We have used the Gemini Near-Infrared Integral Field Spectrograph ( NIFS ) in the J and K bands to map the distribution , excitation and kinematics of the ionized H ii and warm molecular gas H _ { 2 } , in the inner few 100 pc of 6 nearby active galaxies : NGC 788 , Mrk 607 , NGC 3227 , NGC 3516 , NGC 5506 , NGC 5899 .
For most galaxies , this is the first time that such maps have been obtained .
The ionized and H _ { 2 } gas show distinct kinematics : while the H _ { 2 } gas is mostly rotating in the galaxy plane with low velocity dispersion ( \sigma ) , the ionized gas usually shows signatures of outflows associated with higher \sigma values , most clearly seen in the [ Fe ii ] emission line .
These two gas species also present distinct flux distributions : the H _ { 2 } is more uniformly spread over the whole galaxy plane , while the ionized gas is more concentrated around the nucleus and/or collimated along the ionization axis of its Active Galactic Nucleus ( AGN ) , presenting a steeper gradient in the average surface mass density profile than the H _ { 2 } gas .
The total H ii masses cover the range 2 \times 10 ^ { 5 } -2 \times 10 ^ { 7 } M _ { \odot } , with surface mass densities in the range 3–150 M _ { \odot } pc ^ { -2 } , while for the warm H _ { 2 } the values are 10 ^ { 3 - 4 } times lower .
We estimate that the available gas reservoir is at least \approx 100 times more massive than needed to power the AGN .
If this gas form new stars the star-formation rates , obtained from the Kennicutt-schmidt scalling relation , are in the range 1–260 \times 10 ^ { -3 } M _ { \odot } yr ^ { -1 } .
But the gas will also – at least in part – be ejected in the form of the observed otflows .