Quick search Find article
Quick search
Find article

VLA H53α Radio Recombination Line Observations of the Ultraluminous Infrared Galaxy Arp 220

FREE

C. A. Rodríguez-Rico1,2, W. M. Goss2, F. Viallefond3, J.-H. Zhao4, Y. Gómez1 and K. R. Anantharamaiah5

Show affiliations


We present high angular resolution (0farcs7) observations made with the Very Large Array (VLA) of the radio recombination line (RRL) H53α and radio continuum emission at 43 GHz from the ultraluminous infrared galaxy (ULIRG) Arp 220. The 43 GHz continuum emission shows a compact structure (~2'') with two peaks separated by ~1'', the east (E) and west (W) components, that correspond to each galactic nucleus of the merger. The spectral indices for both the E and W components, using radio continuum images at 8.3 and 43 GHz are typical of synchrotron emission (α ~ -1.0). Our 43 GHz continuum and H53α line observations confirm the flux densities predicted by the models proposed by Anantharamaiah et al. (2000). This agreement with the models implies the presence of high-density (~105 cm-3) compact H II regions (~0.1 pc) in Arp 220. The integrated H53α line emission is stronger toward the nonthermal radio continuum peaks, which are also coincident with the peaks of molecular emission of the H2CO. The coincidence between the integrated H53α and the H2CO maser line emission suggests that the recent star-forming regions, traced by the high-density gas, are located mainly in regions that are close to the two radio continuum peaks. A velocity gradient of ~0.30 km s-1 pc-1 in the H53α RRL is observed toward the E component, and a second velocity gradient of ~0.15 km s-1 pc-1 is detected toward the W component. The orientations of these velocity gradients are in agreement with previous CO, H I, and OH observations. The kinematics of the high-density ionized gas traced by the H53α line are consistent with two counterrotating disks as suggested by the CO and H I observations.


Subject headings

galaxies: general; galaxies: individual (Arp 220); galaxies: starburst; radio continuum: galaxies; radio lines: galaxies


Dates

Issue 1 (2005 November 1)

Received 2005 January 18, accepted for publication 2005 June 30


An Erratum for this article has been published in 2007 ApJ 668 625


Users also read

What's this?
This innovative new feature generates a list of articles 'also read' by other users based on them reading the original article. Article abstracts citations and references are all considered and weighted accordingly. We hope that this will help you find relevant papers for your research.

  1. Very Large Array H92α and H53α Radio Recombination Line Observations of M82
  2. Starburst in the Ultraluminous Galaxy Arp 220: Constraints from Observations of Radio Recombination Lines and Continuum

View by subject




Export








Please login to access our web services, or create an account if you don't yet have one.

You must have cookies enabled in your web browser to be able to login.

Username
Password

Forgotten your password? Get a new one here.