2023MNRAS.518.1407B -
Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc., 518, 1407-1417 (2023/January-1)
Forming stars in a dual AGN host: molecular and ionized gas in the nearby, luminous infrared merger, Mrk 266.
BEAULIEU D., PETRIC A., ROBERT C., ALATALO K., HECKMAN T., MERHI M., ROUSSEAU-NEPTON L. and ROWLANDS K.
Abstract (from CDS):
We present star formation rates based on cold and ionized gas measurements of Mrk 266 (NGC 5256), a system composed of two colliding gas-rich galaxies, each hosting an active galactic nucleus. Using 12CO (1-0) observations with the Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-Wave Astronomy (CARMA), we find a total H2 mass in the central region of 1.1 ± 0.3 × 1010 M⊙ which leads to a possible future star formation rate of 25 ± 10 M⊙ yr–1. With the Fourier Transform Spectrograph (SITELLE) on the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, we measure an integrated H α luminosity and estimate a present-day star formation rate of 15 ± 2 M⊙ yr–1 in the core of the system (avoiding the two active nuclei). These results confirm that Mrk 266 is an intermediate stage merger with a relatively high recent star formation rate and enough molecular gas to sustain it for a few hundred million years. Inflowing gas associated with the merger may have triggered both the starburst episode and two active galactic nuclei but the two galaxy components differ: the region around the south-western nucleus appears to be more active than the north-east nucleus, which seems relatively quiet. We speculate that this difference may originate in the properties of the interstellar medium in the two systems.
Abstract Copyright:
© 2022 The Author(s) Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal Astronomical Society
Journal keyword(s):
galaxies: individual: NGC 5256 - galaxies: interactions - galaxies: nuclei - galaxies: star formation
Simbad objects:
7
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