OBSERVATIONS OF Arp 220 USING HERSCHEL-SPIRE: AN UNPRECEDENTED VIEW OF THE MOLECULAR GAS IN AN EXTREME STAR FORMATION ENVIRONMENT

By N. Rangwala, P. Maloney, J. Glenn, C. Wilson, A. Rykala, K. Isaak, Maarten Baes, G. Bendo, A. Boselli, C. Bradford and 13 more. 2011

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We present Herschel Spectral and Photometric Imaging Receiver Fourier Transform Spectrometer (Herschel SPIRE-FTS) observations of Arp 220, a nearby ultra-luminous infrared galaxy. The FTS provides continuous spectral coverage from 190 to 670 μm, a wavelength region that is either very difficult to observe or completely inaccessible from the ground. The spectrum provides a good measurement of the continuum and detection of several molecular and atomic species. We detect luminous CO (J = 4–3 to 13–12) and water rotational transitions with comparable total luminosity ∼2 × 108 L☉; very high-J transitions of HCN (J = 12–11 to 17–16) in absorption; strong absorption features of rare species such as OH+, H2O+, and HF; and atomic lines of [C i] and [N ii]. The modeling of the continuum shows that the dust is warm, with T = 66 K, and has an unusually large optical depth, with τdust ∼ 5 at 100 μm. The total far-infrared luminosity of Arp 220 is LFIR ∼ 2 × 1012 L☉. Non-LTE modeling of the extinction corrected CO rotational transitions shows that the spectral line energy distribution of CO is fit well by two temperature components: cold molecular gas at T ∼ 50 K and warm molecular gas at T ∼ 1350+280 − 100 K (the inferred temperatures are much lower if CO line fluxes are not corrected for dust extinction). These two components are not in pressure equilibrium. The mass of the warm gas is 10% of the cold gas, but it dominates the CO luminosity. The ratio of total CO luminosity to the total FIR luminosity is LCO/LFIR ∼ 10−4 (the most luminous lines, such as J = 6–5, have LCO, J = 6–5/LFIR ∼ 10−5). The temperature of the warm gas is in excellent agreement with the observations of H2 rotational lines. At 1350 K, H2 dominates the cooling (∼20 L☉ M−1☉) in the interstellar medium compared to CO (∼0.4 L☉ M−1☉). We have ruled out photodissociation regions, X-ray-dominated regions, and cosmic rays as likely sources of excitation of this warm molecular gas, and found that only a non-ionizing source can heat this gas; the mechanical energy from supernovae and stellar winds is able to satisfy the large energy budget of ∼20 L☉ M−1☉. Analysis of the very high-J lines of HCN strongly indicates that they are solely populated by infrared pumping of photons at 14 μm. This mechanism requires an intense radiation field with T > 350 K. We detect a massive molecular outflow in Arp 220 from the analysis of strong P Cygni line profiles observed in OH+, H2O+, and H2O. The outflow has a mass ≳ 107 M☉ and is bound to the nuclei with velocity ≲ 250 km s−1. The large column densities observed for these molecular ions strongly favor the existence of an X-ray luminous AGN (1044 erg s−1) in Arp 220.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics

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Citations in the corpus

• THE MOLECULAR GAS IN LUMINOUS INFRARED GALAXIES. II. EXTREME PHYSICAL CONDITIONS AND THEIR EFFECTS ON THE Xco FACTOR (2012, background): “…using the HSO this normalization is especially important as it allows determining the mass of the highly-excited molecular gas emitting the very high-J lines, and setting important constraints on the energy source responsible for its excitation (van der Werf et al. 2010; Rangwala et al. 2011).”
• The CO-to-H2 Conversion Factor (2013, background): “Molecular gas in starbursts is also warmer, exciting higher rotational transitions than those found in less active objects (e.g., Bradford et al. 2003; Ward et al. 2003; Rangwala et al. 2011).”
• The Nine Lives of Cosmic Rays in Galaxies (2015, background): “…reactive molecular ions such as OH+, H2O +, and H3O +, which can now be observed in starburst and active galaxies (Aalto et al. 2011, González-Alfonso et al. 2013, Kamenetzky et al. 2012, Pereira-Santaella et al. 2013, Rangwala et al. 2011, Spinoglio et al. 2012, van der Werf et al. 2010).”
• Dusty Star Forming Galaxies at High Redshift (2014, background): “…the spectral emissivity index and ν0 is the frequency where optical depth equals unity (Draine, 2006), often assumed as= 3 THz from laboratory experiments (≈100 µm) although the measured value from a number of galaxies tends more towards 1.5 THz (≈200 µm Conley et al., 2011; Rangwala et al., 2011).”
• An Overview of the Dwarf Galaxy Survey (2013, background): “The SPIRE FTS, covering 194–670 μm, provides simultaneous coverage of CO rotational lines ranging from J ¼ 4 3 through J ¼ 13 12, a range within which the spectral line energy distribution (SLED) of CO lines has been found to peak for AGNs, star forming galaxies, and for high-z QSOs unveiling, often”
• WHAT DOES A SUBMILLIMETER GALAXY SELECTION ACTUALLY SELECT? THE DEPENDENCE OF SUBMILLIMETER FLUX DENSITY ON STAR FORMATION RATE AND DUST MASS (2010, unknown): “Our assumed ISM structure (cold phase volume filling factor of unity) is similar to what is observed for the dense cores of local ULIRGs (Scoville et al. 1991; Downes & Solomon 1998; Sakamoto et al. 1999, 2008; Papadopoulos et al. 2010).”