Program: GN-2010A-Q-42

This is a joint proposal aimed to obtain J and K-band integral field spectroscopy (IFS) using NIFS to map the kinematics of the inner few hundred parsecs of the nearby Seyfert galaxies Mrk766 and Mrk79. Our previous experience with near-IR IFS with Gemini begins to show a systematic difference between the kinematics of the H_2 emitting gas and that of the ionized gas around nearby active galactic nuclei (AGN): the H_2 emitting gas is either settled in rotation on the galactic plane or inflowing towards the center, while the [FeII] and Br_gamma emitting gas kinematics are dominated by outflows. We are thus being able to map, for the first time, both the "feeding" (in H_2) and "feedback" (in [FeII] and HI) processes around nearby AGN. More observations for more objects are necessary to confirm and quantify this scenario. With the proposed observations we aim at mapping and quantifying feeding and feedback, as well as to find the relation between these two processes in AGN.