The Kinematic Environment of Nuclear Rings

Details The Kinematic Environment of Nuclear Rings The Kinematic Environment of Nuclear Rings

May 2009

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009aas...21442304m&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #214, #423.04; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 41, p.693

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

We utilize the DensePak fiber-optic array on the KPNO WIYN telescope to construct two-dimensional Hα velocity fields of ten nuclear rings. We find that residual velocities are low (no greater than 20 km/s) within the nuclear rings, which describe a non-turbulent environment where star formation can flourish without the presence of strong shocks and shears within the ring. Dispersions are also comparably low (20 km/s to 50 km/s) within all of the nuclear rings studied. The low dispersions and residuals correlate spatially with the strongest Hα emissions and high Hα luminosities in the nuclear rings. This scenario implies that the gas is calm in the rings and relatively non-turbulent, which allows star formation to ignite. Our results, when combined with Hα imaging data, also indicate that the nuclear rings are nearly circular and typically in the same plane as the galaxy disk. In two cases, there exist large offsets between the ring kinematic and photometric position angles. These are attributed to complex interactions with the bar or with a known merging galactic system. Of the barred galaxies in the sample, the outer boundary of the nuclear ring is delineated by a thin shell of steep velocity gradients, with the strongest velocity transitions existing across the outer edge of the nuclear ring along the bar minor axis. This location correlates with the intersection of the ends of the bar dust lanes with the outer edge of the nuclear ring, as well as the location of the youngest HII regions within each ring. From this, we deduce that material from the bar is efficiently transferred to the nuclear ring, with star formation ensuing on short time scales.

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