Galaxy formation and evolution

Abstract:

We present high-resolution (synthesized beam size 0′′..′′088 × 0′′..′′083 or 25 × 23 pc²) Atacama Large Millimetre/submillimetre Array ¹²CO(2–1) line and 236 GHz continuum observations, as well as 5 GHz enhanced Multi-Element Radio Linked Interferometer Network (e-MERLIN) continuum observations, of NGC 0708; the brightest galaxy in the low-mass galaxy cluster Abell 262. The line observations reveal a turbulent, rotating disc of molecular gas in the core of the galaxy, and a high-velocity, blueshifted feature ≈0′′..′′4 (≈113 pc) from its centre. The submillimetre continuum emission peaks at the nucleus, but extends towards this anomalous CO emission feature. No corresponding elongation is found on the same spatial scales at 5 GHz with e-MERLIN. We discuss potential causes for the anomalous blueshifted emission detected in this source, and conclude that it is most likely to be a low-mass in-falling filament of material condensing from the hot intracluster medium via chaotic cold accretion, but it is also possible that it is a jet-driven molecular outflow. We estimate the physical properties this structure has in these two scenarios, and show that either explanation is viable. We suggest future observations with integral field spectrographs will be able to determine the true cause of this anomalous emission, and provide further evidence for interaction between quenched cooling flows and mechanical feedback on both small and large scales in this source.

Abstract:

We present ALMA observations of CO isotopologues and high-density molecular tracers (HCN, HCO+, CN, etc.) in NGC 7465, an unusually gas-rich early-type galaxy that acquired its cold gas recently. In the inner 300 pc, the molecular gas kinematics are misaligned with respect to all other galaxy components; as the gas works its way inward it is torqued into polar orbits about the stellar kinematically-decoupled core (KDC), indicating that the stellar KDC is not related to the current gas accretion event. The galaxy also exhibits unusually high 12CO/13CO line ratios in its nucleus but typical 13CO/C18O ratios. Our calculations show that this result does not necessarily indicate an unusual [12CO/13CO] abundance ratio but rather that 12CO (1-0) is optically thin due to high temperatures and/or large linewidths associated with the inner decoupled, misaligned molecular structure. Line ratios of the higher-density tracers suggest that the densest phase of molecular gas in NGC 7465 has a lower density than is typical for nearby galaxies, possibly as a result of the recent gas accretion. All of the observed molecular properties of NGC 7465 are consistent with it having acquired its molecular (and atomic) gas from a spiral galaxy. Further detailed studies of the CO isotopologues in other early-type galaxies would be valuable for investigating the histories of those that may have acquired their gas from dwarfs. Finally, these ALMA data also show an unidentified line source that is probably a background galaxy similar to those found at z=1-3 in blind CO surveys.