2005PASJ...57..549T

The nearby starburst galaxy NGC 253 was mapped in the ammonia (J, K) = (1, 1), (2, 2), and (3, 3) lines in the 23GHz region with the Very Large Array. The angular resolutions were about 4'' * 3''. The distributions of the three lines were different from one another. The (1, 1) and (3, 3) lines were distributed along the bar mainly at the northeastern and southwestern regions from the center, but the (2, 2) line is distributed mainly at two clumps in the southwestern region from the center. In addition, the (1, 1) line showed absorption at the central region. The obtained rotational temperatures were < 15–28 K (lower limit), depending on the clumps. The ammonia distributions are generally consistent with estimates from our single-dish results already published. The distributions of ammonia were compared with those of continuum and several other molecular lines.