Water Maser Disk and a Supermassive Black Hole at the Nucleus of the Active Galaxy NGC 7738

Abstract

We present the results of very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) observations of water vapor masers in the nucleus of the LINER galaxy NGC 7738. The red- and blue-shifted and newly detected systemic maser features show an almost edge-on disk located at a distance of ${0.031}\mbox{-}{0.222}$ pc from the galactic center and rotating with a velocity of $324\mbox{-}454$ km s$^{-1}$ . The velocity field of the disk indicates sub-Keplerian rotation, suggesting a non-negligible disk mass. The Mestel disk model reveals the central and disk masses to be $(1.2 \pm 0.4) \times 10^6$ $M_{\odot}$ and $(4.7 \pm 1.5) \times10^6$ $M_{\odot}$, respectively. The mean volume density within the inner radius of the disk [$(1.2 \pm 0.5) \times 10^{10}$ $M_{\odot}$ $\mathrm{pc^{-3}}$] strongly suggests the existence of a supermassive black hole at the center.