Mid-J CO Emission in Nearby Seyfert Galaxies
  We study for the first time the complete sub-millimeter spectra (450 GHz to
1550 GHz) of a sample of nearby active galaxies observed with the SPIRE Fourier
Transform Spectrometer (SPIRE/FTS) onboard Herschel. The CO ladder (from Jup =
4 to 12) is the most prominent spectral feature in this range. These CO lines
probe warm molecular gas that can be heated by ultraviolet photons, shocks, or
X-rays originated in the active galactic nucleus or in young star-forming
regions. In these proceedings we investigate the physical origin of the CO
emission using the averaged CO spectral line energy distribution (SLED) of six
Seyfert galaxies. We use a radiative transfer model assuming an isothermal
homogeneous medium to estimate the molecular gas conditions. We also compare
this CO SLED with the predictions of photon and X-ray dominated region (PDR and
XDR) models.
