The Keck OSIRIS Nearby AGN Survey: Tracing Inflow within the Central 200 pc of Seyfert Galaxies

In an effort to identify the fundamental processes driving feeding and feedback in AGN we turn to local Seyfert galaxies and rely on a multi-wavelength approach.  With the integral field unit OSIRIS and adaptive optics we characterize the nuclear stars and gas down to scales of 5-30 parsecs in a sample of 40 Seyfert galaxies with the Keck OSIRIS Nearby AGN (KONA) survey.  The complex gas kinematics in these near-IR data are interpreted using an integrative approach through comparison with data available at a range of wavelengths.  We present first results from the survey with a focus on work aimed at constraining the mechanism(s) driving inflow of material within the central 200 pc.  Particularly useful in the identification of inflow mechanisms (e.g. nuclear spiral, external accretion) is spatial correlation of the molecular gas distribution and kinematics with dust features revealed in HST imaging (optical and near-IR).  Also informative is comparison with X-ray emission to identify locations likely influenced by interactions with outflows.  The stellar kinematics in the sample galaxies (traced by CO bandheads at 2.3 microns) indicate a stellar population within the central few 100 parsecs in circular rotation, and in the majority of the galaxies the molecular gas (traced by H2 emission at 2.1218 microns) is found to have a rotating component co-spatial with the stellar disk.  A significant fraction of the galaxies also exhibit kinematic signatures of inflow superimposed on this disk rotation, with inflow driven by secular and non-secular processes identified.  We explore statistical trends of the nuclear stellar and molecular gas properties, including primary fueling mechanism, with Seyfert type, AGN luminosity, and host environment with the goal of disentangling which properties are fundamental to the nature of the AGN.