UNCOVERING THE DEEPLY EMBEDDED ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEUS ACTIVITY IN THE NUCLEAR REGIONS OF THE INTERACTING GALAXY Arp 299

Journal Article · Tue Dec 10 00:00:00 EST 2013 · Astrophysical Journal Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/779/1/L14· OSTI ID:22364096

Alonso-Herrero, A. ^[1]; Roche, P. F. ^[2]; Esquej, P.; Colina, L. ^[3]; González-Martín, O.; Ramos Almeida, C.; Asensio Ramos, A.; Rodríguez Espinosa, J. M.; Alvarez, C. ^[4]; Pereira-Santaella, M. ^[5]; Levenson, N. A. ^[6]; Packham, C. ^[7]; Mason, R. E. ^[8]; Aretxaga, I. ^[9]; Díaz-Santos, T. ^[10]; Perlman, E. ^[11]

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1. Instituto de Física de Cantabria, CSIC-UC, E-39005 Santander (Spain)
2. Astrophysics Department, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3RH (United Kingdom)
3. Centro de Astrobiología, CSIC-INTA, E-28035 Madrid (Spain)
4. Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, E-38205 La Laguna (Spain)
5. Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali, INAF, I-00133 Rome (Italy)
6. Gemini Observatory, La Serena (Chile)
7. University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX 78249 (United States)
8. Gemini Observatory, Hilo, HI 96720 (United States)
9. INAOE, 72000 Puebla (Mexico)
10. Spitzer Science Center, Caltech, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States)
11. Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, FL 32901 (United States)

We present mid-infrared (MIR) 8-13 μm spectroscopy of the nuclear regions of the interacting galaxy Arp 299 (IC 694+NGC 3690) obtained with CanariCam (CC) on the 10.4 m Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC). The high angular resolution (∼0.''3-0.''6) of the data allows us to probe nuclear physical scales between 60 and 120 pc, which is a factor of 10 improvement over previous MIR spectroscopic observations of this system. The GTC/CC spectroscopy displays evidence of deeply embedded active galactic nucleus (AGN) activity in both nuclei. The GTC/CC nuclear spectrum of NGC 3690/Arp 299-B1 can be explained as emission from AGN-heated dust in a clumpy torus with both a high covering factor and high extinction along the line of sight. The estimated bolometric luminosity of the AGN in NGC 3690 is 3.2 ± 0.6 × 10{sup 44} erg s{sup –1}. The nuclear GTC/CC spectrum of IC 694/Arp 299-A shows 11.3 μm polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon emission stemming from a deeply embedded (A{sub V} ∼ 24 mag) region of less than 120 pc in size. There is also a continuum-emitting dust component. If associated with the putative AGN in IC 694, we estimate that it would be approximately five times less luminous than the AGN in NGC 3690. The presence of dual AGN activity makes Arp 299 a good example to study such phenomena in the early coalescence phase of interacting galaxies.

• OSTI ID: 22364096
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal Letters, Vol. 779, Issue 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 2041-8205
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTROPHYSICS
COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
APPROXIMATIONS
ASTRONOMY
ASTROPHYSICS
BOLOMETERS
COALESCENCE
COSMIC DUST
GALAXIES
GALAXY NUCLEI
INFRARED SPECTRA
LUMINOSITY
POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS
PROBES
RESOLUTION
STAR CLUSTERS