Program: GN-2006A-Q-40

LINERS are galactic nuclei that present low ionization spectra and occur preferentially in galaxies of early Hubble type. They may comprise a variety of phenomena originated from physically distinct causes that result in apparently similar diagnostic observables. They are also quite common and improving our understanding of their power source may set a lower limit to the frequency of supermassive black holes in centers of galaxies. To advance our understanding of the nature of these objects we propose to observe two nearby LINERs that have recently been observed in x-rays with the Chandra telescope (one galaxy of this program - NGC 404 - has already been observed). These objects did show a diversity of phenomena that may be quite representative of the class. We propose to observe these targets spectroscopically with unprecedented optical spatial resolution and signal-to-noise. The goal is to characterize the nuclear as well as the circum-nuclear emission of three distinct circumstances that produce low luminosity LINERs: Supernova activity, evolved starburst events and accretion on supermassive black holes.