Infrared Spectroscopy of Interacting and Merging Galaxies
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Infrared Spectroscopy of Interacting and Merging Galaxies by Rene Doyon A Thesis Submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of the University of London and for the Diploma of Imperial College November 1990 A mes parents A bstract This thesis presents a study of interacting and merging galaxies exhibiting vig orous star formation activity. Different aspects related to this phenomenon are examined. New near-infrared spectroscopic observations are presented for selected in teracting and merging galaxies. Most of these galaxies show strong recombina tion lines of hydrogen and helium, a strong evidence for the presence of massive stars. Further evidence that vigorous star formation activity is taking place in these galaxies is provided by the existence of numerous red supergiant stars inferred both from the unusually strong 2.2 fim luminosity and the strength of the CO band absorption at 2.3 /zm. A variety of techniques is used to constrain both the age of the burst and the range of stellar masses present in these galaxies. The use of the HeIA2.06/zm/Br7 line ratio as a constraint of the upper mass limit of the initial mass function is discussed. It is shown that star formation for masses beyond 30 M q is apparently suppressed in some galaxies, including the classical star- bursts M82 and NGC 253. A stellar synthesis model is constructed and used in combination with a x 2 analysis technique to determine the age of the burst and the stellar parameters of the initial mass function in a unique way. The age of the burst in most galaxies is found between 10 and 60 million years. This analysis suggests that the initial mass function of NGC 3256 and NGC 2798 is deficient in low-mass (< 2 Mq) stars, a result which is independent of the knowledge of the mass participating in the burst. Measurements of molecular hydrogen lines in IC 694, NGC 1614 and NGC 3256 show that a large fraction (>50%) of the H 2 emission is fluorescently- excited by UV photons. Simple theoretical considerations of the physical condi tions prevailing in the nuclei of these galaxies show that the copious production of UV radiation by an ensemble of young OB stars provides a viable scenario for explaining the observed H 2 emission. 3 Acknowledgements This thesis is the fruit of three years of research during which many people have contributed, through their advice, help or simply their friendship, to make this experience very fulfilling and enjoyable. To these people I would like to express my gratitude. First, I would like to thank my supervisor, Bob Joseph, for his invaluable guidance and ideas he put into this project. His enthusiasm and attitude to wards research will always be a model to follow. This work has greatly benefited from illuminating discussions and advice from Phil Puxley and Gillian Wright. I am particularly grateful to Phil for his careful (and prompt) readings and comments he provided on most of the manuscript. The experience I gained in infrared observing techniques and data reduction is by far due to the devotion of Gillian. These people also gave me their friendship which I valued very much. It has been a pleasure to work with the many graduate students and the permanent members of the astrophysics group. I give my thanks to everybody but especially to Philip James, Jason Spyromilio and Martyn Wells. I also wish to thank Nicole St-Louis for her love, patience and the many stimulating discussions we had on Wolf-Rayet stars. This work was financially supported by postgraduate fellowships from the Conseil de Recherches en Sciences Naturel1.es et en Genie of Canada, the Cana dian national chapter of the Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire and partly, in the later parts of this work, from the Institute for Astronomy of the University of Hawaii. I am also very grateful to the british Science and Engineering Research Council for his generous financial support of so many ob serving trips. Finally, to whatever goddess on the Mauna Kea who provided me with 80% of photometric weather in the last year of my Ph.D. Je ne saurais remercier suffisamment tous les membres de ma famille, et plus particulierement mes parents, pour leur amour, leur support et encourage ments constants durant ce long cheminement academique qui m’aura finalement mene jusqu’aux etudes doctorales. A mes parents, je dedie ce travail. 4 Table of Contents A b stra ct ............................................................................................................ 3 Acknowledgments .......................................................................................... 4 L ist of Tables .................................................................................................. 10 List of Figures ................................................................................................ 13 C h a p te r 1 Introduction 16 C h a p te r 2 The Near-Infrared Spectroscopic Properties of Selected Interacting and Merging Galaxies 18 2.1 Introduction .............................................................................................. 18 2.2 Observations .............................................................................................. 21 2.2.1 Data Reduction ..................................................................................... 21 2.2.1.1 Coaddition of Individual Scans ......................................................... 23 2.2.1.2 Flatfield, Atmospheric and Stellar Feature Corrections ............... 23 2.2.1.3 Flux Calibration .............................................................................. 27 2.2.1.4 Wavelength Calibration ..................................................................... 29 2.3 Results ....................................................................................................... 30 2.3.1 Arp 220 32 2.3.2 MRK 231 35 2.3.3 NGC 1614 36 2.3.4 NGC 2798 39 2.3.5 NGC 3690-IC 694 40 2.3.6 NGC 6240 45 5 2.4 Discussion 53 2.4.1 Extinction ............................................................................................ 53 2.4.2 Origin of the 2.2 /mi Continuum ..................................................... 56 2.4.3 Ionization Continuum ....................................................................... 61 2.5 Summary and Conclusions ....................... 63 Chapter 3 The H eI2.06/B r 7 Ratio in Starburst Galaxies—an Objective Constraint on the Upper Mass Limit 64 3.1 Introduction ........................................................................................... 64 3.2 Observations and Results ...................................................................... 65 3.3 The HeI2.06/Br7 Ratio in Hll Regions ............................................. 69 3.3.1 The HeI2.06/Br7 ratio vs Te/ / ......................................................... 69 3.3.2 Collisional Excitation ......................................................................... 71 3.3.3 Effect of Dust within the HII Regions ............................................ 72 3.3.4 Comparison with Galactic Observations ......................................... 77 3.4 The HeI2.06/Br7 Ratio in Galaxies .................................................. 81 3.5 Sum m ary and Conclusions ........................................................................ 85 Chapter 4 On the Initial Mass Function and the Spectral Evolution of Starburst Galaxies 87 4.1 Introduction ........................................................................................... 87 4.2 Starburst Models ................................................................................... 89 4.2.1 Input Observables of the Model ....................................................... 90 4.2.1.1 The 2.2 /im Luminosity .................................................................. 91 4.2.1.2 The Spectroscopic CO Index ......................................................... 92 4.2.1.3 The Br7 Equivalent Width 95 6 4.2.1.4 The Ionization Rate to Bolometric Luminosity Ratio .............. 97 4.2.1.5 The Hel/Br7 Ratio ......................................................................... 98 4.2.1.6 JHK Colours .................................................................................. 98 4.2.2 Effect of the pre-existing Population ............................................ 98 4.3 Comparison with Individual Galaxies .............................................. 103 4.3.1 ARP 220 104 4.3.2 NGC 6240 109 4.3.3 NGC 1614 112 4.3.4 NGC 2798 115 4.3.5 NGC 3690-IC 694 118 4.3.5.1 IC 694 (source A) ........................................................................... 118 4.3.5.2 Source A and B .............................................................................. 121 4.3.6 The time scale of the burst .............................................................. 122 4.4 Summary and Conclusions ..................................................................... 122 C h ap ter 5 The Excitation Mechanism of the H2 Emission in Starburst Galaxies 125 5.1 Introduction ............................................................................................. 125 5.2 Constraints from H 2 Line Ratios ........................... ........................... 127 5.3 Nature of the Exciting Source ............................................................ 129 5.3.1 H2 Emission Contribution from a Shock Component .................. 130 5.3.1.1 Young Stellar Objects and Supernova Remnants ..................... 130 5.3.1.2 Interaction-driven cloud-cloud Collisions ...................................