Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
1999-03-18
Astrophys.Space Sci. 266 (1999) 149-155
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
LaTex, 6 pages with 1 postscript and 1 jpg figure, and 1 postscript table, To appear in the proc. of the Ringberg workshop on
Scientific paper
Recent high resolution near infrared (HST-NICMOS) and mm-interferometric imaging have revealed dense gas and dust accretion disks in nearby ultra-luminous galactic nuclei. In the best studied ultraluminous IR galaxy, Arp 220, the 2 micron imaging shows dust disks in both of the merging galactic nuclei and mm-CO line imaging indicates molecular gas masses approx. 10^9 M_sun for each disk. The two gas disks in Arp 220 are counterrotating and their dynamical masses are approx. 2x10^9 M_sun, that is, only slightly larger than the gas masses. These disks have radii approx 100 pc and thickness 10-50 pc. The high brightness temperatures of the CO lines indicate that the gas in the disks has area filling factors of approx. 25-50% and mean densities of >~ 10^4 cm^(-3). Within these nuclear disks, the rate of massive star formation is undoubtedly prodigious and, given the high viscosity of the gas, there will also be high radial accretion rates, perhaps >~ 10 M_sun/yr. If this inflow persists to very small radii, it is enough to feed even the highest luminosity AGNs.
No associations
LandOfFree
Massive Accretion Disks does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with Massive Accretion Disks, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Massive Accretion Disks will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-394599