For the first time in an extragalactic source, we detect linearly polarized H₂O maser emission associated with the molecular accretion disk of NGC 1068. The position angles of the electric polarization vectors are perpendicular to the axes of filamentary structures in the molecular accretion disk. The inferred magnetic field threading the molecular disk must lie within ∼35° of the sky plane. The orientation of the magnetic fields relative to the disk plane implies that the maser region is unstable to hydromagnetically powered outflow; we speculate that the maser region may be the source of the larger-scale molecular outflow found in Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array studies. The new very long baseline interferometry observations also reveal a compact radio continuum source, NGC 1068*, aligned with the near-systemic maser spots. The molecular accretion disk must be viewed nearly edge on, and the revised central mass is M = (16.6 ± 0.1) × 10⁶ M _☉.

中文翻译：

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在分子吸积盘中发现极化水蒸气 Megamaser 发射


我们首次在星系外源中检测到与 NGC 1068 的分子吸积盘相关的线性极化 H₂O maser 发射。电极化矢量的位置角垂直于分子吸积盘中丝状结构的轴。穿梭在分子盘上的推断磁场必须位于天空平面的 ∼35° 范围内。磁场相对于圆盘平面的方向意味着 maser 区域对流体动力流出不稳定;我们推测 Maser 区域可能是在阿塔卡马大型毫米/亚毫米阵列研究中发现的更大规模分子流出的来源。新的超长基线干涉测量观测还揭示了一个紧凑的射电连续源 NGC 1068*，它与近系统性 maser 点对齐。分子吸积盘必须接近边缘地观察，修正的中心质量为 M = （16.6 ± 0.1） × 10⁶M_☉。