NGC 1614相互作用星系：分子气体为“火环”提供能量
The NGC 1614 Interacting Galaxy: Molecular Gas Feeding a "Ring of Fire"
摘要：
微小的合并经常发生在巨大的和富含气体的低质量星系之间，可以提供大量的星际物质来为巨大系统中的恒星形成和AGN提供动力。当新鲜气体在巨大星系的中心区域被输送和压缩时，就会产生大的恒星暴增和/或活动星系核。这就是NGC 1614的情况，我们通过使用SMA观测12 CO（2-1）发射，以半角秒角分辨率探索其分子介质。我们比较我们的地图与光学和Pa α，HST和高角分辨率无线电连续图像研究致密分子气体和星暴区域之间的关系。最强烈的CO辐射出现在一个半径约为230 pc的部分环中，并向西北方向延伸到含有弥散分子气体的尘埃带。我们在环中分辨出10个GMA，其积分分子量为~8x10^8M_sun。我们的观察过滤掉了大部分CO（1-0）发射映射在较短的间距，表明大部分的分子气体是扩散和GMAs只存在于附近和环核环内。分子环是不均匀的，大部分质量在西侧，其中还包含延伸到明显的潮汐尘埃带的GMAs。空间和运动模式表明，环的西北延伸是一条宇宙脐带，将与尘埃带和潮汐碎片相关的分子气体送入核环。产生环状结构的天体物理过程尚未完全了解，但许多GMAs的存在表明轨道拥挤或共振现象。有一些证据表明，恒星的形成是在环内径向向外进行的，这表明一种自我触发机制也可能影响这些过程。
英文摘要：
Minor mergers frequently occur between giant and gas-rich low mass galaxies and can provide significant amounts of interstellar matter to refuel star formation and power AGN in the giant systems. Major starbursts and/or AGN result when fresh gas is transported and compressed in the central regions of the giant galaxy. This is the situation in NGC1614, whose molecular medium we explore at half arcsecond angular resolution through our observations of 12CO(2-1) emission using the SMA. We compare our maps with optical and Pa alpha, HST and high angular resolution radio continuum images to study the relationships between dense molecular gas and the starburst region. The most intense CO emission occurs in a partial ring with ~230pc radius around the center, with an extension to the north-west into the dust lane that contains diffuse molecular gas. We resolve 10 GMAs in the ring which has an integrated molecular mass of ~8x10^8M_sun. Our observations filter out a large part of the CO(1-0) emission mapped at shorter spacings, indicating that most of the molecular gas is diffuse and that GMAs only exist near and within the circumnuclear ring. The molecular ring is uneven with most of the mass on the western side, which also contains GMAs extending into a pronounced tidal dust lane. The spatial and kinematic patterns suggest that the northwest extension of the ring is a cosmic umbilical cord that is feeding molecular gas associated with the dust lane and tidal debris into the nuclear ring. The astrophysical process for producing a ring structure is not fully understood, but the presence of numerous GMAs suggests an orbit crowding or resonance phenomenon. There is some evidence that star formation is progressing radially outwards within the ring, indicating that a self-triggering mechanism may also affect these processes.
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