Seyfert galaxies commonly host compact jets spanning 10-100 pc scales, but larger structures are resolved out in long-baseline aperture synthesis surveys. Previous, targeted studies showed that kiloparsec-scale radio structures ( KSRs) may be a common feature of Seyfert and LINER galaxies, and the origin of KSRs may be starbursts or active galactic nuclei (AGNs). We report a new Very Large Array survey of a complete sample of Seyfert and LINER galaxies. Out of all of the surveyed radio-quiet sources, we find that 44% (19 out of 43) show extended radio structures at least 1 kpc in total extent that do not match the morphology of the disk or its associated star-forming regions. The detection rate is a lower limit owing to the combined effects of projection and resolution. The infrared colors of the KSR host galaxies are unremarkable compared to other Seyfert galaxies, and the large-scale outflows orient randomly with respect to the host galaxy axes. The KSR Seyfert galaxies instead stand out by deviating significantly from the far-infrared-radio correlation for star-forming galaxies, with tendency toward radio excess, and they are more likely to have a relatively luminous, compact radio source in the nucleus; these results argue that KSRs are powered by the AGNs rather than starbursts. The high detection rate indicates that Seyfert galaxies generate radio outflows over a significant fraction of their lifetime, which is much longer than the dynamical timescale of an AGNpowered jet but is comparable instead to the buoyancy timescale. The likely explanation is that the KSRs originate from jet plasma that has been decelerated by interaction with the nuclear interstellar medium ( ISM ). Based on a simple ram pressure argument, the kinetic power of the jet on kiloparsec scales is about 3 orders of magnitude weaker than the power of the jet on 10-100 pc scales. This result is consistent with the interaction model, in which case virtually all of the jet power must be lost to the ISM within the inner kiloparsec.

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Sensitive high angular and linear resolution radio images of the 240-pc radio jet in NGC 4151, imaged at linear resolutions of 0.3 to 2.6 pc using the VLBA and phased VLA at λ21 cm, are presented and reveal for the first time a faint, highly collimated jet (diameter ∼ <1.4 pc) underlying discrete components, seen in lower 1 Royal Society University Research Fellow resolution MERLIN and VLA images, that appear to be shock-like features associated with changes in direction as the jet interacts with small gas clouds within the central ∼100 pc of the galaxy. In addition, λ21-cm spectral line imaging of the neutral hydrogen in the nuclear region reveals the spatial location, distribution and kinematics of the neutral gas detected previously in a lower resolution MER-LIN study. Neutral hydrogen absorption is detected against component C4W (E+F) as predicted by Mundell et al, but the absorption, extending over 3 pc, is spatially and kinematically complex on sub-parsec scales, suggesting the presence of small, dense gas clouds with a wide range of velocities and column densities. The main absorption component matches that detected in the MERLIN study, close to the systemic velocity (998 km s −1 ) of the galaxy, and is consistent with absorption through a clumpy neutral gas layer in the putative obscuring torus, with higher velocity blue-and red-shifted systems with narrow linewidths also detected across E+F. In this region, average column densities are high, lying in the range 2.7 × 10 19 T S < N H < 1.7 × 10 20 T S cm −2 K −1 (T S is the spin temperature), with average radial velocities in the range 920 < V r < 1050 km s −1 . The spatial location and distribution of the absorbing gas across component E+F rules out component E as the location of the AGN (as suggested by Ulvestad et al.) and, in combination with the well-collimated continuum structures seen in component D, suggests that component D (possibly subcomponent D3) is the most likely location for the AGN. We suggest that components C and E are shocks produced in the jet as the plasma encounters, and is deviated by, dense clouds with diameters smaller than ∼1.4 pc.Comparison of the radio jet structure and the distribution and kinematics of ionized gas in the narrow line region (NLR) suggests that shock-excitation by passage of the radio jet is not the dominant excitation mechanism for the NLR. We therefore favour nuclear photoionization to explain the structure of the NLR, although it is interesting to note that a small number of clouds with low velocity and high velocity dispersion are seen to bound the jet, particularly at positions of jet direction changes, suggesting that some NLR clouds are responsible for bending the jet. Alternatively, compression by a cocoon around the radio jet due to pressure stratification in the jet bow shock could explain the bright, compressed optical line-emitting clouds surrounding the cloud-free channel of the radio jet, as modelled by Steffen et al.

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We present 8.4‐GHz VLA A‐configuration observations of 87 sources from the mid‐infrared‐selected AGN sample of Rush et al. These 0.25‐arcsec‐resolution observations allow elongated radio structures tens of pc in size to be resolved, and enable radio components smaller than 3.5 arcsec to be isolated from diffuse galactic disc emission. When combined with previous data, matched radio observations covering 90 per cent of the sample have been collected, and these represent the largest subarcsecond–resolution radio imaging survey of a homogeneously selected sample of Seyfert galaxies to date. We use our observations to identify five radio‐loud AGN in the sample. The nature of the radio emission from Seyfert nuclei will be discussed in subsequent papers.

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