INVESTIGATING THE NUCLEAR ACTIVITY OF BARRED SPIRAL GALAXIES: THE CASE OF NGC 1672
Abstract
We have performed an X-ray study of the nearby barred spiral galaxy NGC 1672, primarily to ascertain the effect of the bar on its nuclear activity. We use both Chandra and XMM-Newton observations to investigate its X-ray properties, together with supporting high-resolution optical imaging data from the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), infrared imaging from the Spitzer Space Telescope, and Australia Telescope Compact Array ground-based radio data. We detect 28 X-ray sources within the D{sub 25} area of the galaxy; many are spatially correlated with star formation in the bar and spiral arms, and two are identified as background galaxies in the HST images. Nine of the X-ray sources are ultraluminous X-ray sources, with the three brightest (L{sub X} > 5 x 10{sup 39} erg s{sup -1}) located at the ends of the bar. With the spatial resolution of Chandra, we are able to show for the first time that NGC 1672 possesses a hard ({Gamma} {approx} 1.5) nuclear X-ray source with a 2-10 keV luminosity of 4 x 10{sup 38} erg s{sup -1}. This is surrounded by an X-ray-bright circumnuclear star-forming ring, comprised of point sources and hot gas, which dominates the 2-10 keV emission in the central region ofmore »
- Authors:
-
- Laboratory for X-ray Astrophysics, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 662, Greenbelt, MD 20771 (United States)
- Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802 (United States)
- Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218 (United States)
- CSIRO, Australia Telescope National Facility (ATNF), Epping, NSW 1710 (Australia)
- Department of Physics, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL (United Kingdom)
- NVI/United States Naval Observatory, Washington, DC 20392 (United States)
- Department of Physics, Durham University, Durham DH1 3LE (United Kingdom)
- Department of Physics, University of Crete, GR-71003 Heraklion (Greece)
- Publication Date:
- OSTI Identifier:
- 21576663
- Resource Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal Name:
- Astrophysical Journal
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 734; Journal Issue: 1; Other Information: DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/734/1/33; Journal ID: ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 79 ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY; COSMIC X-RAY SOURCES; GALACTIC EVOLUTION; GALAXIES; IMAGES; PHOTOMETRY; X RADIATION; COSMIC RAY SOURCES; ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION; EVOLUTION; IONIZING RADIATIONS; RADIATIONS
Citation Formats
Jenkins, L P, Brandt, W N, Colbert, E J. M., Kuntz, K D, Koribalski, B, Levan, A J, Ojha, R, Roberts, T P, Ward, M J, and Zezas, A. INVESTIGATING THE NUCLEAR ACTIVITY OF BARRED SPIRAL GALAXIES: THE CASE OF NGC 1672. United States: N. p., 2011.
Web. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/734/1/33.
Jenkins, L P, Brandt, W N, Colbert, E J. M., Kuntz, K D, Koribalski, B, Levan, A J, Ojha, R, Roberts, T P, Ward, M J, & Zezas, A. INVESTIGATING THE NUCLEAR ACTIVITY OF BARRED SPIRAL GALAXIES: THE CASE OF NGC 1672. United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/734/1/33
Jenkins, L P, Brandt, W N, Colbert, E J. M., Kuntz, K D, Koribalski, B, Levan, A J, Ojha, R, Roberts, T P, Ward, M J, and Zezas, A. 2011.
"INVESTIGATING THE NUCLEAR ACTIVITY OF BARRED SPIRAL GALAXIES: THE CASE OF NGC 1672". United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/734/1/33.
@article{osti_21576663,
title = {INVESTIGATING THE NUCLEAR ACTIVITY OF BARRED SPIRAL GALAXIES: THE CASE OF NGC 1672},
author = {Jenkins, L P and Brandt, W N and Colbert, E J. M. and Kuntz, K D and Koribalski, B and Levan, A J and Ojha, R and Roberts, T P and Ward, M J and Zezas, A},
abstractNote = {We have performed an X-ray study of the nearby barred spiral galaxy NGC 1672, primarily to ascertain the effect of the bar on its nuclear activity. We use both Chandra and XMM-Newton observations to investigate its X-ray properties, together with supporting high-resolution optical imaging data from the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), infrared imaging from the Spitzer Space Telescope, and Australia Telescope Compact Array ground-based radio data. We detect 28 X-ray sources within the D{sub 25} area of the galaxy; many are spatially correlated with star formation in the bar and spiral arms, and two are identified as background galaxies in the HST images. Nine of the X-ray sources are ultraluminous X-ray sources, with the three brightest (L{sub X} > 5 x 10{sup 39} erg s{sup -1}) located at the ends of the bar. With the spatial resolution of Chandra, we are able to show for the first time that NGC 1672 possesses a hard ({Gamma} {approx} 1.5) nuclear X-ray source with a 2-10 keV luminosity of 4 x 10{sup 38} erg s{sup -1}. This is surrounded by an X-ray-bright circumnuclear star-forming ring, comprised of point sources and hot gas, which dominates the 2-10 keV emission in the central region of the galaxy. The spatially resolved multiwavelength photometry indicates that the nuclear source is a low-luminosity active galactic nucleus (LLAGN), but with star formation activity close to the central black hole. A high-resolution multiwavelength survey is required to fully assess the impact of both large-scale bars and smaller-scale phenomena such as nuclear bars, rings, and nuclear spirals on the fueling of LLAGN.},
doi = {10.1088/0004-637X/734/1/33},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/21576663},
journal = {Astrophysical Journal},
issn = {0004-637X},
number = 1,
volume = 734,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Jun 10 00:00:00 EDT 2011},
month = {Fri Jun 10 00:00:00 EDT 2011}
}