Hintze Centre for Astrophysical Surveys

Abstract:

ABSTRACT We present a study of molecular structures (clumps and clouds) in the dwarf galaxy NGC 404 using high-resolution (≈0.86 × 0.51 pc2) Atacama Large Millimeter/sub-millimeter Array 12CO(2-1) observations. We find two distinct regions in NGC 404: a gravitationally stable central region (Toomre parameter Q = 3–30) and a gravitationally unstable molecular ring (Q ≲ 1). The molecular structures in the central region have a steeper size–linewidth relation and larger virial parameters than those in the molecular ring, suggesting gas is more turbulent in the former. In the molecular ring, clumps exhibit a shallower mass–size relation and larger virial parameters than clouds, implying density structures and dynamics are regulated by different physical mechanisms at different spatial scales. We construct an analytical model of clump–clump collisions to explain the results in the molecular ring. We propose that clump–clump collisions are driven by gravitational instabilities coupled with galactic shear, which lead to a population of clumps whose accumulation lengths (i.e. average separations) are approximately equal to their tidal radii. Our model-predicted clump masses and sizes (and mass–size relation) and turbulence energy injection rates (and size–linewidth relation) match the observations in the molecular ring very well, suggesting clump–clump collisions are the main mechanism regulating clump properties and gas turbulence in that region. As expected, our collision model does not apply to the central region, where turbulence is likely driven by clump migration.

Abstract:

We present radio [1.3 GHz MeerKAT, 4–8 GHz Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA), and 15.5 GHz Arcminute Microkelvin Imager Large Array (AMI-LA)] and X-ray (Swift and MAXI) data from the 2019 outburst of the candidate Black Hole X-ray Binary (BHXB) EXO 1846−031. We compute a Hardness–Intensity diagram, which shows the characteristic q-shaped hysteresis of BHXBs in outburst. EXO 1846−031 was monitored weekly with MeerKAT and approximately daily with AMI-LA. The VLA observations provide sub-arcsecond-resolution images at key points in the outburst, showing moving radio components. The radio and X-ray light curves broadly follow each other, showing a peak on ∼MJD 58702, followed by a short decline before a second peak between ∼MJD 58731–58739. We estimate the minimum energy of these radio flares from equipartition, calculating values of Emin ∼ 4 × 1041 and 5 × 1042 erg, respectively. The exact date of the return to ‘quiescence’ is missed in the X-ray and radio observations, but we suggest that it likely occurred between MJD 58887 and 58905. From the Swift X-ray flux on MJD 58905 and assuming the soft-to-hard transition happened at 0.3–3 per cent Eddington, we calculate a distance range of 2.4–7.5 kpc. We computed the radio:X-ray plane for EXO 1846−031 in the ‘hard’ state, showing that it is most likely a ‘radio-quiet’ BH, preferentially at 4.5 kpc. Using this distance and a jet inclination angle of θ = 73◦, the VLA data place limits on the intrinsic jet speed of βint = 0.29c, indicating subluminal jet motion.