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arXiv 1208.0404astro-ph.GAastro-ph.CO
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解开半人马座A的环核:巨型椭圆星系中的气体螺旋臂

Disentangling the circumnuclear environs of Centaurus A: Gaseous Spiral Arms in a Giant Elliptical Galaxy

D. Espada, S. Matsushita, A. B. Peck, C. Henkel, F. Israel, D. Iono

摘要:

利用亚毫米波阵列(SMA)对最近的巨型椭圆星系NGC 5128(半人马座A)的中心3弧分(3 kpc)进行的高分辨率12 CO(2-1)观测,我们报道了最近形成的气体和尘埃盘中螺旋臂的存在。这提供了证据表明,如果有足够的冷气体存在,螺旋状的特征可以在椭圆星系中发展。我们阐明了分子气体在该区域的分布和运动学的分辨率为4.4 × 1.9(80 pc × 40 pc)。旋臂从环核气体以200秒差距的半径延伸到至少1千秒差距。旋臂的一般性质与旋涡星系相似:它们是拖尾的,宽度为\sim 500 \pm 200 pc,俯仰角为20度。根据对富HI星系合并发生时间的独立估计,我们推断旋臂的形成发生在小于\sim 10 ^8年的时间尺度上。螺旋臂的形成增加了气体密度,从而在盘形成的早期阶段提高了恒星形成的效率。

英文摘要:

We report the existence of spiral arms in the recently formed gaseous and dusty disk of the closest giant elliptical, NGC 5128 (Centaurus A), using high resolution 12CO(2-1) observations of the central 3 arcmin (3 kpc) obtained with the Submillimeter Array (SMA). This provides evidence that spiral-like features can develop within ellipticals if enough cold gas exists. We elucidate the distribution and kinematics of the molecular gas in this region with a resolution of 4.4 x 1.9 (80 pc x 40 pc). The spiral arms extend from the circumnuclear gas at a radius of 200 pc to at least 1 kiloparsec. The general properties of the arms are similar to those in spiral galaxies: they are trailing, the width is \sim 500 \pm 200 pc, and the pitch angle is 20 degrees. From independent estimates of the time when the HI-rich galaxy merger occurred, we infer that the formation of spiral arms happened on a time scale of less than \sim10^8 yr. The formation of spiral arms increases the gas density and thus the star formation efficiency in the early stages of the formation of a disk.

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