No Arabic abstract
We present a Spitzer Infrared Spectrograph (IRS) map of H2 emission from the nearby galaxy NGC 4258 (Messier 106). The H2 emission comes from 9.4E6 Msun of warm molecular hydrogen heated to 240-1040 K in the inner anomalous arms, a signature of jet interaction with the galaxy disk. The spectrum is that of a molecular hydrogen emission galaxy (MOHEG), with a large ratio of H2 over 7.7 micron PAH emission (0.37), characteristic of shocked molecular gas. We find close spatial correspondence between the H2 and CO emission from the anomalous arms. Our estimate of cold molecular gas mass based on CO emission is 10 times greater than our estimate of 1.0E8 Msun based on dust emission. We suggest that the X(CO) value is 10 times lower than the Milky Way value because of high kinetic temperature and enhanced turbulence. The H2 disk has been overrun and is being shocked by the jet cocoon, and much of the gas originally in the disk has been ejected into the galaxy halo in an X-ray-hot outflow. We measure a modest star formation rate of 0.08 Msun/yr in the central 3.4 square kpc that is consistent with the remaining gas surface density.
We present new SOFIA [CII] and ALMA CO(J=1-0) observations of the nearby asymmetric barred spiral galaxy NGC 7479. The data, which cover the whole bar of the galaxy and the counter-arms visible in the radio continuum, are analyzed in conjunction with a wealth of existing visible, infrared, radio, and X-ray data. As in most normal galaxies, the [CII] emission is generally consistent with emission from cooling gas excited by photoelectric heating in photo-dissociation regions. However, anomalously high [CII]/CO ratios are seen at the two ends of the counter-arms. Both ends show shell-like structures, possibly bubbles, in H-alpha emission. In addition, the southern end has [CII] to infrared emission ratios inconsistent with normal star formation. Because there is little HI emission at this location, the [CII] emission probably originates in warm shocked molecular gas heated by the interaction of the radio jet forming the counter-arms with the interstellar medium in the galaxy. At two other locations, the high [CII]/CO ratios provide evidence for the existence of patches of CO-dark molecular gas. The [CII] and CO observations also reveal resolved velocity components along the bar. In particular, the CO emission can be separated into two components associated to gas along the leading edge of the bar and gas trailing the bar. The trailing gas component that amounts to approximately 40% of the gas around the bar region may be related to a minor merger.
We present the detections of shocked molecular hydrogen (H2) gas in near- and mid-infrared and broad CO in millimeter from the mixed-morphology supernova remnant (SNR) HB~3 (G132.7+1.3) using Palomar WIRC, the Spitzer GLIMPSE360 and WISE surveys, and HHSMT. Our near-infrared narrow-band filter H2 2.12 micron images of HB~3 show that both Spitzer IRAC and WISE 4.6 micron emission originates from shocked H2 gas. The morphology of H2 exhibits thin filamentary structures and a large scale of interaction sites between the HB~3 and nearby molecular clouds. Half of HB~3, the southern and eastern shell of the SNR, emits H2 in a shape of a butterfly or W, indicating the interaction sites between the SNR and dense molecular clouds. Interestingly, the H2 emitting region in the southeast is also co-spatial to the interacting area between HB~3 and the H~II regions of the W3 complex, where we identified star-forming activity. We further explore the interaction between HB~3 and dense molecular clouds with detections of broad CO(3-2) and CO(2-1) molecular lines from the southern and southeastern shells along the H2 emitting region. The widths of the broad lines are 8-20 km/s; the detection of such broad lines is unambiguous, dynamic evidence of the interactions between the SNR and clouds. The CO broad lines are from two branches of the bright, southern H2 shell. We apply the Paris-Durham shock model to the CO line profiles, which infer the shock velocities of 20 - 40 km/s, relatively low densities of 10^{3-4} cm^{-3} and strong (>200 micro Gauss) magnetic fields.
We obtained Spitzer/IRAC 3.6-8 micron images of the nearby spiral galaxy NGC 4258 to study possible interactions between dust and the radio jet. In our analysis we also included high-resolution radio continuum, H-alpha, CO, and X-ray data. Our data reveal that the 8 micron emission, believed to originate largely from PAH molecules and hot dust, is an excellent tracer of the normal spiral structure in NGC 4258, and hence it originates from the galactic plane. We investigated the possibility of dust destruction by the radio jet by calculating correlation coefficients between the 8 micron and radio continuum emissions along the jet in two independent ways, namely (i) from wavelet-transformed maps of the original images at different spatial scales, and (ii) from one-dimensional intensity cuts perpendicular to the projected path of the radio jet on the sky. No definitive sign of a correlation (or anticorrelation) was detected on relevant spatial scales with either approach, implying that any dust destruction must take place at spatial scales that are not resolved by our observations.
We use statistical equilibrium equations to investigate the IRAC color space of shocked molecular hydrogen. The location of shocked H_2 in [3.6]-[4.5] vs [4.5]-[5.8] color is determined by the gas temperature and density of neutral atomic hydrogen. We find that high excitation H_2 emission falls in a unique location in the color-color diagram and can unambiguously be distinguished from stellar sources. In addition to searching for outflows, we show that the IRAC data can be used to map the thermal structure of the shocked gas. We analyze archival Spitzer data of Herbig-Haro object HH 54 and create a temperature map, which is consistent with spectroscopically determined temperatures.
The Spitzer spectrum of the giant FR II radio galaxy 3C 326 is dominated by very strong molecular hydrogen emission lines on a faint IR continuum. The H2 emission originates in the northern component of a double-galaxy system associated with 3C 326. The integrated luminosity in H2 pure-rotational lines is 8.0E41 erg/s, which corresponds to 17% of the 8-70 micron luminosity of the galaxy. A wide range of temperatures (125-1000 K) is measured from the H2 0-0 S(0)-S(7) transitions, leading to a warm H2 mass of 1.1E9 Msun. Low-excitation ionic forbidden emission lines are consistent with an optical LINER classification for the active nucleus, which is not luminous enough to power the observed H2 emission. The H2 could be shock-heated by the radio jets, but there is no direct indication of this. More likely, the H2 is shock-heated in a tidal accretion flow induced by interaction with the southern companion galaxy. The latter scenario is supported by an irregular morphology, tidal bridge, and possible tidal tail imaged with IRAC at 3-9 micron. Unlike ULIRGs, which in some cases exhibit H2 line luminosities of comparable strength, 3C 326 shows little star-formation activity (~0.1 Msun/yr). This may represent an important stage in galaxy evolution. Starburst activity and efficient accretion onto the central supermassive black hole may be delayed until the shock-heated H2 can kinematically settle and cool