• The Carbon-to-H$_2$, CO-to-H$_2$ Conversion Factors and Carbon Abundance on Kiloparsec Scales in Nearby Galaxies

    分类: 天文学 >> 天文学 提交时间: 2023-02-19

    摘要: Using the atomic carbon [CI](1$-$0) and [CI](2$-$1) emission maps observed with the $Herschel\ Space\ Observatory$, and CO(1$-$0), HI, infrared and submm maps from literatures, we estimate the [CI]-to-H$_2$ and CO-to-H$_2$ conversion factors of $\alpha_\mathrm{[CI](1-0)}$, $\alpha_\mathrm{[CI](2-1)}$, and $\alpha_\mathrm{CO}$ at a linear resolution $\sim1\,$kpc scale for six nearby galaxies of M 51, M 83, NGC 3627, NGC 4736, NGC 5055, and NGC 6946. This is perhaps the first effort, to our knowledge, in calibrating both [CI]-to-H$_2$ conversion factors across the spiral disks at spatially resolved $\sim1\,$kpc scale though such studies have been discussed globally in galaxies near and far. In order to derive the conversion factors and achieve these calibrations, we adopt three different dust-to-gas ratio (DGR) assumptions which scale approximately with metallicity taken from precursory results. We find that for all DGR assumptions, the $\alpha_\mathrm{[CI](1-0)}$, $\alpha_\mathrm{[CI](2-1)}$, and $\alpha_\mathrm{CO}$ are mostly flat with galactocentric radii, whereas both $\alpha_\mathrm{[CI](2-1)}$ and $\alpha_\mathrm{CO}$ show decrease in the inner regions of galaxies. And the central $\alpha_\mathrm{CO}$ and $\alpha_\mathrm{[CI](2-1)}$ values are on average $\sim 2.2$ and $1.8$ times lower than its galaxy averages. The obtained carbon abundances from different DGR assumptions show flat profiles with galactocentric radii, and the average carbon abundance of the galaxies is comparable to the usually adopted value of $3 \times 10^{-5}$. We find that both metallicity and infrared luminosity correlate moderately with the $\alpha_\mathrm{CO}$ whereas only weakly with either the $\alpha_\mathrm{[CI](1-0)}$ or carbon abundance, and not at all with the $\alpha_\mathrm{[CI](2-1)}$.

  • The Unusual AGN Host NGC 1266: Evidence for Shocks in a Molecular Gas Rich S0 Galaxy with a Low Luminosity Nucleus

    分类: 天文学 >> 天文学 提交时间: 2023-02-19

    摘要: NGC 1266 is a lenticular galaxy (S0) hosting an active galactic nucleus (AGN), and known to contain a large amount of shocked gas. We compare the luminosity ratio of mid-\emph{J} CO lines to IR continuum with star-forming galaxies (SFGs), and then model the CO spectral line energy distribution (SLED). We confirm that in the mid- and high-\emph{J} regions ($J_{\rm up}$ = 4--13), the C-type shock ($v_{\rm s}$ = 25 km s$^{-1}$, $n_{\rm H}$ = $5\times10^{4}$ cm$^{-3}$) can reproduce the CO observations well. The galaxy spectral energy distribution (SED) is constructed and modeled by the code {\tt X-CIGALE} and obtains a set of physical parameters including the star formation rate (SFR, 1.17 $\pm$ 0.47 \emph{M$_{\odot}$}yr$^{-1}$). Also, our work provides SFR derivation of [C\,{\sc ii}] from the neutral hydrogen regions only (1.38 $\pm$ 0.14 $M_{\odot}$yr$^{-1}$). Previous studies have illusive conclusions on the AGN or starburst nature of the NGC 1266 nucleus. Our SED model shows that the hidden AGN in the system is intrinsically low-luminosity, consequently the infrared luminosity of the AGN does not reach the expected level. Archival data from \emph{NuSTAR} hard X-ray observations in the 3--79 keV band shows a marginal detection, disfavoring presence of an obscured luminous AGN and implying that a compact starburst is more likely dominant for the NGC 1266 nucleus.

  • The Unusual AGN Host NGC 1266: Evidence for Shocks in a Molecular Gas Rich S0 Galaxy with a Low Luminosity Nucleus

    分类: 天文学 >> 天文学 提交时间: 2023-02-19

    摘要: NGC 1266 is a lenticular galaxy (S0) hosting an active galactic nucleus (AGN), and known to contain a large amount of shocked gas. We compare the luminosity ratio of mid-\emph{J} CO lines to IR continuum with star-forming galaxies (SFGs), and then model the CO spectral line energy distribution (SLED). We confirm that in the mid- and high-\emph{J} regions ($J_{\rm up}$ = 4--13), the C-type shock ($v_{\rm s}$ = 25 km s$^{-1}$, $n_{\rm H}$ = $5\times10^{4}$ cm$^{-3}$) can reproduce the CO observations well. The galaxy spectral energy distribution (SED) is constructed and modeled by the code {\tt X-CIGALE} and obtains a set of physical parameters including the star formation rate (SFR, 1.17 $\pm$ 0.47 \emph{M$_{\odot}$}yr$^{-1}$). Also, our work provides SFR derivation of [C\,{\sc ii}] from the neutral hydrogen regions only (1.38 $\pm$ 0.14 $M_{\odot}$yr$^{-1}$). Previous studies have illusive conclusions on the AGN or starburst nature of the NGC 1266 nucleus. Our SED model shows that the hidden AGN in the system is intrinsically low-luminosity, consequently the infrared luminosity of the AGN does not reach the expected level. Archival data from \emph{NuSTAR} hard X-ray observations in the 3--79 keV band shows a marginal detection, disfavoring presence of an obscured luminous AGN and implying that a compact starburst is more likely dominant for the NGC 1266 nucleus.

  • Radial stellar populations of AGN-host dwarf galaxies in SDSS-IV MaNGA survey

    分类: 天文学 >> 天文学 提交时间: 2023-02-19

    摘要: Based on MaNGA integral field unit (IFU) spectroscopy we search 60 AGN candidates, which have stellar masses $M_{\star}\leqslant5\times10^{9}$$M_{\odot}$ and show AGN ionization signatures in the BPT diagram. For these AGN candidates, we derive the spatially resolved stellar population with the stellar population synthesis code STARLIGHT and measure the gradients of the mean stellar age and metallicity. We find that the gradients of mean stellar age (metallicity) of individual AGN-host dwarfs are diverse in 0-0.5 Re, 0.5-1 Re and 0-1 Re. However, the overall behavior of the mean stellar age (metallicity) profiles tend to be flat, as the median values of the gradients are close to zero. We further study the overall behavior of the mean stellar age (metallicity) by plotting the co-added radial profiles for the AGN sample and compare with a control sample with similar stellar mass. We find that the median values of light-weighted mean stellar ages of AGN sample are as old as 2-3 ~Gyr within 2 Re,which are about 4-7 times older than those of the control sample. Meanwhile, most of the AGN candidates are low-level AGNs, as only eight sources have L[OIII]>$10^{39.5}$~erg~s$^{-1}$. Hence, the AGNs in dwarf galaxies might accelerate the evolution of galaxies by accelerating the consumption of the gas, resulting in an overall quenching of the dwarf galaxies, and the AGNs also become weak due to the lack of gas. The median values of mass-weighted mean stellar age of both samples within 2 $Re$ are similar and as old as about 10~Gyr, indicating that the stellar mass is mainly contributed by old stellar populations.The gradients of co-added mean stellar metallicity for both samples tend to be negative but close to zero, and the similar mean stellar metallicity profiles for both samples indicate that the chemical evolution of the host galaxy is not strongly influenced by the AGN.