516 research outputs found
The Mass Inflow Rate in the Barred Galaxy NGC 1530
Mass inflow in barred galaxies has been invoked to account for a wide variety
of phenomena, but until now direct evidence for inflow has been lacking. We
present Fabry-Perot H-alpha observations of the barred spiral galaxy NGC 1530
from which we determine velocities of the ionized gas for the entire region
swept by the bar. We compare the velocity field to models of gas flow in barred
spirals and show that it is well reproduced by ideal gas hydrodynamic models.
Inspection of the models and observations reveals that gas entering the bar
dust lanes streams directly down the dust lanes toward the 2 kpc radius nuclear
ring. The models predict that approximately 20% of the gas flowing down the
dust lane enters the nuclear ring; the remaining gas sprays around the ring to
the other bar dust lane. The fraction of the gas entering the ring is
relatively insensitive to the shape or size of the bar. Our observations of the
velocity field and dust optical depth yield a mass inflow rate into the nuclear
ring of 1 solar mass per year.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures, aastex 4.0, accepted for publication in Ap J
Letter
Inner Molecular Rings in Barred Galaxies: BIMA SONG CO Observations
Although inner star-forming rings are common in optical images of barred
spiral galaxies, observational evidence for the accompanying molecular gas has
been scarce. In this paper we present images of molecular inner rings, traced
using the CO (1-0) emission line, from the
Berkeley-Illinois-Maryland-Association Survey of Nearby Galaxies (BIMA SONG).
We detect inner ring CO emission from all five SONG barred galaxies classified
as inner ring (type (r)). We also examine the seven SONG barred galaxies
classified as inner spiral (type (s)); in one of these, NGC 3627, we find
morphological and kinematic evidence for a molecular inner ring. Inner ring
galaxies have been classified as such based on optical images, which emphasize
recent star formation. We consider the possibility that there may exist inner
rings in which star formation efficiency is not enhanced. However, we find that
in NGC 3627 the inner ring star formation efficiency is enhanced relative to
most other regions in that galaxy. We note that the SONG (r) galaxies have a
paucity of CO and H alpha emission interior to the inner ring (except near the
nucleus), while NGC 3627 has relatively bright bar CO and H alpha emission; we
suggest that galaxies with inner rings such as NGC 3627 may be misclassified if
there are significant amounts of gas and star formation in the bar.Comment: To be published in the Astrophysical Journal, July 2002 A version of
the paper with full resolution figures is available at:
http://www.astro.umd.edu/~mregan/ms.ps.g
Using Hubble Space Telescope Imaging of Nuclear Dust Morphology to Rule Out Bars Fueling Seyfert Nuclei
If AGN are powered by the accretion of matter onto massive black holes, how
does the gas in the host galaxy lose the required angular momentum to approach
the black hole? Gas easily transfers angular momentum to stars in strong bars,
making them likely candidates. Although ground-based searches for bars in
active galaxies using both optical and near infrared surface brightness have
not found any excess of bars relative to quiescent galaxies, the searches have
not been able to rule out small-scale nuclear bars. To look for these nuclear
bars we use HST WFPC2-NICMOS color maps to search for the straight dust lane
signature of strong bars. Of the twelve Seyfert galaxies in our sample, only
three have dust lanes consistent with a strong nuclear bar. Therefore, strong
nuclear bars cannot be the primary fueling mechanism for Seyfert nuclei. We do
find that a majority of the galaxies show an spiral morphology in their dust
lanes. These spiral arms may be a possible fueling mechanism.Comment: To be published in the Astronomical Journal, June 1999. 25 pages and
14 figures. Full resolution figures are available at
ftp://www.ciw.edu/pub/mregan/fullfigs.tar.g
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