A Polar-Nulceus Dark Lane in the Barred Spiral M83: Three-Dimensional Accretion in the Nucleus

Abstract

The central region of the barred spiral galaxy M83 reveals a polar-nucleus dust lane, wh ich extends from the NE molecular bar and crosses the central bulge. Its SW counterpart is not visible, being hidden behind the bulge. This asymmetry, in spite of the galaxy's face-on orientation and the symmetric bar struct ure in the CO-line emission, indicates that the dark lane is an off-plane structure. Such a ``polar-nucleus'' structure can be formed by a non-coplanar, three-dimensional acc retion in a warped disk.Comment: (to appear in AJ), 5 pages, plainTeX, U-Tokyo Astro. No.93-2