arXivDaily arXiv每日学术速递 周一至周五更新
arXiv 0812.0178astro-ph
收藏

红序反转盘星系NGC 4550中的分子气体和恒星形成

Molecular gas and star formation in the red-sequence counter-rotating disc galaxy NGC 4550

Alison F. Crocker, Hyunjin Jeong, Shinya Komugi, Francoise Combes, Martin Bureau, Lisa M. Young, Sukyoung Yi

摘要:

本文介绍了在射电天文学毫米波研究所(IRAM)的布雷高原干涉仪上观测到的反向旋转盘星系NGC 4550中心750 pc(10角秒)的CO(1-0)发射。探测到的分子气体非常少,只有1 × 10^7太阳质量,而且其分布是不平衡的,正相对速度下观测到的分子气体是负相对速度下的两倍。CO(1-0)发射的速度梯度显示分子气体像两个恒星盘中较厚的一个一样旋转,如果较薄的盘是由主要的气体吸积事件形成的,这是一个意想不到的旋转对齐。然而,一个模拟显示,气体像较厚的盘一样旋转,自然是由两个反向旋转的盘星系共面合并产生的,这证明了NGC 4550形成的可行性。我们研究了各种恒星形成示踪剂,以确定NGC 4550中的分子气体目前是否正在形成恒星。紫外成像数据和光学吸收线强度都表明了最近的恒星形成事件;最适合紫外光学颜色的两种群模型产生了5.9 x 10^7太阳质量的年轻恒星,年龄为2.8亿年。关于目前恒星形成率的最佳信息是基于远红外线的上限,每年只有0.02个太阳质量。因此,我们看到NGC 4550要么处于爆发性恒星形成时期的下降期,要么处于更连续的低级别恒星形成时期。

英文摘要:

We present observations of the CO(1-0) emission in the central 750 pc (10 arcsec) of the counter-rotating disc galaxy NGC 4550, obtained at the Institut de Radioastronomie Millimetrique (IRAM) Plateau de Bure Interferometer. Very little molecular gas is detected, only 1 x 10^7 solar masses, and its distribution is lopsided, with twice as much molecular gas observed at positive relative velocities than at negative relative velocities. The velocity gradient in the CO(1-0) emission shows that the molecular gas rotates like the thicker of the two stellar discs, which is an unexpected alignment of rotations if the thinner disc was formed by a major gas accretion event. However, a simulation shows that the gas rotating like the thicker disc naturally results from the coplanar merger of two counter-rotating disc galaxies, demonstrating the feasibility of this scenario for the formation of NGC 4550. We investigate various star formation tracers to determine whether the molecular gas in NGC 4550 is currently forming stars. UV imaging data and optical absorption linestrengths both suggest a recent star formation episode; the best-fitting two population model to the UV-optical colours yields a mass of young stars of 5.9 x 10^7 solar masses with an age of 280 Myr. The best information on the current star formation rate is a far infrared-based upper limit of only 0.02 solar masses per year. We are thus witnessing NGC 4550 either in a dip within a bursty star formation period or during a more continuous low-level star formation episode.

机构、总结、中文摘要均由AI分析而来,可能存在错误,请以论文正文为准。

↑