CO aperture synthesis of NGC 4038/9 (ARP 244)

Abstract

Researchers present high-resolution (approx. 6 seconds) CO observations of the merging galaxies NGC 4038/9 made with the Owens Valley Radio Observatory (OVRO) Millimeter Wave Interferometer. The CO observations of Arp 244 were obtained between April and June 1988 using the OVRO Millimeter Wave Interferometer. Two fields with phase centers near the NGC 4039 nucleus and near the NGC 4038 nucleus were observed. The size of the synthesized beam is approximately 6.5 x 7 seconds at PA=72 degrees. The rms in a single cleaned channel map is 0.06 Jy beam(exp -1), corresponding to a brightness temperature of 0.12 K over the synthesized beam. Contour maps of the integrated CO intensity for both interferometer fields are shown. Three CO concentrations are evident. Two are centered near the nuclei of NGC 4038 and NGC 4039, closely correlated with H alpha and radio continuum maxima. A third CO emission region lies about 25 seconds northeast of the NGC 4039 nucleus. A number of radio continuum, H alpha, and 10 micron emission knots appear in this region. The total integrated intensity at the northern nuclear source, 302 K km/s, leads to a molecular mass of 8.3 by 10 to the 8th power solar mass assuming a Galactic CO to H2 conversion factor of 3.0 x 10 to the 20th power H2 cm(-2) (K km/s)(-1). The integrated CO intensity of the southern nuclear source leads to a molecular mass of 2.4 x 10 to the 8th solar mass. The extranuclear CO concentration contains 1.2 x 10 to the 9th power solar mass of molecular gas, extending over 170 km/s, and is resolved in a number of channels. Its large size, mass, and morphology strongly suggest that it is an agglomeration of several clumps