributing to the corona or the disc, or have a bulk motion greater than $v_{\mathrm{exp}}$. No exceptional flux density variation on short flare time-scales was observed during the approach and the flyby of the dusty S-cluster object (DSO/G2). This is consistent with its compactness and the absence of a large bow shock., Comment: 15 pages, 24 figures

The supermassive black hole Sgr A* is located at the Milky Way center. We studied its flaring activity close to the DSO/G2 pericenter passage to constrain the physical properties and origin of the flares. Simultaneous/coordinated observations were made in 2014 Feb-Apr with XMM-Newton, HST/WFC3, VLT/SINFONI, VLA and CARMA. We detected 2 X-ray and 3 NIR flares on Mar. 10 and Apr. 2 with XMM-Newton and HST and 2 NIR flares on Apr. 3 and 4 with VLT. The Mar. 10 X-ray flare has a long rise and a rapid decay. Its NIR counterpart peaked 4320s before the X-ray peak implying a variation in the X-ray-to-NIR flux ratio. This flare may be a single flare where change in the flux ratio is explained by the adiabatic compression of a plasmon or 2 close flares with simultaneous X-ray/NIR peaks. We observed an increase in the rising radio flux density on Mar. 10 with the VLA. It could be the delayed emission from a NIR/X-ray flare preceding our observation. The Apr. 2 X-ray flare occurred for HST in the Earth occultation of Sgr A*. We thus only observed the start of its NIR counterpart. After the occultation, we observed the decay phase of a bright NIR flare with no X-ray counterpart. On Apr. 3, 2 CARMA flares were observed. The 1rst one may be the delayed emission of a VLT NIR flare. We thus observed 7 NIR flares whose 3 have an X-ray counterpart. We studied the physical parameters of the flaring region for each NIR flare but none of the possible radiative processes can be ruled out for the X-ray flares creation. Our X-ray flaring rate is consistent with those observed in the 2012 Chandra XVP campaign. No increase in the flaring activity was thus triggered close to the DSO/G2 pericenter passage. Moreover, higher X-ray flaring rates had already been observed with no increase in the quiescent level. There is thus no direct link between an X-ray flaring-rate increase and an accretion-rate change. (abridged), Comment: Accepted version

We compared optical spectroscopic and photometric data for 18 AGN galaxies over 2 to 3 epochs, with time intervals of typically 5 to 10 years. We used the Multi-Object Double Spectrograph (MODS) at the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) and compared the spectra to data taken from the SDSS database and the literature. We find variations in the forbidden oxygen lines as well as in the hydrogen recombination lines of these sources. For 4 of the sources we find that, within the calibration uncertainties, the variations in continuum and line spectra of the sources are very small. We argue that it is mainly the difference in black hole mass between the samples that is responsible for the different degree of continuum variability. In addition we find that for an otherwise constant accretion rate the total line variability (dominated by the narrow line contributions) reverberates the continuum variability with a dependency $\Delta L_{line} \propto (\Delta L_{cont.})^{\frac{3}{2}}$. Since this dependency is prominently expressed in the narrow line emission it implies that the luminosity dominating part of the narrow line region must be very compact with a size of the order of at least 10 light years. A comparison to literature data shows that these findings describe the variability characteristics of a total of 61 broad and narrow line sources., Comment: 30 pages including the appendix, 18 figures including the appendix. Accepted 2015 September 3. Received 2015 August 24; in original form 2015 July 3 in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

We present the results of near-infrared H- and K-band European Southern Observatory SINFONI integral field spectroscopy of the Seyfert galaxy NGC 1566. We investigate the central kpc of this nearby galaxy, concentrating on excitation conditions, morphology, and stellar content. NGC 1566 was selected from our NUGA (-south) sample and is a ringed, spiral galaxy with a stellar bar. We present emission and absorption line measurements in the central kpc of NGC 1566. Broad and narrow Br{\gamma} lines were detected. The detection of a broad Br{\gamma} component is a clear sign of a super-massive black hole in the center. Blackbody emission temperatures of ~1000 K are indicative of a hot dust component, the torus, in the nuclear region. The molecular hydrogen lines, hydrogen recombination lines, and [FeII] indicate that the excitation at the center is coming from an AGN. The central region is predominantly inhabited by molecular gas, dust, and an old K-M type giant stellar population. The molecular gas and stellar velocity maps both show a rotation pattern. The molecular gas velocity field shows a perturbation toward the center that is typical for bars or spiral density waves. The molecular gas species of warm H_2(1-0)S(1) and cold ^{12}CO(3-2) gas trace a nuclear gas disk of about 3" in radius with a nuclear spiral reaching toward the nucleus. From the equivalent width of H_2(1-0)S(1) a molecular ring with r<~3" can be inferred. This spiral seems to be an instrument that allows gas to fall toward the nucleus down to <50 pc scales. The excitation of molecular hydrogen in the nuclear gas disk is not clear but diagnostic diagrams show a distinction between the nuclear region and a <9 Myr old star forming region at the southwestern spiral arm. Possibly shocked gas is detected ~2" from the center, which is visible in dispersion maps of H$_2$(1-0)S(1) and ^{12}CO(3-2) and in the 0.87 mm continuum., Comment: 20 pages, 16 figures, NUGA, Active Galaxies, AGN

The super-massive 4 million solar mass black hole Sagittarius~A* (SgrA*) shows flare emission from the millimeter to the X-ray domain. A detailed analysis of the infrared light curves allows us to address the accretion phenomenon in a statistical way. The analysis shows that the near-infrared flare amplitudes are dominated by a single state power law, with the low states in SgrA* limited by confusion through the unresolved stellar background. There are several dusty objects in the immediate vicinity of SgrA*. The source G2/DSO is one of them. Its nature is unclear. It may be comparable to similar stellar dusty sources in the region or may consist predominantly of gas and dust. In this case a particularly enhanced accretion activity onto SgrA* may be expected in the near future. Here the interpretation of recent data and ongoing observations are discussed., Comment: 30 pages - 7 figures - accepted for publication by Springer's "Fundamental Theories of Physics" series; summarizing GC contributions of 2 conferences: 'Equations of Motion in Relativistic Gravity' at the Physikzentrum Bad Honnef, Bad Honnef, Germany, (Feb. 17-23, 2013) and the COST MP0905 'The Galactic Center Black Hole Laboratory' Granada, Spain (Nov. 19 - 22, 2013)

We summarize basic observational results on Sagittarius~A* obtained from the radio, infrared and X-ray domain. Infrared observations have revealed that a dusty S-cluster object (DSO/G2) passes by SgrA*, the central super-massive black hole of the Milky Way. It is still expected that this event will give rise to exceptionally intense activity in the entire electromagnetic spectrum. Based on February to September 2014 SINFONI observations. The detection of spatially compact and red-shifted hydrogen recombination line emission allows a us to obtain a new estimate of the orbital parameters of the DSO. We have not detected strong pre-pericenter blue-shifted or post-pericenter red-shifted emission above the noise level at the position of SgrA* or upstream the orbit. The periapse position was reached in May 2014. Our 2004-2012 infrared polarization statistics shows that SgrA* must be a very stable system - both in terms of geometrical orientation of a jet or accretion disk and in terms of the variability spectrum which must be linked to the accretion rate. Hence polarization and variability measurements are the ideal tool to probe for any change in the system as a function of the DSO/G2 fly-by. Due to the 2014 fly-by of the DSO, increased accretion activity of SgrA* may still be upcoming. Future observations of bright flares will improve the derivation of the spin and the inclination of the SMBH from NIR/sub-mm observations., Comment: revised version with minor changes - 6 pages - 4 figures - published in PoS-SISSA Proceedings of the:Frontier Research in Astrophysics Workshop 2014, edt. Franco Giovannelli held in Mondello (Palermo - Italy) 26 - 31 May 2014

We present a statistical analysis of polarized near-infrared (NIR) light from Sgr A*, the radio source associated with the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way. The observations have been carried out using the adaptive optics instrument NACO at the VLT UT4 in the infrared $K_\mathrm{s}$-band from 2004 to 2012. Several polarized flux excursions were observed during these years. Linear polarization at 2.2 $\mu m$, its statistics and time variation, can be used constrain the physical conditions of the accretion process onto this supermassive black hole. With an exponent of about 4 for the number density histogram of fluxes above 5~mJy, the distribution of polarized flux density is closely linked to the single state power-law distribution of the total $K_\mathrm{s}$-band flux densities reported earlier. We find typical polarization degrees of the order of 20\%$\pm$10\% and a preferred polarization angle of 13$^o$$\pm$15$^o$. Simulations show the uncertainties under a total flux density of $\sim 2\,{\rm mJy}$ are probably dominated by observational effects. At higher flux densities there are intrinsic variations of polarization degree and angle within rather well constrained ranges. Since the emission is most likely due to optically thin synchrotron radiation, this preferred polarization angle we find is very likely coupled to the intrinsic orientation of the Sgr A* system i.e. a disk or jet/wind scenario associated with the super massive black hole. If they are indeed linked to structural features of the source the data imply a rather stable geometry and accretion process for the Sgr A* system., Comment: 19 pages, 18 figures, 4 tables, submitted to Astronomy & Astrophysics

We analyse and report in detail new near-infrared (1.45 - 2.45 microns) observations of the Dusty S-cluster Object (DSO/G2) during its approach to the black hole at the center of the Galaxy that were carried out with ESO VLT/SINFONI between February and September 2014. Before May 2014 we detect spatially compact Br-gamma and Pa-alpha line emission from the DSO at about 40mas east of SgrA*. The velocity of the source, measured from the red-shifted emission, is 2700+-60 km/s. No blue-shifted emission above the noise level is detected at the position of SgrA* or upstream the presumed orbit. After May we find spatially compact Br-gamma blue-shifted line emission from the DSO at about 30mas west of SgrA* at a velocity of -3320+-60 km/s and no indication for significant red-shifted emission. We do not detect any significant extension of velocity gradient across the source. We find a Br-gamma-line full width at half maximum of 50+-10 Angstroem before and 15+-10 Angstroem after the peribothron transit, i.e. no significant line broadening with respect to last year is observed. Br-gamma line maps show that the bulk of the line emission originates from a region of less than 20mas diameter. This is consistent with a very compact source on an elliptical orbit with a peribothron time passage in 2014.39+-0.14. For the moment, the flaring activity of the black hole in the near-infrared regime has not shown any statistically significant increment. Increased accretion activity of SgrA* may still be upcoming. We discuss details of a source model according to which the DSO is rather a young accreting star than a coreless gas and dust cloud., Comment: 32 pages - 3 tables - 17 figure - accepted by ApJ

Observationally established correlations between black hole mass and host galaxy structural/dynamical properties (like the M_BH - sigma relation) give support to the idea of an intimate link between the growth of black holes (BHs) and their host galaxies. Active galactic nuclei represent a poorly understood phase (or phases) in the life of a galaxy, during which the BH growth is directly observable. With the advent of wide-field surveys and high angular resolution instruments, it is now possible to observe the source of energy in Seyfert galaxies and QSOs, and conduct both statistical and detailed on-object studies. Combining these two perspectives gives rise to new research questions and methods. This Workshop, aimed at discussing these questions and gathering the astronomical community working on AGN, their feeding and feedback mechanisms, and their relations to the host galaxies. The purpose of this summary paper is to condense in a few pages some of the ideas and discussion points that were considered during the Workshop. We would also like to call the attention to some open questions that are still matter of debate and drive the research efforts in the field., Comment: 13 pages. Compilation of the main results presented at the Workshop

A fast moving infrared excess source (G2) which is widely interpreted as a core-less gas and dust cloud approaches Sagittarius A* (SgrA*) on a presumably elliptical orbit. VLT K_s-band and Keck K'-band data result in clear continuum identifications and proper motions of this about 19m Dusty S-cluster Object (DSO). In 2002-2007 it is confused with the star S63, but free of confusion again since 2007. Its near-infrared (NIR) colors and a comparison to other sources in the field speak in favor of the DSO being an IR excess star with photospheric continuum emission at 2 microns than a core-less gas and dust cloud. We also find very compact L'-band emission ($<$0.1'') contrasted by the reported extended (0.03'' up to about 0.2'' for the tail) Brgamma emission. The presence of a star will change the expected accretion phenomena, since a stellar Roche lobe may retain a fraction of the material during and after the peri-bothron passage., Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, Proc. of a Conf. on IAU Symposium No.303: The GC: Feeding and Feedback in a Normal Galactic Nucleus 2013 September 30 - October 4, Santa Fe New Mexico (USA)

The super-massive 4 million solar mass black hole (SMBH) SgrA* shows flare emission from the millimeter to the X-ray domain. The nucleus of the Milky Way has properties (stellar cluster, young stars, molecular gas and an accreting SMBH) that resemble those of currently higher luminous Low Luminosity Active Galactic Nuclei. A detailed analysis of the infrared light curves shows that the flares are probably generated in a single-state process forming a power-law distribution of the flux density. Near-infrared polarimetry shows signatures of strong gravity that are statistically significant against randomly polarized red noise. Details of the emission mechanism are discussed in a synchrotron/self-Compton model. SgrA* also allows to study the interaction of the SMBH with the immediate interstellar and gaseous environment of the central stellar cluster. Through infrared imaging of the central few arcseconds it is possible to study both inflow and outflow phenomena linked to the SgrA* black hole. In this context we also discuss the newly found dusty object that approaches SgrA* and present a comparison between recent Keck and VLT K-band data that clearly supports its detection as a about 19m K'-band continuum source., Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures, 2 tables, Proc. of a conf. on Nuclei of Seyfert galaxies and QSOs - Central engine \& conditions of star formation, November 6-8, 2012 Max-Planck-Insitut f\"ur Radioastronomie (MPIfR), Bonn, Germany

Double-lobe radio galaxies are ideally suited to investigate the interaction of the individual components of the radio structure with the intergalactic medium and the interstellar medium of the host galaxy. SDSS J080800.99+483807.7 has been serendipitously discovered in MERLIN 18 cm observations to be a double-lobed radio galaxy. Because it is an optically faint source, basic information like redshift, linear size, and structure has been incomplete until now. Furthermore, there are no spectra of this source available in any databases. The goal of this work is to derive the main physical properties of SDSS J080800.99+483807.7 and study the possible interaction between the radio jets and the interstellar medium of the host galaxy. To achieve this goal, we used optical spectroscopy and radio interferometry. The radio data were obtained with MERLIN at 18 cm and the optical data with the Multi-Object Double Spectrograph (MODS) at the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT). The redshift of the galaxy is z = 0.2805 +/- 0.0003, resulting in a linear size of the observed radio structure of ~ 26.3 kpc. The optical line emission as well as the infrared and radio continuum emission suggest a high star-formation activity. In addition, we estimated the mass of the central black hole to be log (MBH/Msun) ~ 6.9. The MODS spectrum and the optical images from Sloan Digital Sky Survey suggest that SDSS J080800.99+483807.7 is an elliptical host galaxy. In combination with the overall radio structure, we argue that the star formation could be the result of the back-flow along the jet and the interstellar medium of the host., Comment: accepted at A&A

The starburst/Seyfert composite galaxy IRAS 01072+4954 (z=0.0236) is an enigmatic source that combines a Seyfert~1-like X-ray emission with a starburst optical spectrum that lacks broad line emission. We performed high angular resolution observations of the central kiloparsec of this galaxy in the near-infrared. Combining our data with 2MASS images of the whole galaxy, we obtain and model the surface brightness profile. We find indications for the presence of an elongated bar-like structure in both data sets. We also model the line of sight velocity distribution of the stars in the bulge. The derived photometrical and kinematical parameters of the bulge are used to evaluate the black hole mass through scaling relations. We find that all reliable estimations of the black hole mass are consistent with the presence of an intermediate mass black hole with a mass of ~10^5 solar masses (or less)., Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures. Proceedings of the Conference "The Central Kiloparsec in Galactic Nuclei. Astronomy at High Angular Resolution" (Bad Honnef, Germany, 29.8-2.9.2011)

No. Due to their apparently extreme optical to X-ray properties, Narrow Line Seyfert 1s (NLSy1s) have been considered a special class of active galactic nuclei (AGN). Here, we summarize observational results from different groups to conclude that none of the characteristics that are typically used to define the NLSy1s as a distinct group - from the, nowadays called, Broad Line Seyfert 1s (BLSy1s) - is unique, nor ubiquitous of these particular sources, but shared by the whole Type 1 AGN. Historically, the NLSy1s have been distinguished from the BLSy1s by the narrow width of the broad Hbeta emission line. The upper limit on the full width at half maximum of this line is 2000 km/s for NLSy1s, while in BLSy1s it can be of several thousands of km/s. However, this border has been arbitrarily set and does not correspond to the change of any physical property. All observed parameters in Type 1 AGN cover continues ranges of values, which does not allow to infer the existence of two different kind of populations with FWHM(Hbeta,broad) = 2000 km/s as dividing point. We argue that the usage of this velocity limit to define samples of NLSy1s galaxies - as it is usually done in comparative studies -, together with the well known observational biases, naturally favors the selection of sources with low black hole masses and high Eddington ratios that are hosted by blue spiral galaxies. Therefore selection biases might be responsible for the reported differences between NLSy1 and BLSy1 sources., Comment: New version includes a Figure and extra references. Proceedings of the Conference "Nuclei of Seyfert galaxies and QSOs - Central engine & conditions of star formation" (Bonn, Germany, 6-8 November 2012)

We present a comprehensive data description for Ks-band measurements of Sgr A*. We characterize the statistical properties of the variability of Sgr A* in the near-infrared, which we find to be consistent with a single-state process forming a power-law distribution of the flux density. We discover a linear rms-flux relation for the flux-density range up to 12 mJy on a timescale of 24 minutes. This and the power-law flux density distribution implies a phenomenological, formally non-linear statistical variability model with which we can simulate the observed variability and extrapolate its behavior to higher flux levels and longer timescales. We present reasons why data with our cadence cannot be used to decide on the question whether the power spectral density of the underlying random process shows more structure at timescales between 25 min and 100 min compared to what is expected from a red noise random process., Comment: Accepted to ApJS, August 27, 2012

A cross-correlation of the SDSS DR7 with the FIRST radio survey makes it possible to conduct a joined multiwavelength statistical study of radio-optical galaxy properties on a very large number of sources. Our goal is to improve the study of the combined radio-optical data by investigating if there is a correlation between the radio luminosity at 20 cm over the luminosity of the optical H\alpha line (L[20 cm]/L[H\alpha]) and line excitation ratios, where the latter provide the spectroscopic classification in Seyferts, low-ionization nuclear emission-line regions (LINERs) and star-forming galaxies. We found that the percentage of detected AGNs (Seyferts and LINERs) or composites is much higher in the optical-radio sample than in the optical sample alone. There is a progressive shift of the sources towards the AGN region of the diagram with increasing L[20 cm]/L[H\alpha], with an indication for a different behavior for LINERs and Seyferts. The classification appears to slightly depend on the redshift. A comparison with photoionization and shock models shows that the large fraction of LINERs identified in our study have emission lines that may be explained by shocks. The [NII]/H\alpha vs. equivalent width of the H\alpha line (WHAN) diagram confirms the LINER classification for most of those that have been identified with the traditional diagnostic diagrams. The correlation between L[20 cm]/L[H\alpha] and optical emission line ratios suggests the nuclear origin of the emission from the most powerful radio-galaxies., Comment: 17 pages, 13 figures, 2 tables. Published in A&A

There are a number of faint compact infrared excess sources in the central stellar cluster of the Milky Way. Their nature and origin is unclear. In addition to several isolated objects of this kind we find a small but dense cluster of co-moving sources (IRS13N) about 3" west of SgrA* just 0.5" north of the bright IRS13E cluster of WR and O-type stars. Based on their color and brightness, there are two main possibilities: (1) they may be dust embedded stars older than few Myr, or (2) extremely young, dusty stars with ages less than 1Myr. We present fist H- and Ks-band identifications or proper motions of the IRS13N members, the high velocity dusty S-cluster object (DSO), and other infrared excess sources in the central field. We also present results of NIR H- and Ks-band ESO-SINFONI integral field spectroscopy of ISR13N. We show that within the uncertainties, the proper motions of the IRS13N sources in Ks- and L'-band are identical. This indicates that the bright L'-band IRS13N sources are indeed dust enshrouded stars rather than core-less dust clouds. The proper motions show that the IRS13N sources are not strongly gravitationally bound to each other implying that they have been formed recently. We also present a first H- and Ks-band identification as well as proper motions and HKsL'-colors of a fast moving DSO which was recently found in the cluster of high speed S-stars that surround the super-massive black hole Sagittarius A* (SgrA*). Most of the compact L'-band excess emission sources have a compact H- or Ks-band counterpart and therefore are likely stars with dust shells or disks. Our new results and orbital analysis from our previous work favor the hypothesis that the infrared excess IRS13N members and other dusty sources close to SgrA* are very young dusty stars and that star formation at the GC is a continuously ongoing process., Comment: 20 pages, 18 figures, 4 tables plus appendix with 16 figures and 3 tables accepted by A&A

Based on Bremer et al. (2011) and Eckart et al. (2012) we report on simultaneous observations and modeling of the millimeter, near-infrared, and X-ray flare emission of the source Sagittarius A* (SgrA*) associated with the super-massive black hole at the Galactic Center. We study physical processes giving rise to the variable emission of SgrA* from the radio to the X-ray domain. To explain the statistics of the observed variability of the (sub-)mm spectrum of SgrA*, we use a sample of simultaneous NIR/X-ray flare peaks and model the flares using a synchrotron and SSC mechanism. The observations reveal flaring activity in all wavelength bands that can be modeled as the signal from adiabatically expanding synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) components. The model parameters suggest that either the adiabatically expanding source components have a bulk motion larger than v_exp or the expanding material contributes to a corona or disk, confined to the immediate surroundings of SgrA*. For the bulk of the synchrotron and SSC models, we find synchrotron turnover frequencies in the range 300-400 GHz. For the pure synchrotron models this results in densities of relativistic particles of the order of 10^6.5 cm^-3 and for the SSC models, the median densities are about one order of magnitude higher. However, to obtain a realistic description of the frequency-dependent variability amplitude of SgrA*, models with higher turnover frequencies and even higher densities are required. We discuss the results in the framework of possible deviations from equilibrium between particle and magnetic field energy. We also summarize alternative models to explain the broad-band variability of SgrA*., Comment: 14 pages, 3 figures, Conf. Proc. The Central Kiloparsec in Galactic Nuclei; Astronomy at High Angular Resolution 2011 (AHAR2011), held 29.8.2011-2.9.2011 at the DPG Physikzentrum Bad Honnef (Cologne/Bonn) Germany

The super-massive 4 million solar mass black hole (SMBH) SgrA* shows variable emission from the millimeter to the X-ray domain. A detailed analysis of the infrared light curves allows us to address the accretion phenomenon in a statistical way. The analysis shows that the near-infrared flux density excursions are dominated by a single state power law, with the low states of SgrA* limited by confusion through the unresolved stellar background. We show that for 8-10m class telescopes blending effects along the line of sight will result in artificial compact star-like objects of 0.5-1 mJy that last for about 3-4 years. We discuss how the imaging capabilities of GRAVITY at the VLTI, LINC-NIRVANA at the LBT and METIS at the E-ELT will contribute to the investigation of the low variability states of SgrA*., Comment: 19 pages, 5 figure, Conf. Proc. SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation 1 - 6 July 2012. Amsterdam No. 8445-4

In contrast to the predictions of the unified model, some X-ray unobscured Seyfert 2 galaxies have been discovered in the last decade. One of them, the starburst/Seyfert composite galaxy IRAS 01072+4954 (z=0.0236), has a typical Type~1 X-ray emission, while its optical spectrum resembles an HII galaxy and lacks the expected broad lines. We performed near-infrared integral-field observations of this object with the aim to determine the nature of its nuclear emission and to find indications for the existence or absence of a broad-line region. Several reasons have been proposed to explain such peculiar emission. We studied the validity of such hypotheses, including the possibility for it to be True-Seyfert~2. We found little obscuration towards the nucleus A_V = 2.5 mag, and a nuclear star-formation rate Sigma_SFR < 11.6 Msun yr^{-1} kpc^{-2}, which is below the average in Seyferts. Unresolved hot-dust emission with T ~ 1150 K seems to indicate the presence of a torus with its axis close to the line of sight. We found that IRAS 01072+4954 hosts a low mass black hole with an estimated mass of M_BH ~ 10^5 Msun and an upper limit of 2.5x10^6 Msun. Its bolometric luminosity is L_bol ~ 2.5x10^{42} erg/s, which yields a high accretion rate with an Eddington ratio ~ 0.2. If the relations found in more massive systems also apply to this case, then IRAS 01072+4954 should show broad emission lines with FWHM_{broad} ~(400-600) km/s. Indeed, some indications for such narrow broad-line components are seen in our data, but the evidence is not yet conclusive. This source thus seems not to be a True-Seyfert 2, but an extreme case of a narrow line Seyfert 1, which, due to the faintness of the active nucleus, does not have strong FeII emission in the optical., Comment: 16 pages, 11 figures. A&A Accepted version

Here we present the preliminary results of the analysis of VIMOS observations of the central 4.5 kpc of the double-barred galaxy NGC 5850. We use optical diagnostic diagrams to study the main ionization mecahnism across the field of view confirming the LINER nature in the continuum peak location. Also a star-forming (SF) region is found close to it (0.46 kpc), a second SF region is located east of the center (1.6 kpc). Further the data reveals a complex nuclear gas kinematics which is likely to be dominated by the secondary bar., Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures

The mini-spiral is a feature of the interstellar medium in the central ~2 pc of the Galactic center. It is composed of several streamers of dust and ionised and atomic gas with temperatures between a few 100 K to 10^4 K. There is evidence that these streamers are related to the so-called circumnuclear disk of molecular gas and are ionized by photons from massive, hot stars in the central parsec. We attempt to constrain the emission mechanisms and physical properties of the ionized gas and dust of the mini-spiral region with the help of our multiwavelength data sets. Our observations were carried out at 1.3 mm and 3 mm with the mm interferometric array CARMA in California in March and April 2009, with the MIR instrument VISIR at ESO's VLT in June 2006, and the NIR Br-gamma with VLT NACO in August 2009. We present high resolution maps of the mini-spiral, and obtain a spectral index of 0.5 for Sgr A*, indicating an inverted synchrotron spectrum. We find electron densities within the range 0.8-1.5x10^4 cm-3 for the mini-spiral from the radio continuum maps, along with a dust mass contribution of ~0.25 solar masses from the MIR dust continuum, and extinctions ranging from 1.8-3 at 2.16 micron in the Br-gamma line. We observe a mixture of negative and positive spectral indices in our 1.3 mm and 3 mm observations of the extended emission of the mini-spiral, which we interpret as evidence that there are a range of contributions to the thermal free-free emission by the ionized gas emission and by dust at 1.3 mm., Comment: 9 pages, 11 figures, accepted to A&A

Several massive black holes exhibit flux variability on time scales that correspond to source sizes of the order of few Schwarzschild radii. We survey the potential of near-infrared and X-ray polarimetry to constrain physical properties of such black hole systems, namely their spin and inclination. We have focused on a model where an orbiting hot spot is embedded in an accretion disk. A new method of searching for the time-lag between orthogonal polarization channels is developed and applied to an ensemble of hot spot models that samples a wide range of parameter space. We found that the hot spot model predicts signatures in polarized light which are in the range to be measured directly in the near future. However, our estimations are predicted upon the assumption of a Keplerian velocity distribution inside the flow where the dominant part of the magnetic field is toroidal. We also found that if the right model of the accretion flow can be chosen for each source (e.g. on the basis of magnetohydrodynamics simulations) then the black hole spin and inclination can be constrained to a small two-dimensional area in the spin-inclination space. The results of the application of the method to the available near-infrared polarimetric data of Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*) is presented. It is shown that even with the currently available data the spin and inclination of Sgr A* can be constrained. Next generations of near-infrared and X-ray polarimeters should be able to exploit this tool., Comment: 12 pages, 13 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS

The Galactic centre mini-spiral region is a mixture of gas and dust with temperatures ranging from a few hundred K to 10(exp 4) K. We report results from 1.3 and 3mm radio interferometric observations of this region with CARMA, and present a spectral index map of this region. We find a range of emission mechanisms in the region, including the inverted synchrotron spectrum of Sgr A*, free-free emission from the mini-spiral arms, and a possible dust emission contribution indicated by a positive spectral index.