Other
Scientific paper
Sep 1988
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1988mnras.234p..29p&link_type=abstract
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (ISSN 0035-8711), vol. 234, Sept. 1, 1988, p. 29P-40P.
Other
43
Active Galactic Nuclei, Hydrogen, Spectrophotometry, Spiral Galaxies, Star Formation, Emission Spectra, Interacting Galaxies, Line Spectra, Seyfert Galaxies, Thermal Shock, Ultraviolet Radiation
Scientific paper
New near-infrared spectrophotometric observations of seven nearby spiral galaxies with vigorous central star-forming complexes are presented. Emission from molecular hydrogen has been detected from near the nucleus of each of these galaxies, and in every case it proves to be fluorescent, not shock excited. Comparison with the Br-gamma emission shows that excitation and ionization by ultraviolet radiation of power-law slope, as expected from an active nucleus, is not a viable mechanism. Instead, the observed molecular and atomic hydrogen line fluxes can be understood if the source of UV is an ensemble of stars having an initial mass function consistent with that of the solar neighborhood. The present results contrast sharply with those so far available, for interacting, merging, and some Seyfert galaxies, in which the excitation mechanism appears to be shocks. This difference may perhaps be due to beam size effects; if not, there appears to be a qualitative difference between the star-forming complexes in merging and interacting galaxies, on the one hand, and in barred spiral galaxies, on the other.
Hawarden Tim G.
Mountain Charles M.
Puxley Phil J.
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