Abstract
We examine the alignment between H_2O megamaser disks on sub-pc scales with
circumnuclear disks and bars on <500 pc scales observed with HST/WFC3. The HST
imaging reveals young stars, indicating the presence of gas. The megamaser
disks are not well aligned with the circumnuclear bars or disks as traced by
stars in the HST images. We speculate on the implications of the observed
misalignments for fueling supermassive black holes in gas-rich spiral galaxies.
In contrast, we find a strong preference for the rotation axes of the megamaser
disks to align with radio continuum jets observed on >50 pc scales, in those
galaxies for which radio continuum detections are available. Sub-arcsecond
observations of molecular gas with ALMA will enable a more complete
understanding of the interplay between circumnuclear structures.