arXiv subjects

Luis Colina

Publications and source records attributed to Luis Colina.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

arXiv2018

Bipolar ionization cones in the Extended Narrow-Line Region of nearby QSO2s

We have used narrow-band [OIII]$λλ$4959,5007 and H$α$+[NII]$λ\lambda6548,84$ Hubble Space Telescope (HST) images of 9 luminous (L[OIII]$>10^{42}$erg s$^{-1}$) type 2 QSOs with redshifts $0.1<z<0.5$ in order to constrain the geometry of their Extended Narrow-Line Regions (ENLR), as recent ground-based studies suggest these regions become more spherical at high luminosities due to destruction of the torus. We find instead elongated ENLRs reaching 4 to 19 kpc from the nucleus and bipolar ionization cones in [OIII]/(H$α$+[NII]) excitation maps indicating that the torus survives these luminosities, allowing the escape of $\approx$10 times higher ionizing photon rates along the ionization axis than perpendicularly to it. The exceptional HST angular resolution was key to our success in arriving at these conclusions. Combining our measurements with previous ones based on similar HST data, we have revisited the relation between the ENLR radius R$_{maj}$ (in pc) and L[OIII] (in erg s$^{-1}$) over the range $39<$log(L[OIII])$<43.5$: log(R$_{maj}) = (0.51\pm0.03)$ log(L[OIII])$-18.12\pm0.98$. The radius of the ENLR keeps increasing with L[OIII] in our data, implying that the ENLR can extend to distances beyond the limit of the galaxy if gas is present there $-$ e.g. from AGN outflows or interactions, seen in 6 objects of our sample. We attribute the flattening previously seen in this relation to the fact that the ENLR is matter-bounded, meaning that ionizing photons usually escape to the intergalactic medium in luminous AGN. Estimated ionized gas masses of the ENLRs range from 0.3 to $2\times10^8$ M$_{\odot}$, and estimated powers for associated outflows range from $<0.1\%$ to a few percent of the QSO luminosity.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2018

Circumnuclear star formation in Mrk 42 mapped with Gemini Near-infrared Integral Field Spectrograph

We present Gemini Near-infrared Integral Field Spectrograph (NIFS) observations of the inner $1.5\times1.5$ kpc$^2$ of the narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy Mrk 42 at a spatial resolution of 60 pc and spectral resolution of 40 km s$^{-1}$. The emission-line flux and equivalent width maps clearly show a ring of circumnuclear star formation regions (CNSFRs) surrounding the nucleus with radius of $\sim$500 pc. The spectra of some of these regions show molecular absorption features which are probably of CN, TiO or VO, indicating the presence of massive evolved stars in the thermally pulsing asymptotic giant branch (TP-AGB) phase. The gas kinematics of the ring is dominated by rotation in the plane of the galaxy, following the large scale disk geometry, while at the nucleus an additional outflowing component is detected blueshifted by 300-500 kms$^{-1}$, relative to the systemic velocity of the galaxy. Based on the equivalent width of Br$γ$, we find evidences of gradients in the age of HII regions along the ring of Mrk 42, favoring the pearls on a string scenario of star formation. The broad component of Pa$β$ emission line presents a Full Width at Half Maximum (FWHM) of $\sim$1480 kms$^{-1}$, implying in a mass of $\sim\,2.5\times10^{6}$~M$_{\odot}$ for the central supermassive black hole. Based on emission-line ratios we conclude that besides the active galactic nucleus, Mrk 42 presents nuclear Starburst activity.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2016

ALMA spectroscopic survey in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field: CO luminosity functions and the evolution of the cosmic density of molecular gas

In this paper we use ASPECS, the ALMA Spectroscopic Survey in the {\em Hubble} Ultra Deep Field (UDF) in band 3 and band 6, to place blind constraints on the CO luminosity function and the evolution of the cosmic molecular gas density as a function of redshift up to $z\sim 4.5$. This study is based on galaxies that have been solely selected through their CO emission and not through any other property. In all of the redshift bins the ASPECS measurements reach the predicted `knee' of the CO luminosity function (around $5\times10^{9}$ K km/s pc$^2$). We find clear evidence of an evolution in the CO luminosity function with respect to $z\sim 0$, with more CO luminous galaxies present at $z\sim 2$. The observed galaxies at $z\sim 2$ also appear more gas-rich than predicted by recent semi-analytical models. The comoving cosmic molecular gas density within galaxies as a function of redshift shows a factor 3-10 drop from $z \sim 2$ to $z \sim 0$ (with significant error bars), and possibly a decline at $z>3$. This trend is similar to the observed evolution of the cosmic star formation rate density. The latter therefore appears to be at least partly driven by the increased availability of molecular gas reservoirs at the peak of cosmic star formation ($z\sim2$).

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arXiv2016

ALMA Spectroscopic Survey in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field: Molecular gas reservoirs in high-redshift galaxies

We study the molecular gas properties of high-$z$ galaxies observed in the ALMA Spectroscopic Survey (ASPECS) that targets a $\sim1$ arcmin$^2$ region in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field (UDF), a blind survey of CO emission (tracing molecular gas) in the 3mm and 1mm bands. Of a total of 1302 galaxies in the field, 56 have spectroscopic redshifts and correspondingly well-defined physical properties. Among these, 11 have infrared luminosities $L_{\rm{}IR}>10^{11}$ L$_\odot$, i.e. a detection in CO emission was expected. Out these, 7 are detected at various significance in CO, and 4 are undetected in CO emission. In the CO-detected sources, we find CO excitation conditions that are lower than typically found in starburst/SMG/QSO environments. We use the CO luminosities (including limits for non-detections) to derive molecular gas masses. We discuss our findings in context of previous molecular gas observations at high redshift (star-formation law, gas depletion times, gas fractions): The CO-detected galaxies in the UDF tend to reside on the low-$L_{\rm{}IR}$ envelope of the scatter in the $L_{\rm{}IR}-L'_{\rm{}CO}$ relation, but exceptions exist. For the CO-detected sources, we find an average depletion time of $\sim$ 1 Gyr, with significant scatter. The average molecular-to-stellar mass ratio ($M_{\rm{}H2}$/$M_*$) is consistent with earlier measurements of main sequence galaxies at these redshifts, and again shows large variations among sources. In some cases, we also measure dust continuum emission. On average, the dust-based estimates of the molecular gas are a factor $\sim$2-5$\times$ smaller than those based on CO. Accounting for detections as well as non-detections, we find large diversity in the molecular gas properties of the high-redshift galaxies covered by ASPECS.

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arXiv2016

K band SINFONI spectra of two $z \sim 5$ SMGs: upper limits to the un-obscured star formation from [O II] optical emission line searches

We present deep SINFONI K band integral field spectra of two submillimeter (SMG) galaxy systems: BR 1202-0725 and J1000+0234, at $z=4.69$ and $4.55$ respectively. Spectra extracted for each object in the two systems do not show any signature of the [O II]$λλ$3726,29Å$\,$ emission-lines, placing upper flux limits of $3.9$ and $2.5 \times 10^{-18}\,$${\rm erg\,s^{-1}\,\,cm^{-2} \,}$ for BR 1202-0725 and J1000+0234, respectively. Using the relation between the star formation rate (SFR) and the luminosity of the [O II] doublet from Kennicutt (1998), we estimate unobscured SFR upper limits of $\sim$ $10-15\,\rm M_\odot\,yr^{-1} \,$ and $\sim$ $30-40\,\rm M_\odot\,yr^{-1} \,$ for the objects of the two systems, respectively. For the SMGs, these values are at least two orders of magnitude lower than those derived from SED and IR luminosities. The differences on the SFR values would correspond to internal extinction of, at least, $3.4 - 4.9$ and $2.1 - 3.6$ mag in the visual for BR 1202-0725 and J1000+0234 SMGs, respectively. The upper limit for the [O II]-derived SFR in one of the LAEs (Ly$\alpha2$) in the BR1202-0725 system is at least one order of magnitude lower than the previous SFR derived from infrared tracers, while both estimates are in good agreement for Ly$α$1. The lower limits to the internal extinction in these two Lyman-alpha emitters (LAEs) are $0.6$ mag and $1.3$ mag, respectively. No evidence for the previously claimed (Ohta et al. 2000) [O II] emission associated with Ly$α$1 is identified in our data, implying that residuals of the K-band sky emission lines after subtraction in medium-band imaging data could provide the adequate flux.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2016

ALMA Spectroscopic Survey in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field: Survey Description

We present the rationale for and the observational description of ASPECS: The ALMA SPECtroscopic Survey in the Hubble Ultra-Deep Field (UDF), the cosmological deep field that has the deepest multi-wavelength data available. Our overarching goal is to obtain an unbiased census of molecular gas and dust continuum emission in high-redshift (z$>$0.5) galaxies. The $\sim$1$'$ region covered within the UDF was chosen to overlap with the deepest available imaging from HST. Our ALMA observations consist of full frequency scans in band 3 (84-115 GHz) and band 6 (212-272 GHz) at approximately uniform line sensitivity ($L'_{\rm CO}\sim$2$\times$10$^{9}$ K km/s pc$^2$), and continuum noise levels of 3.8 $μ$Jy beam$^{-1}$ and 12.7 $μ$Jy beam$^{-1}$, respectively. The molecular surveys cover the different rotational transitions of the CO molecule, leading to essentially full redshift coverage. The [CII] emission line is also covered at redshifts $6.0<z<8.0$. We present a customized algorithm to identify line candidates in the molecular line scans, and quantify our ability to recover artificial sources from our data. Based on whether multiple CO lines are detected, and whether optical spectroscopic redshifts as well as optical counterparts exist, we constrain the most likely line identification. We report 10 (11) CO line candidates in the 3mm (1mm) band, and our statistical analysis shows that $<$4 of these (in each band) are likely spurious. Less than 1/3 of the total CO flux in the low-J CO line candidates are from sources that are not associated with an optical/NIR counterpart. We also present continuum maps of both the band 3 and band 6 observations. The data presented here form the basis of a number of dedicated studies that are presented in subsequent papers.

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arXiv2016

Velocities of warm galactic outflows from synthetic Hα observations of star-forming galaxies

The velocity structure imprinted in the Hα emission line profiles contains valuable information about galactic outflows. Using a set of high-resolution zoom-in cosmological simulations of galaxies at z=2, we generate Hα emission line profiles, taking into account the temperature-dependent Hα emissivity, as well as dust extinction. The Hα line can be described as a sum of two gaussians, as typically done with observations. In general, its properties are in good agreement with those observed in local isolated galaxies with similar masses and star formation rates, assuming a spatially constant clumping factor of c=24. Blueshifted outflows are very common in the sample. They extend several kpc above the galaxy discs. They are also spread over the full extent of the discs. However, at small radii, the material with high velocities tends to remain confined within a thick disc, as part of galactic fountains or a turbulent medium, most probably due to the deeper gravitational potential at the galaxy centre.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2016

VLT-SINFONI sub-kpc study of the star formation in local LIRGs and ULIRGs: Analysis of the global $Σ_{\rm SFR}$ structure and characterisation of individual star-forming clumps

We present a 2D study of star formation at kpc and sub-kpc scales of a sample of local (z<0.1) U/LIRGs, based on near-IR VLT-SINFONI observations. We obtained integrated measurements of the star formation rate (SFR) and star formation rate surface density, together with their 2D distributions, based on Br_gamma and Pa_alpha emission. We observe a tight linear correlation between the SFR derived from our extinction-corrected measurements and that derived from 24 micron data, and a reasonable agreement with SFR derived from total IR luminosity. Our near-IR measurements are on average a factor 3 larger than optical SFR, even when extinction corrections are applied. We found that LIRGs have a median-observed star formation rate surface density of 1.72 Msun/yr/kpc^2 for the extinction-corrected distribution, whilst ULIRGs have 0.23 Msun/yr/kpc^2, respectively. These median values for ULIRGs increase up to 2.90 Msun/yr/kpc^2, when only their inner regions, covering the same size as the average FoV of LIRGs, are considered. We identified a total of 95 individual SF clumps in our sample, with sizes within 60-1500pc, and extinction-corrected Pa_alpha luminosities of 10^5-10^8 Lsun. Star-forming clumps in LIRGs are about ten times larger and thousands of times more luminous than typical clumps in spiral galaxies. Clumps in ULIRGs have sizes similar (x0.5-1) to those of high-z clumps, having Pa_alpha luminosities similar to some high-z clumps, and about 10 times less luminous than the most luminous high-z clumps identified so far. We also observed a change in the slope of the L-r relation. A likely explanation is that most luminous galaxies are interacting and merging, and therefore their size represents a combination of the distribution of the star-forming clumps within each galaxy in the system plus the effect of the projected distance.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2016

Distinguishing `disks' from `mergers': tracing the kinematic asymmetries in local (U)LIRGs using `kinemetry'-based criteria

The kinematic characterization of different galaxy populations is a key observational input to distinguish between different galaxy evolutionary scenarios, since it helps to determine the number ratio of rotating disks to mergers at different cosmic epochs. Local (U)LIRGs offer a unique opportunity to study at high linear resolution and S/N extreme star forming events and compare them with those observed at high-z. We obtained Very Large Telescope (VLT) VIMOS optical integral field spectroscopy (IFS) data of a sample of 38 (U)LIRGs. The `unweighted' and `weighted' {kinemetry}-based methods are used to kinematically classify our galaxies in `disk' and `merger'. We simulate our systems at z=3 to evaluate how a loss of angular resolution affects our results. From the kinemetry-based analysis we are able classify our local (U)LIRGs in three distinct kinematic groups according to their total kinematic asymmetry values (K$_{tot}$) as derived when using the weighted (unweighted) method: 1) 25 out of 50 galaxies are kinematically classified as `disk', with a K$_{tot}\leq$ 0.16 (0.14); 2) 9 out of 50 galaxies are kinematically classified as `merger', with a K$_{tot}\geq$ 0.94 (0.66); 3) 16 out of 50 galaxies lie in the `transition region', in which disks and mergers coexist, with 0.16 (0.14) $<$ K$_{tot}$ $<$ 0.94 (0.66). When we apply our criteria to the high-z simulated systems, a lower total kinematic asymmetry frontier value (K$_{tot}$ $\sim$ 0.16 ($\sim$ 0.14)) is derived with respect to that found locally. The loss of angular resolution smears out the kinematic features, thus making objects to appear more kinematically regular than actually they are.

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arXiv2016

Spectroradiometry with Space Telescopes

Radiometry has been of fundamental importance in astronomy from the early beginnings. In this review, we provide an overview of how to achieve a valid laboratory calibration of space telescopes and discuss ways to reliably extend this calibration to the spectroscopic telescope's performance in space. Recently, the quest for independent calibrations traceable to laboratory standards has become a well-supported aim and has led to plans for launching calibration rockets for the visible and infrared spectral range. A survey of the calibration of instruments observing from the X-ray to the infrared spectral domains rounds off this review.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2015

Understanding the two-dimensional ionization structure in luminous infrared galaxies. A near-IR integral field spectroscopy perspective

We investigate the 2D excitation structure of the ISM in a sample of LIRGs and Seyferts using near-IR IFS. This study extends to the near-IR the well-known optical and mid-IR emission line diagnostics used to classify activity in galaxies. Based on the spatially resolved spectroscopy of prototypes, we identify in the [FeII]1.64/Br$γ$ - H_2 1-0S(1)/Br$γ$ plane regions dominated by the different heating sources, i.e. AGNs, young MS massive stars, and evolved stars i.e. supernovae. The ISM in LIRGs occupy a wide region in the near-IR diagnostic plane from -0.6 to +1.5 and from -1.2 to +0.8 (in log units) for the [FeII]/Br$γ$ and H_2/Br$γ$ line ratios, respectively. The corresponding median(mode) ratios are +0.18(0.16) and +0.02(-0.04). Seyferts show on average larger values by factors ~2.5 and ~1.4 for the [FeII]/Br$γ$ and H_2/Br$γ$ ratios, respectively. New areas and relations in the near-IR diagnostic plane are defined for the compact, high surface brightness regions dominated by AGN, young ionizing stars, and SNe explosions, respectively. In addition, the diffuse regions affected by the AGN radiation field cover an area similar to that of Seyferts, but with high values in [FeII]/Br$γ$ that are not as extreme. The extended, non-AGN diffuse regions cover a wide area in the diagnostic diagram that overlaps that of individual excitation mechanisms (i.e. AGN, young stars, and SNe), but with its mode value to that of the young SF clumps. This indicates that the excitation conditions of the diffuse ISM are likely due to a mixture of the different ionization sources. The integrated line ratios in LIRGs show higher excitation conditions i.e. towards AGNs, than those measured by the spatially resolved spectroscopy. If this behaviour is representative, it would have clear consequences when classifying high-z, SF galaxies based on their near-IR integrated spectra.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2015

Differences between CO- and calcium triplet-derived velocity dispersions in spiral galaxies: evidence for central star formation?

We examine the stellar velocity dispersions (sigma) of a sample of 48 galaxies, 35 of which are spirals, from the Palomar nearby galaxy survey. It is known that for ultra-luminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs) and merger remnants thesigma derived from the near-infrared CO band-heads is smaller than that measured from optical lines, while no discrepancy between these measurements is found for early-type galaxies. No such studies are available for spiral galaxies - the subject of this paper. We used cross-dispersed spectroscopic data obtained with the Gemini Near-Infrared Spectrograph (GNIRS), with spectral coverage from 0.85 to 2.5um, to obtain sigma measurements from the 2.29 $μ$m CO band-heads (sigma_{CO}), and the 0.85 um calcium triplet (sigma_{CaT}). For the spiral galaxies in the sample, we found that sigma_{CO} is smaller than sigma_{CaT}, with a mean fractional difference of 14.3%. The best fit to the data is given by sigma_{opt} = (46.0+/-18.1) + (0.85+/-0.12)sigma_{CO}. This "sigma discrepancy" may be related to the presence of warm dust, as suggested by a slight correlation between the discrepancy and the infrared luminosity. This is consistent with studies that have found no sigma-discrepancy in dust-poor early-type galaxies, and a much larger discrepancy in dusty merger remnants and ULIRGs. That sigma_{CO}$ is lower than sigma_{opt} may also indicate the presence of a dynamically cold stellar population component. This would agree with the spatial correspondence between low sigma_{CO} and young/intermediate-age stellar populations that has been observed in spatially-resolved spectroscopy of a handful of galaxies.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2015

Star-formation histories of local luminous infrared galaxies

We present the analysis of the integrated spectral energy distribution (SED) from the ultraviolet (UV) to the far-infrared and H$α$ of a sample of 29 local systems and individual galaxies with infrared (IR) luminosities between 10^11 Lsun and 10^11.8 Lsun. We have combined new narrow-band H$α$+[NII] and broad-band g, r optical imaging taken with the Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT), with archival GALEX, 2MASS, Spitzer, and Herschel data. The SEDs (photometry and integrated H$α$ flux) have been fitted with a modified version of the MAGPHYS code using stellar population synthesis models for the UV-near-IR range and thermal emission models for the IR emission taking into account the energy balance between the absorbed and re-emitted radiation. From the SED fits we derive the star-formation histories (SFH) of these galaxies. For nearly half of them the star-formation rate appears to be approximately constant during the last few Gyrs. In the other half, the current star-formation rate seems to be enhanced by a factor of 3-20 with respect to that occured ~1 Gyr ago. Objects with constant SFH tend to be more massive than starbursts and they are compatible with the expected properties of a main-sequence (M-S) galaxy. Likewise, the derived SFHs show that all our objects were M-S galaxies ~1 Gyr ago with stellar masses between 10^10.1 and 10^11.5 Msun. We also derived from our fits the average extinction (A_v=0.6-3 mag) and the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) luminosity to L(IR) ratio (0.03-0.16). We combined the A_v with the total IR and H$α$ luminosities into a diagram which can be used to identify objects with rapidly changing (increasing or decreasing) SFR during the last 100 Myr.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2014

Outflow of hot and cold molecular gas from the obscured secondary nucleus of NGC3256: closing in on feedback physics

The nuclei of merging galaxies are often deeply buried in dense layers of gas and dust. In these regions, gas outflows driven by starburst and AGN activity are believed to play a crucial role in the evolution of these galaxies. However, to fully understand this process it is essential to resolve the morphology and kinematics of such outflows. Using near-IR integral-field spectroscopy obtained with VLT/SINFONI, we detect a kpc-scale structure of high-velocity molecular hydrogen (H2) gas associated with the deeply buried secondary nucleus of the IR-luminous merger NGC3256. We show that this structure is likely the hot component of a molecular outflow, which is detected also in the cold molecular gas by Sakamoto et al. This outflow, with a molecular gas mass of M(H2)~2x10^7 Msun, is among the first to be spatially resolved in both the hot H2 gas with VLT/SINFONI and the cold CO-emitting gas with ALMA. The hot and cold components share a similar morphology and kinematics, with a hot-to-cold molecular gas mass ratio of ~6x10^-5. The high (~100 pc) resolution at which we map the geometry and velocity structure of the hot outflow reveals a biconical morphology with opening angle ~40 deg and gas spread across a FWZI~1200 km/s. Because this collimated outflow is oriented close to the plane of the sky, the molecular gas may reach maximum intrinsic outflow velocities of ~1800 km/s, with an average mass outflow rate of at least ~20 Msun/yr. By modeling the line-ratios of various near-IR H2 transitions, we show that the H2 gas in the outflow is heated through shocks or X-rays to a temperature of ~1900K. The energy needed to drive the outflow is likely provided by a hidden Compton-thick AGN or by the nuclear starburst. We show that the global kinematics of the molecular outflow in NGC3256 mimic those of CO-outflows that have been observed at low spatial resolution in starburst- and active galaxies.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2014

Ionized gas outflows and global kinematics of low-z luminous star forming galaxies

We study the kinematic properties of the ambient ionized ISM and ionized gas outflows in a large and representative sample of local luminous and ultraluminous infrared galaxies (U/LIRGs) (58 systems, 75 galaxies), on the basis of integral field spectroscopy (IFS)-based high S/N integrated spectra at galactic and sub-galactic, i.e. star forming (SF) clumps, scales. Ambient ionized gas. The velocity dispersion of the ionized ISM in U/LIRGs ( ~ 70 kms-1) is larger than in lower luminosity local star forming galaxies ( ~ 25 kms-1). While for isolated disc LIRGs star formation appears to sustain turbulence, gravitational energy release associated to interactions and mergers plays an important role driving sigma in the U/LIRG range. We also find that the impact of an AGN in ULIRGs is strong, increasing sigma by a factor 1.5 on average. The observed weak dependency of sigma with SFR surface density for local U/LIRGs is in very good agreement with that measured in some high-z samples. Ionized outflows. The presence of ionized gas outflows in U/LIRGs seems universal based on the detection of a broad, usually blueshifted, Halpha line. AGNs in U/LIRGs are able to generate faster (x2) and more massive (x1.4) ionized gas outflows than pure starbursts. The derived ionized mass loading factors are in general below one, with only a few AGNs above this limit. Only a small fraction of the ionized material from low mass LIRGs (log(Mdyn/Msun) < 10.4) could reach the intergalactic medium, with more massive galaxies retaining the gas. The observed average outflow properties in U/LIRGs are similar to high-z galaxies of comparable SFR. In the bright SF clumps found in LIRGs, ionized gas outflows appear to be very common. For a given SFR surface density, outflows in LIRG clumps would be about one to two orders of magnitude less energetic than those launched by clumps in high-z SF galaxies.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2014

A multi-wavelength view of the central kiloparsec region in the Luminous Infrared Galaxy NGC1614

The Luminous Infrared Galaxy NGC1614 hosts a prominent circumnuclear ring of star formation. However, the nature of the dominant emitting mechanism in its central ~100 pc is still under debate. We present sub-arcsecond angular resolution radio, mid-infrared, Pa-alpha, optical, and X-ray observations of NGC1614, aimed at studying in detail both the circumnuclear ring and the nuclear region. The 8.4 GHz continuum emission traced by the Very Large Array (VLA) and the Gemini/T-ReCS 8.7 micron emission, as well as the Pa-alpha line emission, show remarkable morphological similarities within the star-forming ring, suggesting that the underlying emission mechanisms are tightly related. We used an HST/NICMOS Pa-alpha map of similar resolution to our radio maps to disentangle the thermal free-free and non-thermal synchrotron radio emission, from which we obtained the intrinsic synchrotron power-law for each individual region within the central kpc of NGC1614. The radio ring surrounds a relatively faint, steep-spectrum source at the very center of the galaxy, suggesting that the central source is not powered by an AGN, but rather by a compact (r < 90 pc) starburst. Chandra X-ray data also show that the central kpc region is dominated by starburst activity, without requiring the existence of an AGN. We also used publicly available infrared data to model-fit the spectral energy distribution of both the starburst ring and a putative AGN in NGC1614. In summary, we conclude that there is no need to invoke an AGN to explain the observed bolometric properties of the galaxy.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2013

VLT/VIMOS integral field spectroscopy of luminous and ultraluminous infrared galaxies: 2D kinematic properties

We present and discuss the 2D kinematic properties of the ionized gas (Halpha) in a sample of 38 local (ultra) luminous infrared galaxies [(U)LIRGs] (31 LIRGs and 7 ULIRGs) observed with VIMOS at the VLT using integral field spectroscopy. This sample covers well the less studied LIRG luminosity range and includes isolated disks, interacting systems, and mergers. The majority of the galaxies have two main kinematically distinct components. One component (i.e., narrow or systemic) extends over the whole line-emitting region and is characterized by small to intermediate velocity dispersions (i.e., sigma from 30 to 160 km s^-1). It traces the overall velocity field. The second component (broad) has in general a larger velocity dispersion (up to 320 km s^-1), mainly found in the inner regions and generally blueshifted with respect to the systemic component. Most of the objects (76%) are dominated by rotation, more relevant in LIRGs than in ULIRGs. Isolated disks, interacting galaxies, and merging systems define a sequence of increasing mean velocity dispersion, and decreasing velocity field amplitude.The LIRGs classified as isolated disks have similar velocity amplitudes but larger mean velocity dispersions (44 vs. 24 km s^-1) than local spirals, implying a larger turbulence and thicker disks. Interacting systems and mergers have values closer to those of low velocity dispersion ellipticals/lenticular galaxies (E/SOs). The (U)LIRGs classified as mergers have kinematic properties similar to those shown by the Lyman break analogs (LBAs). The dynamical masses range from \sim 0.04 m* to 1.4 m* (i.e., m* = 1.4x10^{11} Msun), with ULIRGs (M{dyn} sim 0.5 +/- 0.2 m*) being more massive than LIRGs by, on average, a factor of about 2. The mass ratio of individual pre-coalescence galaxies is <2.5 for most of the systems, confirming that most (U)LIRG mergers involve sub-m* galaxies of similar mass.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2011

Characterization of optically-selected star forming knots in (U)LIRGs

(abridged)We present a comprehensive characterization of the general properties (luminosity functions, mass, size, ages, etc) of optically selected compact stellar objects (knots) in a representative sample of 32 low-z (U)LIRGs. We use ACS images from the Hubble Space Telescope in F435W and F814W bands. The galaxies in the sample represent different interaction phases and cover a wide luminosity range (11.46 \leq log (L_IR (Lsun)) \leq 12.54). With a median size of 32 pc, most of the nearly 3000 knots detected consists of complexes of star clusters. Some of the knots (~15%) are so blue that their colors indicate a young (i.e., < 30 Myr) and almost extinction-free population. There is a clear correlation of the mass of these blue knots with their radius, M \propto R^{1.91\pm0.14}, similar to that found in complexes of clusters in M51 and in Giant Molecular Clouds. This suggests that the star formation within the knots is proportional to the gas density at any given radius. The star formation of all the knots is characterized by luminosity functions (LFs) of the knots with slopes close to 2. Though, we see a marginally significant indication that the LF evolves with the interaction process, becoming steeper from early to advanced merger phases. Due to size-of-sample effects we are probably sampling knots in ULIRGs intrinsically more luminous (x4) than in less luminous systems. They also have sizes and are likely to have masses characteristic of clumps in galaxies at z \gtrsim 1. Knots in post-mergers are on average larger (x 1.3-2), more luminous (2 mag) in the I-band, and 0.5 mag redder than those in systems in earlier phases. Two scenarios are briefly discussed: (1) the likely presence of relatively high extinction in the most advanced mergers; (2) the dissolution of the less massive clusters and/or their coalescence into more massive, evolved superclusters.

astro-ph.CO↗