Abstract

We investigate the kinematic properties of the stars and ionised gas in the circumnuclear regions of a matched sample of nearby Seyfert and non-active galaxies, using the SAURON Integral-Field Unit (IFU) on the William Herschel Telescope (WHT). In both active and non-active galaxies, the stellar velocity fields present regular rotation patterns. After removal of the non-gravitational components due to nuclear activity (e.g., AGN-driven outflows) in the case of the Seyfert galaxies, the ionised gas kinematics in both populations is dominated by rotation. The non-active galaxies present a global alignment between stellar and gaseous kinematics while majority of Seyfert galaxies present strong kinematics misalignments between the two components. A more refined analysis of our two-dimensional kinematics maps reveal evidence for deviations from axial-symmetry in the gaseous velocity fields. These deviations are moreover stronger in the case of Seyfert galaxies than their associated non-active galaxies. This result suggests the presence of weak dynamical perturbations in the circumnuclear regions of Seyfert galaxies and provides a tentative link between nuclear activity and the host galaxy dynamics in these regions. © 2008 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA.