Probing the Active Massive Black Hole Candidate in the Center of NGC 404
  with VLBI
  Recently Nyland et al. (2012) argued that the radio emission observed in the
center of the dwarf galaxy NGC 404 originates in a low-luminosity active
galactic nucleus (LLAGN) powered by a massive black hole ($M\sim<10^6$
M$_{\odot}$). High-resolution radio detections of MBHs are rare. Here we
present sensitive, contemporaneous Chandra X-ray, and very long baseline
interferometry (VLBI) radio observations with the European VLBI Network (EVN).
The source is detected in the X-rays, and shows no long-term variability. If
the hard X-ray source is powered by accretion, the apparent low accretion
efficiency would be consistent with a black hole in the hard state. Hard state
black holes are known to show radio emission compact on the milliarcsecond
scales. However, the central region of NGC 404 is resolved out on 10
milliarcsecond (0.15-1.5 pc) scales. Our VLBI non-detection of a compact,
partially self-absorbed radio core in NGC 404 implies that either the black
hole mass is smaller than $3^{+5}_{-2}\times10^5$ M$_{\odot}$, or the source
does not follow the fundamental plane of black hole activity relation. An
alternative explanation is that the central black hole is not in the hard
state. The radio emission observed on arcsecond (tens of pc) scales may
originate in nuclear star formation or extended emission due to AGN activity,
although the latter would not be typical considering the structural properties
of low-ionization nuclear emission-line region galaxies (LINERs) with confirmed
nuclear activity.
