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Register a new userALMA Observations of the Molecular Gas in the Elliptical Galaxy NGC3557
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Added by
Baltasar Vila-Vilaro
Publication date
2018
fields
Physics
and research's language is
English
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We present the results of CO interferometric observations of the southern elliptical galaxy NGC3557 with ALMA. We have detected both the CO(1-0) emission line and a relatively strong continuum at 3mm. The continuum shows a flat-spectrum central unresolved source (at our angular resolution of 0.7arcsec) and two jets, associated with the larger scale emission observed at lower frequencies. The molecular gas in NGC3557 appears to be concentrated within 250 pc of the center, and shows evidence of organized rotation along the same axis as the stellar component and the symmetry axis of the nuclear dust absorption reported in the literature. We obtained M$_{H_2}$=(9.0$pm$2.0)x10$^7$ M$_odot$ of molecular gas, which has an average CO(2-1) to CO(1-0) line ratio of 0.7, which is relatively high when compared with the values reported in the literature for bona-fide ellipticals observed with single-dish telescopes. NGC3557 shows further a high excitation peak (i.e., CO(2-1)/CO(1-0) ~ 1.1$pm$0.3 offset 0.7 arcsec from the center, which appears to be associated with a region of higher velocity dispersion that does not share the overall rotation pattern of the molecular gas, but aligned with the radio jet. The molecular gas disk in this object appears to be stable to local gravitational instabilities.
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We report new ALMA observations of the CO(3-2) line emission from the $2.1pm0.3times10^{10}rmthinspace M_{odot}$ molecular gas reservoir in the central galaxy of the Phoenix cluster. The cold molecular gas is fuelling a vigorous starburst at a rate of $500-800rmthinspace M_{odot}rm; yr^{-1}$ and powerful black hole activity in the form of both intense quasar radiation and radio jets. The radio jets have inflated huge bubbles filled with relativistic plasma into the hot, X-ray atmospheres surrounding the host galaxy. The ALMA observations show that extended filaments of molecular gas, each $10-20rm; kpc$ long with a mass of several billion solar masses, are located along the peripheries of the radio bubbles. The smooth velocity gradients and narrow line widths along each filament reveal massive, ordered molecular gas flows around each bubble, which are inconsistent with gravitational free-fall. The molecular clouds have been lifted directly by the radio bubbles, or formed via thermal instabilities induced in low entropy gas lifted in the updraft of the bubbles. These new data provide compelling evidence for close coupling between the radio bubbles and the cold gas, which is essential to explain the self-regulation of feedback. The very feedback mechanism that heats hot atmospheres and suppresses star formation may also paradoxically stimulate production of the cold gas required to sustain feedback in massive galaxies.
We investigate if the active galactic nucleus (AGN) of Mrk 590, whose supermassive black hole was until recently highly accreting, is turning off due to a lack of central gas to fuel it. We analyse new sub-arcsecond resolution ALMA maps of the $^{12}$CO(3-2) line and 344 GHz continuum emission in Mrk 590. We detect no $^{12}$CO(3-2) emission in the inner 150 pc, constraining the central molecular gas mass to $M({rm H_2}) lesssim 1.6 times 10^5, {M_{odot}}$, no more than a typical giant molecular gas cloud, for a CO luminosity to gas mass conversion factor of $alpha_{rm CO}sim 0.8,{M_{odot},rm (K ,km,s^{-1},pc^{2}})^{-1}$. However, there is still potentially enough gas to fuel the black hole for another $2.6 times 10^5$ years assuming Eddington-limited accretion. We therefore cannot rule out that the AGN may just be experiencing a temporary feeding break, and may turn on again in the near future. We discover a ring-like structure at a radius of $sim 1$ kpc, where a gas clump exhibiting disturbed kinematics and located just $sim 200$ pc west of the AGN, may be refueling the centre. Mrk 590 does not have significantly less gas than other nearby AGN host galaxies at kpc scales, confirming that gas reservoirs at these scales provide no direct indication of on-going AGN activity and accretion rates. Continuum emission detected in the central 150 pc likely originates from warm AGN-heated dust, although contributions from synchrotron and free-free emission cannot be ruled out.
We use ALMA to detect and image CO (1-0) emission from Minkowskis Object, a dwarf galaxy that is interacting with a radio jet from a nearby elliptical galaxy. These observations are the first to detect molecular gas in Minkowskis Object. We estimate the range in the mass of molecular gas in Minkowskis Object assuming two different values of the ratio of the molecular gas mass to the CO luminosity, $alpha_{rm CO}$. For the Milky Way value of $alpha_{rm CO}=4.6~M_{odot}{rm (K~km~s^{-1}~pc^2)^{-1}}$ we obtain a molecular gas mass of $M_{rm H_2} =3.0 times 10^7~M_{odot}$, 6% of the HI gas mass. We also use the prescription of Narayanan et al. (2012) to estimate an $alpha_{rm CO}=27~M_{odot}{rm (K~km~s^{-1}~pc^2)^{-1}}$, in which case we obtain $M_{rm H_2} =1.8 times 10^8~M_{odot}$, 36% of the HI mass. The observations are consistent with previous claims of star formation being induced in Minkowskis Object via the passage of the radio jet, and it therefore being a rare local example of positive feedback from an AGN. In particular, we find highly efficient star formation, with gas depletion timescales $sim 5times 10^7 - 3times 10^8$yr (for assumed values of $alpha_{rm CO}=4.6$ and $27~M_{odot}{rm (K~km~s^{-1}~pc^2)^{-1}}$, respectively) in the upstream regions of Minkowskis Object that were struck first by the jet, and less efficient star formation downstream. We discuss the implications of this observation for models of jet induced star formation and radio mode feedback in massive galaxies.
We present ALMA Cycle-0 observations of the CO (6-5) line emission (rest-frame frequency = 691.473 GHz) and of the 435$mu m$ dust continuum emission in the nuclear region of NGC 34, a local luminous infrared galaxy (LIRG) at a distance of 84 Mpc (1 = 407 pc) which contains a Seyfert 2 active galactic nucleus (AGN) and a nuclear starburst. The CO emission is well resolved by the ALMA beam ($rm 0.26times 0.23$), with an integrated flux of $rm f_{CO~(6-5)} = 1004; (pm 151) ; Jy; km; s^{-1}$. Both the morphology and kinematics of the CO (6-5) emission are rather regular, consistent with a compact rotating disk with a size of 200 pc. A significant emission feature is detected on the red-shifted wing of the line profile at the frequency of the $rm H^{13}CN; (8-7)$ line, with an integrated flux of $rm 17.7 pm 2.1 (random) pm 2.7 (sysmatic); Jy;km; s^{-1}$. However, it cannot be ruled out that the feature is due to an outflow of warm dense gas with a mean velocity of $rm 400; km; s^{-1}$. The continuum is resolved into an elongated configuration, and the observed flux corresponds to a dust mass of $rm M_{dust} = 10^{6.97pm 0.13}; M_{sun}$. An unresolved central core ($rm radius simeq 50; pc$) contributes $28%$ of the continuum flux and $19%$ of the CO (6-5) flux, consistent with insignificant contributions of the AGN to both emissions. Both the CO (6-5) and continuum spatial distributions suggest a very high gas column density ($rm >= 10^4; M_{sun}; pc^{-2}$) in the nuclear region at $rm radius <= 100; pc$.
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