2019ApJ...876L..18F

A recent Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array study of the Seyfert 2 active galactic nucleus (AGN) NGC 2110 by Rosario et al. has reported a remarkable lack of CO 2-1 emission from the circumnuclear region, where optical lines and H₂ emission are observed, leading to the suggestion of excitation of the molecular clouds by the AGN. As interaction with X-ray photons could be the cause of this excitation, we have searched the archival Chandra data for corroborating evidence. We report the discovery of an extra-nuclear ∼1'' (∼170 pc) feature in the soft (<1.0 keV) Chandra data. This feature is elongated to the north of the nucleus and its shape matches well that of the optical lines and H₂ emission in this region, which is devoid of CO 2-1 emission. The Chandra image completes the emerging picture of a multiphase circumnuclear medium excited by the X-rays from the AGN, with dense warm molecular clouds emitting in H₂ but depleted of CO 2-1 line emission.