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(PostScript file)We find that the mid-IR fine-structure line profiles display blue asymmetries which are very similar to those observed in the optical lines produced in the narrow line region. Because the mid-infrared lines are much less sensitive to extinction than are the optical lines this similarity places strong constraints on scenarios which have been invoked to explain the optical line asymmetries. For example, we are able to rule out the simplest radial-motion-plus-dust scenarios for the production of the line asymmetries. Our preferred model is that of a central, geometrically thin but optically thick, obscuring screen of sub-arcsecond extension, enclosing a total hydrogen gas mass of >~5E6 Msun. This mass may be molecular.
The weakness of `PAH' emission features in the low resolution spectrum is evidence that star formation plays a minor role in the circumnuclear region of NGC 4151. In a companion paper, we use the rich set of mid-infrared lines to determine the obscured photoionizing continuum produced by the active galactic nucleus.
Keywords: galaxies: individual: NGC 4151 -- galaxies: Seyfert -- line: profiles -- infrared: galaxies
Status: to appear in ApJ (accepted on 25 August 1998)
Address: mailto: sturm@mpe.mpg.de
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Last update: 09-Sep-1998 by D. Kunze