2004A&A...415...27P

We present the first observations of the CO(1-0), CO(2-1) and HCN(1-0) rotational line emission of NGC 3718, conducted with the IRAM 30m telescope. The results of the data analysis show a thin strongly warped molecular gas disk harboring the active galactic nucleus (AGN). The ratio of the total molecular gas mass (2x10⁸M_☉) to the dynamical mass, enclosed within the same region, is found to be rather low (∼0.17%), but still typical for spiral galaxies. The found molecular gas disk is well associated with the dust lane, visible at optical wavelengths. We traced the warped CO structure down to the central 20". In its outer region the molecular disk is well correlated with the HI distribution. The CO data is used to improve the kinematic modelling in the inner part of the galaxy (10''≤r≤120'') employing a tilted ring-model. Furthermore the properties of NGC 3718 are compared with those of its northern sky ``twin'' NGC 5128 (Centaurus A).