Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2006-10-05
Astrophys.J.652:L21-L24,2006
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
13 pages, 3 figures, 1 table; Accepted for publication in ApJL
Scientific paper
10.1086/509886
We present the Spitzer/IRS mid-infrared spectrum of the infrared-luminous (L_{IR}=4e11 L_sun) brightest cluster galaxy (BCG) in the X-ray-luminous cluster Z3146 (z=0.29). The spectrum shows strong aromatic emission features, indicating that the dominant source of the infrared luminosity is star formation. The most striking feature of the spectrum, however, is the exceptionally strong molecular hydrogen (H2) emission lines, which seem to be shock-excited. The line luminosities and inferred warm H2 gas mass (~1e10 M_sun) are 6 times larger than those of NGC 6240, the most H2-luminous galaxy at z <~ 0.1. Together with the large amount of cold H2 detected previously (~1e11 M_sun), this indicates that the Z3146 BCG contains disproportionately large amounts of both warm and cold H2 gas for its infrared luminosity, which may be related to the intracluster gas cooling process in the cluster core.
Egami Eiichi E.
Fadda Dario
Hines Dean Carter
Rieke George H.
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