Imaging the Molecular Outflows of the Prototypical ULIRG NGC 6240 with ALMA

Abstract

We present 0".97 $\times$ 0".53 (470 pc $\times$ 250 pc) resolution CO ($J$ = 2-1) observations toward the nearby luminous merging galaxy NGC 6240 with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array. We confirmed a strong CO concentration within the central 700 pc, which peaks between the double nuclei, surrounded by extended CO features along the optical dust lanes ($\sim$11 kpc). We found that the CO emission around the central a few kpc has extremely broad velocity wings with full width at zero intensity $\sim$ 2000 km s${}^{-1}$, suggesting a possible signature of molecular outflow(s). In order to extract and visualize the high-velocity components in NGC 6240, we performed a multiple Gaussian fit to the CO datacube. The distribution of the broad CO components show four extremely large linewidth regions ($\sim$1000 km s${}^{-1}$) located 1-2 kpc away from both nuclei. Spatial coincidence of the large linewidth regions with H$\alpha$, near-IR H${}_2$, and X-ray suggests that the broad CO (2-1) components are associated with nuclear outflows launched from the double nuclei.

5 pages, 4 figures, 1 table, Accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Letter

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