Interferometer Observations of Subparsec-Scale Infrared Emission in the Nucleus of NGC 4151

We report novel, high angular resolution interferometric measurements that imply that the near-infrared nuclear emission in NGC 4151 is unexpectedly compact. We have observed the nucleus of NGC 4151 at 2.2 μm using the two 10 m Keck telescopes as an interferometer and find a marginally resolved source ≤0.1 pc in diameter. Our measurements rule out models in which a majority of the K-band nuclear emission is produced on scales larger than this size. The interpretation of our measurement most consistent with other observations is that the emission mainly originates directly in the central accretion disk. This implies that active galactic nucleus unification models invoking hot, optically thick dust may not be applicable to NGC 4151.