2011A&A...529A.154A

We present the detection of the ammonia (NH₃) (J,K) = (1,1) to (4,4) and (6,6) inversion lines toward the prototypical Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC 1068, made with the Green Bank Telescope (GBT). This is the first detection of ammonia in a Seyfert galaxy. The ortho-to-para-NH₃ abundance ratio suggests that the molecule was formed in a warm medium of at least 20K. For the NH₃ column density and fractional abundance, we find (1.09±0.23)x10¹⁴cm^–2 and (2.9±0.6)x10^–8, respectively, from the inner ∼1.2kpc of NGC 1068. The kinetic temperature can be constrained to 80±20K for the bulk of the molecular gas, while some fraction has an even higher temperature of 140±30K.