NIR Line Observations of Starburst Galaxies

Autor: H. Sugai, M.A. Malkan, M.J. Ward, R.I. Davies, I.S. McLean
Rok vydání: 1999
Zdroj: Symposium - International Astronomical Union. 186:286-286
ISSN: 0074-1809
DOI: 10.1017/s0074180900112835
Popis: We have obtained images of the H2and Brγ emission lines in the galaxy interacting system NGC 3690 + IC 694. We have also obtained simultaneous H- and K-band spectra for three of its 2μm continuum peaks. The most detectable line emission is concentrated at the continuum peaks. Therefore, the emission lines as well as stellar absorption lines can be used as tracers of the activity in the nuclei themselves. From the strong Brγ and marginal detection of Br10 at the nucleus of IC 694, we derive a large extinction for the fully ionized gas in this nucleus. If we adopt this extinction also for the [Fe II]1.64μm emission, the extinction-corrected [Fe II]1.64μm/Brγ ratio will lie at the higher end of starburst galaxies, and is typical for AGNs or AGN/starburst composites. This might imply that many SNRs are involved in the starburst at this nucleus, unless it includes an AGN. All of our results for Component C, including very little CO absorption in the K band, a largeEW(Brγ), a small H2/Brγ ratio, the effective temperature (Teff≃ 40,000K) derived from HeI 1.70μm/Br10 and HeI 2.06μm/Brγ, are consistent with a very young starburst.
Databáze: OpenAIRE