Threshold Star Formation Effects in the Peculiar Galaxy Arp~10 (=~VV 362)

Abstract

We present images of the peculiar galaxy Arp~10 which reveal two rings of concurrent star formation. Apart from a bright ring visible on early photographs of the system, an even brighter inner ring of \ion{H}{2} regions is found within the nuclear bulge of the galaxy. A very faint ring-arc of \ion{H}{2} regions is also seen associated with a third outer ring or shell. An investigation of the H$α$ fluxes in the rings reveals an increase in the emission where the ring surface density in the R-band light exceeds 21.3$\pm$0.2 mag arcsec$^{-2}$. If the R-band light is dominated by old stars in the underlying density wave, then the results suggest evidence for a Star Formation law which exhibits a threshold dependence on the strength of the density wave in the rings. Even if the R-band continuum in the ring is heavily contaminated with red light from the underlying young stars then a smaller, but still significant non-linear enhancement in the star formation rates (SFR) in one segment of the second ring is required to explain the results. In either case, strong trends in the SFR with azimuth around Ring~2 are in good agreement with off-center collisional ring galaxy models.