Spatially Resolved, Multiphase Mass Outflows of the Seyfert 1 Galaxy NGC 3227

Abstract

We present spatially resolved mass outflow rates of the ionized and molecular gas in the narrow line region of the Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC 3227. Using long-slit spectroscopy and [O III] imaging from from Hubble Space Telescope's Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph and Apache Point Observatory's Kitt Peak Ohio State Multi-Object Spectrograph, in conjunction with Cloudy photoionization models and emission line diagnostics, we find a peak ionized mass outflow rate of $\dot M_{\text{ion}} =$ $19.9\pm9.2$ M$_\odot$ yr$^{-1}$ at a distance of $47\pm6$ pc from the supermassive black hole (SMBH). Using archival data from the Gemini-North Near-infrared Field Spectrograph measuring H$_2$ $\lambda2.1218$ $\mu$m emission, we find a maximum peak warm molecular outflow rate of $\dot M_{\mathrm{H_2}} \le 9 \times 10^{-4}$ M$_\odot$ yr$^{-1}$ at a distance of $36\pm6$ pc from the SMBH. Using archival data from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array measuring CO(2-1) emission, we find a maximum peak cold molecular gas mass outflow rate of $\dot M_{\mathrm{CO}} \le$ $23.1$ M$_\odot$ year$^{-1}$ at a distance of $57\pm6$ pc from the SMBH. For the first time, we calculate spatially resolved gas evacuation timescales for the cold molecular gas reservoirs ostensibly sourcing the outflows, and find that evacuating gas to $\sim$400 pc from the SMBH occurs on timescales of $10^{6.0} - 10^{7.6}$ years. These results indicate that the multi-phase AGN outflows are effective in clearing the inner few hundred parsecs of NGC 3227's gas content on timescales that may set the AGN duty cycle of $10^5 - 10^8$ years.