Radio emission and the forbidden line region of Seyfert galaxies

The results of an extensive program of mapping Seyfert galaxies using the Very Large Array radio telescope are presented. Unlike the majority of radio galaxies, the radio emission in most Seyferts is confined to the inner few kiloparsecs (or less) of the galaxy. This scale is similar to the size of the region in which optical forbidden line emission occurs. Six double (or triple) radio sources have been mapped now in Seyfert galaxies. Approximately ten more galaxies shown more diffuse emission or are resolved only slightly. In almost all galaxies, the central radio peak, when present, coincides with the optical continuum peak. In every double or triple radio source, the outer radio lobes straddle that optical peak. The major axes of the double and triple radio sources may be correlated with the directions of greatest elongation of the optical line-emitting cloud complexes. However, the radio source axes do not appear to be related to the major or minor axes of the outer optical continuum isophotes of the Seyfert galaxies. Synchrotron emission is the dominant source of radio photons in all the galaxies observed. Thermal processes contribute, on the average, no more than about 6% of the total radio emission at 4.885 GHz. Using standard assumptions, radio luminosities, magnetic fields, and total energy contents have been calculated for the observed galaxies. The triple radio source in NGC 5548 has been studied in detail. The properties of NGC 5548 have been used to investigate some theoretical aspects of the double and triple sources and their relationship to the forbidden line region