High spatial resolution observations of the 12CO(1-0), HCN(1-0), HCO+(1-0),
and 13CO(1-0) molecular lines toward the luminous infrared merger NGC 6240 have
been performed using the Nobeyama Millimeter Array and the RAINBOW
Interferometer. All of the observed molecular emission lines are concentrated
in the region between the double nuclei of the galaxy. However, the
distributions of both HCN and HCO+ emissions are more compact compared with
that of 12CO, and they are not coincident with the star-forming regions. The
HCN/12CO line intensity ratio is 0.25; this suggests that most of the molecular
gas between the double nuclei is dense. A comparison of the observed high
HCN/13CO intensity ratio, 5.9, with large velocity gradient calculations
suggests that the molecular gas is dense [n(H_2)=10^{4-6} cm^-3] and warm
(T_kin>50 K). The observed structure in NGC 6240 may be explained by time
evolution of the molecular gas and star formation, which was induced by an
almost head-on collision or very close encounter of the two galactic nuclei
accompanied with the dense gas and star-forming regions.Comment: 25 pages, 8 figures, To be appeared in PASJ 57, No.4 (August 25,
2005) issu
