Discovery of an AGN-Driven Molecular Outflow in the Local Early-Type
  Galaxy NGC 1266
  We report the discovery of a powerful molecular wind from the nucleus of the
non-interacting nearby S0 field galaxy NGC 1266. The single-dish CO profile
exhibits emission to +/- 400 km/s and requires a nested Gaussian fit to be
properly described. Interferometric observations reveal a massive, centrally-
concentrated molecular component with a mass of 1.1x10^9 Msuns and a molecular
outflow with a molecular mass of 2.4x10^7 Msuns. The molecular gas close to the
systemic velocity consists of a rotating, compact nucleus with a mass of about
4.1x108 Msuns within a radius of approximately 60 pc. This compact molecular
nucleus has a surface density of \approx 2.7 \times 10^4 Msuns/pc^2, more than
two orders of magnitude larger than that of giant molecular clouds in the disk
of the Milky Way, and it appears to sit on the Kennicutt-Schmidt relation
despite its extreme kinematics and energetic activity. We interpret this
nucleus as a disk that confines the outflowing wind. A mass outflow rate of 13
Msuns/yr leads to a depletion timescale of about 85 Myr. The star formation in
NGC 1266 is insufficient to drive the outflow, and thus it is likely driven by
the active galactic nucleus (AGN). The concentration of the majority of the
molecular gas in the central 100 pc requires an extraordinary loss of angular
momentum, but no obvious companion or interacting galaxy is present to enable
the transfer. NGC 1266 is the first known outflowing molecular system that does
not show any evidence of a recent interaction.
