Physics
Scientific paper
Jan 1994
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1994phdt........18w&link_type=abstract
PhD Dissertation, Wisconsin Univ. Madison, WI United States
Physics
5
Starburst Galaxies, Near Infrared Radiation, Radio Emission, Galactic Radiation, Cosmic Dust, Galactic Structure, Infrared Imagery, Infrared Spectroscopy, Ionized Gases, Color
Scientific paper
Nuclear starbursts often appear to be hidden behind large amounts of dust. For this reason, the near IR is an important wavelength region as it is the longest wavelength region in which the emission is expected to be dominated by stars rather than emission from dust and gas. I have obtained near IR imaging and spectroscopy of a sample of nearby nuclear starburst galaxies, including NGC 253, NGC 660, and M82. Many of these galaxies show very red JHK colors in their nuclear regions, although the colors are not uniform between galaxies. I consider in turn the five physical processes that are thought to determine the near IR colors of these galaxies emission from hot young stars; emission from ionized gas; emission from hot dust; and absorption and scattering by dust. I show that ionized gas is a minor contributor to the near IR emission from these starbursts. I place strong qualitative and quantitative limits on emission from hot dust. I have modelled the effects of representative mixtures of stars and dust using a Monte Carlo approach to solve the equation of radiative transfer, including both absorption and scattering. From this, I conclude that the near IR characteristics of these galaxies are best explained by emission from young bursts of stars mixed with large amounts of dust. Differences in the relative distribution of dust and stars can explain the differences seen in the colors of these galaxies, and provides unique and important information on the structure of these starbursts.
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