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 the 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 M ̇ ion = 19.9 ± 9.2 M ⊙ yr −1 at a distance of 47 ± 6 pc from the supermassive black hole (SMBH). Using archival data from the Gemini-North Near-infrared Field Spectrograph measuring H 2 2.1218 μ m emission, we find a maximum peak warm molecular outflow rate of M ̇ H 2 ≤ 9 × 10 − 4 M ⊙ yr −1 at a distance of 36 ± 6 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 M ̇ CO ≤ 23.1 M ⊙ yr −1 at a distance of 57 ± 6 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 gas evacuating to ∼400 pc from the SMBH occurs on timescales of 10 6.0 –10 7.6 yr. These results indicate that the multiphase active galactic nucleus (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 yr.