arXiv subjects

S. J. Higdon

Publications and source records attributed to S. J. Higdon.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2007

Optical Line Diagnostics of z~2 Optically Faint ULIRGs in the Spitzer Bootes Survey

We present near-infrared spectroscopic observations for a sample of ten optically faint luminous infrared galaxies (R-[24]> 14) using Keck NIRSPEC and Gemini NIRI. The sample is selected from a 24 micron Spitzer MIPS imaging survey of the NDWFS Bootes field. We measure accurate redshifts in the range 1.3 1900 km/s) Halpha or Hbeta emission lines; the remaining three are type II AGN. Given their large mid-IR luminosities and faint optical magnitudes, we might expect these sources to be heavily extincted quasars, and therefore only visible as type II AGN. The visibility of broad lines in 70% of the sources suggests that it is unlikely that these AGN are being viewed through the mid-plane of a dusty torus. For four of the sources we constrain the Halpha/Hbeta Balmer decrement and estimate the extinction to the emission line region to be large for both type I and type II AGN, with A_Halpha > 2.4-5 mag. Since the narrow-line region is also extincted and the UV continuum emission from the host galaxies is extremely faint, this suggests that much of the obscuration is contributed by dust on large (~kpc) scales within the host galaxies. These sources may be examples of "host-obscured" AGN which could have space densities comparable or greater to that of optically luminous type I AGN with similar bolometric luminosities.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2006

The Mid-IR Properties of Starburst Galaxies from Spitzer-IRS Spectroscopy

We present 5-38um mid-infrared spectra at a spectral resolution of R~65-130 of a large sample of 22 starburst nuclei taken with the Infrared Spectrograph IRS on board the Spitzer Space Telescope. The spectra show a vast range in starburst SEDs. The silicate absorption ranges from essentially no absorption to heavily obscured systems with an optical depth of tau(9.8um)~5. The spectral slopes can be used to discriminate between starburst and AGN powered sources. The monochromatic continuum fluxes at 15um and 30um enable a remarkably accurate estimate of the total infrared luminosity of the starburst. We find that the PAH equivalent width is independent of the total starburst luminosity L_IR as both continuum and PAH feature scale proportionally. However, the luminosity of the 6.2um feature scales with L_IR and can be used to approximate the total infrared luminosity of the starburst. Although our starburst sample covers about a factor of ten difference in the [NeIII]/[NeII] ratio, we found no systematic correlation between the radiation field hardness and the PAH equivalent width or the 7.7um/11.3um PAH ratio. These results are based on spatially integrated diagnostics over an entire starburst region, and local variations may be ``averaged out''. It is presumably due to this effect that unresolved starburst nuclei with significantly different global properties appear spectrally as rather similar members of one class of objects.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2003

CO (J=7->6) Observations of NGC 253: Cosmic Ray Heated Warm Molecular Gas

We report observations of the CO J=7->6 transition toward the starburst nucleus of NGC 253. This is the highest-excitation CO measurement in this source to date, and allows an estimate of the molecular gas excitation conditions. Comparison of the CO line intensities with a large velocity gradient, escape probability model indicates that the bulk of the 2-5 x 10^7 solar masses of molecular gas in the central 180 pc is highly excited. A model with T ~ 120 K, n_H_2 ~ 4.5 x 10^4 cm^-3 is consistent with the observed CO intensities as well as the rotational H2 lines observed with ISO. The inferred mass of warm, dense molecular gas is 10--30 times the atomic gas mass as traced through its [CII] and [OI] line emission. This large mass ratio is inconsistent with photodissociation region models where the gas is heated by far-UV starlight. It is also not likely that the gas is heated by shocks in outflows or cloud-cloud collisions. We conclude that the best mechanism for heating the gas is cosmic rays, which provide a natural means of uniformly heating the full volume of molecular clouds. With the tremendous supernova rate in the nucleus of NGC 253, the CR heating rate is at least ~800 times greater than in the Galaxy, more than sufficient to match the cooling observed in the CO lines.

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