Centaurus A: Molecular gas shells or large-scale outflow?

In order to test if the molecular "shells" observed by Charmandaris et al. (2000) could be due to a molecular out ow, we have mapped CO in J = 1 --> 0 and 2 --> 1 along the jet axis of Centaurus A. Where our map coincides wit h their observed positions, like them, we obtain 4 sigma detections with a similar antenna temperature for CO 1 --> 0, although both transitions appea r to be somewhat wider in velocity dispersion than theirs. As well as these , we have several tentative detections at distances of greater than or simi lar to5 kpc from the nucleus, and although these results are of too poor qu ality in order to verify or refute the shell model in favour of a molecular out ow, our observations of the inner kpc do suggest that at least a small -scale out ow is a possibility. Whether this would be a component of a larg er-scale out ow or exists in conjunction with the molecular gas shells will have to wait for a much more extensive mapping of the large-scale gas dist ribution in Centaurus A, for which these and the results of Charmandaris et al. (2000) will hopefully provide sufficient motivation.