Do you want to publish a course? Click here

Luminous Infrared Galaxies With the Submillimeter Array. III. The Dense Kiloparsec Molecular Concentrations of Arp 299

297   0   0.0 ( 0 )
 Added by Kazimierz Sliwa
 Publication date 2012
  fields Physics
and research's language is English




Ask ChatGPT about the research

We have used high resolution (~2.3) observations of the local (D = 46 Mpc) luminous infrared galaxy Arp 299 to map out the physical properties of the molecular gas which provides the fuel for its extreme star formation activity. The 12CO J=3-2, 12CO J=2-1 and 13CO J=2-1 lines were observed with the Submillimeter Array and the short spacings of the 12CO J=2-1 and J=3-2 observations have been recovered using James Clerk Maxwell Telescope single dish observations. We use the radiative transfer code RADEX to estimate the physical properties (density, column density and temperature) of the different regions in this system. The RADEX solutions of the two galaxy nuclei, IC 694 and NGC 3690, are consistent with a wide range of gas components, from warm moderately dense gas with T_{kin} > 30 K and n(H_{2}) ~ 0.3 - 3 x 10^{3} cm^{-3} to cold dense gas with T_{kin} ~ 10-30 K and n(H_{2}) > 3 x 10^{3} cm^{-3}. The overlap region is shown to have a better constrained solution with T_{rm{kin}}$ ~ 10-50 K and n(H_{2}) ~ 1-30 x 10^{3} cm^{-3}. We estimate the gas masses and star formation rates of each region in order to derive molecular gas depletion times. The depletion times of all regions (20-60 Myr) are found to be about 2 orders of magnitude lower than those of normal spiral galaxies. This rapid depletion time can probably be explained by a high fraction of dense gas on kiloparsec scales in Arp 299. We estimate the CO-to-H_{2} factor, alpha_{co} to be 0.4 pm 0.3 (3 x 10^{-4}/ x_{CO}) M_{sol} (K km s^{-1} pc^{2})^{-1} for the overlap region. This value agrees well with values determined previously for more advanced merger systems.



rate research

Read More

We present new high-resolution ALMA (13CO J=1-0 and J= 2-1) and CARMA (12CO and 13CO J=1-0) observations of two Luminous Infrared Galaxies (LIRGs): Arp 55 and NGC 2623. The new data are complementary to published and archival Submillimeter Array observations of 12CO J=2-1 and J=3-2. We perform a Bayesian likelihood non-local thermodynamic equilibrium analysis to constrain the molecular gas physical conditions such as temperature, column and volume densities and the [12CO]/[13CO] abundance ratio. For Arp 55, an early/intermediate staged merger, the line measurements are consistent with cold (~10-20 K), dense (>10$^{3.5}$ cm$^{-3}$) molecular gas. For NGC 2623, the molecular gas is warmer (~110 K) and less dense (~10$^{2.7}$ cm$^{-3}$). Since Arp 55 is an early/intermediate stage merger while NGC 2623 is a merger remnant, the difference in physical conditions may be an indicator of merger stage. Comparing the temperature and volume density of several LIRGs shows that the molecular gas, averaged over ~kpc scale, of advanced mergers is in general warmer and less dense than early/intermediate stage mergers. We also find that the [12CO]/[13CO] abundance ratio of NGC 2623 is unusually high (>250) when compared to the Milky Way; however, it follows a trend seen with other LIRGs in literature. This high [12CO]/[13CO] value is very likely due to stellar nucleosynthesis enrichment of the interstellar medium. On the other hand, Arp 55 has a more Galactic [12CO]/[13CO] value with the most probable [12CO]/[13CO] value being 20-30. We measure the CO-to-H2 conversion factor, $alpha_{CO}$, to be ~0.1 and ~0.7 (3x10$^{-4}$/x$_{CO}$) M$_{odot}$ (K km s$^{-1}$ pc$^{2}$)$^{-1}$ for Arp 55 and NGC 2623, respectively. Since Arp 55 is an early/intermediate , this suggests that the transition from a Galactic conversion factor to a LIRG value happens at an even earlier merger stage.
Hot atmospheres of massive galaxies are enriched with metals. Elemental abundances measured in the X-ray band have been used to study the chemical enrichment of supernova remnants, elliptical galaxies, groups and clusters of galaxies. Here we measure the elemental abundances of the hot atmosphere of luminous infrared galaxy Arp 299 observed with XMM-Newton. To measure the abundances in the hot atmosphere, we use a multi-temperature thermal plasma model, which provides a better fit to the Reflection Grating Spectrometer data. The observed Fe/O abundance ratio is subsolar, while those of Ne/O and Mg/O are slightly above solar. Core-collapse supernovae (SNcc) are the dominant metal factory of elements like O, Ne, and Mg. We find some deviations between the observed abundance patterns and theoretical ones from a simple chemical enrichment model. One possible explanation is that massive stars with $M_{star}gtrsim23-27~M_{odot}$ might not explode as SNcc and enrich the hot atmosphere. This is in accordance with the missing massive SNcc progenitors problem, where very massive progenitors $M_{star}gtrsim18~M_{odot}$ of SNcc have not been clearly detected. It is also possible that theoretical SNcc nucleosynthesis yields of Mg/O yields are underestimated.
Understanding the heating and cooling mechanisms in nearby (Ultra) luminous infrared galaxies can give us insight into the driving mechanisms in their more distant counterparts. Molecular emission lines play a crucial role in cooling excited gas, and recently, with Herschel Space Observatory we have been able to observe the rich molecular spectrum. CO is the most abundant and one of the brightest molecules in the Herschel wavelength range. CO transitions are observed with Herschel, and together, these lines trace the excitation of CO. We study Arp 299, a colliding galaxy group, with one component harboring an AGN and two more undergoing intense star formation. For Arp 299 A, we present PACS spectrometer observations of high-J CO lines up to J=20-19 and JCMT observations of $^{13}$CO and HCN to discern between UV heating and alternative heating mechanisms. There is an immediately noticeable difference in the spectra of Arp 299 A and Arp 299 B+C, with source A having brighter high-J CO transitions. This is reflected in their respective spectral energy line distributions. We find that photon-dominated regions (PDRs) are unlikely to heat all the gas since a very extreme PDR is necessary to fit the high-J CO lines. In addition, this extreme PDR does not fit the HCN observations, and the dust spectral energy distribution shows that there is not enough hot dust to match the amount expected from such an extreme PDR. Therefore, we determine that the high-J CO and HCN transitions are heated by an additional mechanism, namely cosmic ray heating, mechanical heating, or X-ray heating. We find that mechanical heating, in combination with UV heating, is the only mechanism that fits all molecular transitions. We also constrain the molecular gas mass of Arp 299 A to 3e9 Msun and find that we need 4% of the total heating to be mechanical heating, with the rest UV heating.
We present high-resolution (0.16$$) 870um Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) imaging of 16 luminous (L_IR ~ 4 x 10^12 L_sun) submillimeter galaxies (SMGs) from the ALESS survey of the Extended Chandra Deep Field South. This dust imaging traces the dust-obscured star formation in these z~2.5 galaxies on ~1.3 kpc scales. The emission has a median effective radius of $R_e=0.24 pm 0.02$, corresponding to a typical physical size of $R_{e}=1.8pm$0.2 kpc. We derive a median Sersic index of $n=0.9pm0.2$, implying that the dust emission is remarkably disk-like at the current resolution and sensitivity. We use different weighting schemes with the visibilities to search for clumps on 0.12$$ (~1.0 kpc) scales, but we find no significant evidence for clumping in the majority of cases. Indeed, we demonstrate using simulations that the observed morphologies are generally consistent with smooth exponential disks, suggesting that caution should be exercised when identifying candidate clumps in even moderate S/N interferometric data. We compare our maps to comparable-resolution HST H$_{160}$-band images, finding that the stellar morphologies appear significantly more extended and disturbed, and suggesting that major mergers may be responsible for driving the formation of the compact dust disks we observe. The stark contrast between the obscured and unobscured morphologies may also have implications for SED fitting routines that assume the dust is co-located with the optical/near-IR continuum emission. Finally, we discuss the potential of the current bursts of star formation to transform the observed galaxy sizes and light profiles, showing that the $zsim0$ descendants of these SMGs are expected to have stellar masses, effective radii, and gas surface densities consistent with the most compact massive (M_* ~ 1-2 x 10^11 M_sun) early-type galaxies observed locally.
We present high-resolution (~2.5) observations of 12CO J=6-5 towards the luminous infrared galaxy VV 114 using the Submillimeter Array. We detect 12CO J=6-5 emission from the eastern nucleus of VV 114 but do not detect the western nucleus or the central region. We combine the new 12CO J=6-5 observations with previously published or archival low-J CO observations, that include 13CO J=1-0 Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array cycle 0 observations, to analyze the beam-averaged physical conditions of the molecular gas in the eastern nucleus. We use the radiative transfer code RADEX and a Bayesian likelihood code to constrain the temperature (T_kin), density (n(H2)) and column density (N(12CO)) of the molecular gas. We find that the most probable scenario for the eastern nucleus is a cold (T_kin = 38 K), moderately dense (n(H2) = 10^2.89 cm^-3) molecular gas component. We find the most probable 12CO to 13CO abundance ratio ([12CO]/[13CO]) is 229, roughly three times higher than the Milky Way value. This high abundance ratio may explain the observed high 12CO/ 13CO line ratio (> 25). The unusual 13CO J=2-1/J=1-0 line ratio of 0.6 is produced by a combination of moderate 13CO optical depths (tau = 0.4 - 1.1) and extremely subthermal excitation temperatures. We measure the CO-to-H2 conversion factor, alpha_co to be 0.5 M_sol (K km s^-1 pc^2)^-1, which agrees with the widely used factor for ultra luminous infrared galaxies of Downes & Solomon (1998; alpha_co =0.8 M_sol (K km s^-1 pc^2)^-1).
comments
Fetching comments Fetching comments
mircosoft-partner

هل ترغب بارسال اشعارات عن اخر التحديثات في شمرا-اكاديميا