26 research outputs found
CO mapping of the nuclear region of NGC 6946 and IC 342 with Nobeyama millimeter array
CO observations of nearby galaxies with nuclear active star forming regions (and starburst galaxies) with angular resolutions around 7 seconds revealed that molecular bars with a length of a few kiloparsecs have been formed in the central regions of the galaxies. The molecular bar is interpreted as part of shock waves induced by an oval or barred potential field. By shock dissipation or dissipative cloud-cloud collisions, the molecular gas gains an infall motion and the nuclear star formation activity is fueled. But the distribution and kinematics of the molecular gas in the nuclear regions, which are sites of active star formation, remain unknown. Higher angular resolutions are needed to investigate the gas in the nuclear regions. Researchers made aperture synthesis observations of the nuclear region of the late-type spiral galaxies NGC 6946 and IC 342 with resolutions of 7.6 seconds x 4.2 seconds (P.A. = 147 deg) and 2.4 seconds x 2.3 seconds (P.A. = 149 deg), respectively. The distances to NGC 6496 and IC 342 are assumed to be 5.5 Mpc and 3.9 Mpc, respectively. Researchers have found 100-300 pc nuclear gas disk and ring inside a few kpc molecular gas bars. Researchers present the results of the observations and propose a possible mechanism of active star formation in the nuclear region
Formation of a Massive Black Hole at the Center of the Superbubble in M82
We performed 12CO(1-0), 13CO(1-0), and HCN(1-0) interferometric observations
of the central region (about 450 pc in radius) of M82 with the Nobeyama
Millimeter Array, and have successfully imaged a molecular superbubble and
spurs. The center of the superbubble is clearly shifted from the nucleus by 140
pc. This position is close to that of the massive black hole (BH) of >460 Mo
and the 2.2 micron secondary peak (a luminous supergiant dominated cluster),
which strongly suggests that these objects may be related to the formation of
the superbubble. Consideration of star formation in the cluster based on the
infrared data indicates that (1) energy release from supernovae can account for
the kinetic energy of the superbubble, (2) the total mass of stellar-mass BHs
available for building-up the massive BH may be much higher than 460 Mo, and
(3) it is possible to form the middle-mass BH of 100-1000 Mo within the
timescale of the superbubble. We suggest that the massive BH was produced and
is growing in the intense starburst region.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, to appear in ApJ Lette
Star formation efficiency in the Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 4303
We present new CO(J=1-0) observations of the barred galaxy NGC 4303
using the Nobeyama 45m telescope (NRO45) and the Combined Array for Research in
Millimeter-wave Astronomy (CARMA). The H images of barred spiral
galaxies often show active star formation in spiral arms, but less so in bars.
We quantify the difference by measuring star formation rate and efficiency at a
scale where local star formation is spatially resolved. Our CO map covers the
central 2\farcm3 region of the galaxy; the combination of NRO45 and CARMA
provides a high fidelity image, enabling accurate measurements of molecular gas
surface density. We find that star formation rate and efficiency are twice as
high in the spiral arms as in the bar. We discuss this difference in the
context of the Kennicutt-Schimidt (KS) law, which indicates a constant star
formation rate at a given gas surface density. The KS law breaks down at our
native resolution ( 250 pc), and substantial smoothing (to 500 pc) is
necessary to reproduce the KS law, although with greater scatter.Comment: 17 pages, 10 figures, published by ApJ;
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2010ApJ...721..383
Star Formation on Subkiloparsec Scale Triggered by Non-linear Processes in Nearby Spiral Galaxies
We report a super-linear correlation for the star formation law based on new CO(J = 1-0) data from the CARMA and NOBEYAMA Nearby-galaxies (CANON) CO survey. The sample includes 10 nearby spiral galaxies, in which structures at sub-kpc scales are spatially resolved. Combined with the star formation rate surface density traced by Hα and 24 μm images, CO(J = 1-0) data provide a super-linear slope of N = 1.3. The slope becomes even steeper (N = 1.8) when the diffuse stellar and dust background emission is subtracted from the Hα and 24 μm images. In contrast to the recent results with CO(J = 2-1) that found a constant star formation efficiency (SFE) in many spiral galaxies, these results suggest that the SFE is not independent of environment, but increases with molecular gas surface density. We suggest that the excitation of CO(J = 2-1) is likely enhanced in the regions with higher star formation and does not linearly trace the molecular gas mass. In addition, the diffuse emission contaminates the SFE measurement most in regions where the star formation rate is law. These two effects can flatten the power-law correlation and produce the apparent linear slope. The super-linear slope from the CO(J = 1-0) analysis indicates that star formation is enhanced by non-linear processes in regions of high gas density, e.g., gravitational collapse and cloud-cloud collisions
Aperture Synthesis Observations of CO, HCN, and 89GHz Continuum Emission toward NGC 604 in M 33: Sequential Star Formation Induced by Supergiant Hii region
We present the results from new Nobeyama Millimeter Array observations of
CO(1-0), HCN(1-0), and 89-GHz continuum emissions toward NGC 604, known as the
supergiant H ii region in a nearby galaxy M 33. Our high spatial resolution
images of CO emission allowed us to uncover ten individual molecular clouds
that have masses of (0.8 -7.4) 10M_{\sun } and sizes of 5 -- 29 pc,
comparable to those of typical Galactic giant molecular clouds (GMCs).
Moreover, we detected for the first time HCN emission in the two most massive
clouds and 89 GHz continuum emission at the rims of the "H shells".
Three out of ten CO clouds are well correlated with the H shells both
in spatial and velocity domains, implying an interaction between molecular gas
and the expanding H ii region. Furthermore, we estimated star formation
efficiencies (SFEs) for each cloud from the 89-GHz and combination of
H and 24-m data, and found that the SFEs decrease with
increasing projected distance measured from the heart of the central OB star
cluster in NGC 604, suggesting the radial changes in evolutionary stages of the
molecular clouds in course of stellar cluster formation. Our results provide
further support to the picture of sequential star formation in NGC604 initially
proposed by Tosaki et al. (2007) with the higher spatially resolved molecular
clouds, in which an isotropic expansion of the H ii region pushes gases outward
and accumulates them to consecutively form dense molecular clouds, and then
induces massive star formations.Comment: 23 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
Detection of a radio counterpart to the 27 December 2004 giant flare from SGR 1806-20
It was established over a decade ago that the remarkable high-energy transients known as soft gamma-ray repeaters (SGRs) are located in our Galaxy and originate from neutron stars with intense (≤ 10^(15)G) magnetic fields—so-called 'magnetars'. On 27 December 2004, a giant flare with a fluence exceeding 0.3 erg cm^(-2) was detected from SGR 1806–20. Here we report the detection of a fading radio counterpart to this event. We began a monitoring programme from 0.2 to 250 GHz and obtained a high-resolution 21-cm radio spectrum that traces the intervening interstellar neutral hydrogen clouds. Analysis of the spectrum yields the first direct distance measurement of SGR 1806 - 20: the source is located at a distance greater than 6.4 kpc and we argue that it is nearer than 9.8 kpc. If correct, our distance estimate lowers the total energy of the explosion and relaxes the demands on theoretical models. The energetics and the rapid decay of the radio source are not compatible with the afterglow model that is usually invoked for gamma-ray bursts. Instead, we suggest that the rapidly decaying radio emission arises from the debris ejected during the explosion
Discovery of a Radio Source following the 27 December 2004 Giant Flare from SGR 1806-20
Over a decade ago it was established that the remarkable high energy
transients, known as soft gamma-ray repeaters (SGRs), are a Galactic population
and originate from neutron stars with intense (<~ 10^15 G) magnetic fields
("magnetars"). On 27 December 2004 a giant flare (fluence >~ 0.3 erg/cm^2) was
detected from SGR 1806-20. Here we report the discovery of a fading radio
counterpart. We began a monitoring program from 0.2GHz to 250GHz and obtained a
high resolution 21-cm radio spectrum which traces the intervening interstellar
neutral Hydrogen clouds. Analysis of the spectrum yields the first direct
distance measurement of SGR 1806-20. The source is located at a distance
greater than 6.4 kpc and we argue that it is nearer than 9.8 kpc. If true, our
distance estimate lowers the total energy of the explosion and relaxes the
demands on theoretical models. The energetics and the rapid decay of the radio
source are not compatible with the afterglow model that is usually invoked for
gamma-ray bursts. Instead we suggest that the rapidly decaying radio emission
arises from the debris ejected during the explosion.Comment: 16 pages, 2 figures, submitted to Nature (substantial revisions