ON THE NUCLEAR OBSCURATION OF H2O MASER GALAXIES

To shed light onto the circumnuclear environment of 22 GHz (lambda similar to 1.3 cm) H2O maser galaxies, we have analyzed some of their multiwavelength properties, including the far-infrared luminosity (FIR), the luminosity of the [OIII]lambda 5007 emission line, the nuclear X-ray luminosity, and the equivalent width (EW) of the neutral iron K alpha emission line (EW (K-alpha)). Our statistical analysis includes a total of 85 sources, most of them harboring an active galactic nucleus (AGN). There are strong anticorrelations between EW (K-alpha) and two "optical thickness parameters," i.e., the ratios of the X-ray luminosity versus the presumably more isotropically radiated [OIII] and FIR luminosities. Based on these anticorrelations, a set of quantitative criteria, EW (K-alpha) > 300 eV, L2-10 (keV) < 2 L-[OIII], and L-FIR > 600 L2-10 (keV) can be established for Compton-thick nuclear regions. Eighteen H2O maser galaxies belong to this category. There are no obvious correlations between the EW (K-alpha), the [OIII] luminosity, and the isotropic H2O maser luminosity. When comparing samples of Seyfert 2s with and without detected H2O maser lines, there seem to exist differences in EW (K-alpha) and the fraction of Compton-thick nuclei. This should be studied further. For AGN masers alone, there is no obvious correlation between FIR and H2O maser luminosities. However, including masers associated with star-forming regions, a linear correlation is revealed. Overall, the extragalactic FIR-H2O data agree with the corresponding relation for Galactic maser sources, extrapolated by several orders of magnitude to higher luminosities.