The starburst-AGN connection in the merger galaxy Mrk 938: an infrared and X-ray view

Mrk938 is a luminous infrared galaxy in the local Universe believed to be the remnant of a galaxy merger. It shows a Seyfert 2 nucleus and intense star formation according to optical spectroscopic observations. We have studied this galaxy using new Herschel far-IR imaging data in addition to archival X-ray, UV, optical, near-IR and mid-IR data. Mid- and far-IR data are crucial to characterise the starburst contribution, allowing us to shed new light on its nature and to study the coexistence of AGN and starburst activity in the local Universe. The decomposition of the mid-IR Spitzer spectrum shows that the AGN bolometric contribution to the mid-IR and total infrared luminosity is small (Lbol(AGN)/LIR~0.02), which agrees with previous estimations. We have characterised the physical nature of its strong infrared emission and constrained it to a relatively compact emitting region of <2kpc. It is in this obscured region where most of the current star formation activity is taking place as expected for LIRGs. We have used Herschel imaging data for the first time to constrain the cold dust emission with unprecedented accuracy. We have fitted the integrated far-IR spectral energy distribution and derived the properties of the dust, obtaining a dust mass of 3x10^7Msun. The far-IR is dominated by emission at 35K, consistent with dust heated by the on-going star formation activity.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures, 4 tables, accepted for publication in MNRA

The starburst-active galactic nucleus connection in the merger galaxy Mrk 938: An infrared and X-ray view

Mrk 938 is a luminous infrared (IR) galaxy in the local Universe believed to be the remnant of a galaxy merger. It shows a Seyfert 2 nucleus and intense star formation according to optical spectroscopic observations. We have studied this galaxy using new Herschel far-IR imaging data in addition to archival X-ray, UV, optical, near-IR and mid-IR data. Mid- and far-IR data are crucial to characterize the starburst contribution, allowing us to shed new light on its nature and to study the coexistence of active galactic nuclei (AGN) and starburst activity in the local Universe. The decomposition of the mid-IR Spitzer spectrum shows that the AGN bolometric contribution to the mid-IR and total IR luminosity is small [Lbol(AGN)/LIR ? 0.02], which agrees with previous estimations. We have characterized the physical nature of its strong IR emission and constrained it to a relatively compact emitting region of ?2 kpc. It is in this obscured region where most of the current star formation activity is taking place as expected for luminous IR galaxies. We have used Herschel imaging data for the first time to constrain the cold dust emission with unprecedented accuracy. We have fitted the integrated far-IR spectral energy distribution and derived the properties of the dust, obtaining a dust mass of 3 × 107 M . The far-IR is dominated by emission at 35 K, consistent with dust heated by the ongoing star formation activityThanks to F. Schweizer for kindly providing the optical image of Mrk 938, to J. Gallimore for providing the MIPS SED data, and to H. Krimm and W. Baumgartner for the analysis of the BAT ob- servations. PE, AA-H and MP-S acknowledge support from the Spanish Plan Nacional de Astronom ́ıa y Astrof ́ısica under grant AYA2009-05705-E. AA-H and MP-S acknowledge support under grant AYA2010-21161-C02-01. MP-S acknowledges support from the CSIC under grant JAE-Predoc-2007. AMP-G acknowledges support by the Spanish Plan Nacional de Astronom ́ıa y Astrof ́ısica under the grant AYA2008-06311-CO2-01. CRA acknowledges fi- nancial support from STFC (ST/G001758/1) and from the Span- ish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MICINN) through project Consolider-Ingenio 2010 Programme grant CSD2006-00070: First Science with the GTC. MP acknowledges Junta de Andaluc ́ıa and Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through projects PO8- TIC-03531 and AYA2010-15169. PACS has been developed by a consortium of institutes led by MPE (Germany) and including UVIE (Austria); KU Leuven, CSL, IMEC (Belgium); CEA, LAM (France); MPIA (Germany); INAF- IFSI/OAA/OAP/OAT, LENS, SISSA (Italy) and IAC (Spain). This development has been supported by the funding agencies BMVIT (Austria), ESA-PRODEX (Belgium), CEA/CNES (France), DLR (Germany), ASI/INAF (Italy) and CICYT/MCYT (Spain). SPIRE has been developed by a consortium of institutes led by Cardiff University (UK) and including University of Lethbridge (Canada); NAOC (China); CEA, LAM (France); IFSI, University of Padua (Italy); IAC (Spain); Stockholm Observatory (Sweden); Imperial College London, RAL, UCL-MSSL, UKATC, University of Sus- sex (UK) and Caltech, JPL, NHSC, University of Colorado (USA). This development has been supported by national funding agencies: CSA (Canada); NAOC (China); CEA, CNES, CNRS (France); ASI (Italy); MCINN (Spain); SNSB (Sweden); STFC (UK) and NASA (USA). This work is based on observations made with the Spitzer Space Telescope, which is operated by the Jet Propulsion Labo- ratory, California Institute of Technology, under NASA contract 1407