Spatially resolved kinematics of the central regions of M83: hidden mass
  signatures and the role of supernovae
  The barred grand-design spiral M83 (NGC 5236) is one of the most studied
galaxies given its proximity, orientation, and particular complexity.
Nonetheless, many aspects of the central regions remain controversial conveying
our limited understanding of the inner gas and stellar kinematics, and
ultimately of the nucleus evolution.
  In this work, we present AO VLT-SINFONI data of its central ~235x140 pc with
an unprecedented spatial resolution of ~0.2 arcsec, corresponding to ~4 pc. We
have focused our study on the distribution and kinematics of the stars and the
ionised and molecular gas by studying in detail the Pa_alpha and Br_gamma
emission, the H_2 1-0S(1) line at 2.122 micron and the [FeII] line at 1.644
micron, together with the CO absorption bands at 2.293 micron and 2.323 micron.
Our results reveal a complex situation where the gas and stellar kinematics are
totally unrelated. Supernova explosions play an important role in shaping the
gas kinematics, dominated by shocks and inflows at scales of tens of parsecs
that make them unsuitable to derive general dynamical properties.
  We propose that the location of the nucleus of M83 is unlikely to be related
to the off-centre 'optical nucleus'. The study of the stellar kinematics
reveals that the optical nucleus is a gravitationally bound massive star
cluster with M_dyn = (1.1 \pm 0.4)x10^7 M_sun, formed by a past starburst. The
kinematic and photometric analysis of the cluster yield that the stellar
content of the cluster is well described by an intermediate age population of
log T(yr) = 8.0\pm0.4, with a mass of M \simeq (7.8\pm2.4)x10^6 M_sun.
