The Interstellar Medium of IRAS 08572+3915 NW: H3+ and Warm High Velocity CO

Abstract

We confirm the first detection of the molecular ion H3+ in an extragalactic object, the highly obscured ultraluminous galaxy IRAS 08572+3915 NW. We also have detected absorption lines of the fundamental band of CO in this galaxy. The CO absorption consists of a cold component close to the systemic velocity and warm, highly blueshifted and redshifted components. The warm blueshifted component is remarkably strong and broad and extends at least to -350 km/s. Some analogies can be drawn between the H3+ and cold CO in IRAS08572+3915 NW and the same species seen toward the Galactic center. The profiles of the warm CO components are not those expected from a dusty torus of the type thought to obscure active galactic nuclei. They are probably formed close to the dust continuum surface near the buried and active nucleus and are probably associated with an unusual and energetic event there.

21 pages, 4 postscript figures, accepted by ApJ

Cited by in corpus (15)

• 2021 Census of Interstellar, Circumstellar, Extragalactic, Protoplanetary Disk, and Exoplanetary Molecules
• Molecules in galaxies
• ALCHEMI: an ALMA Comprehensive High-resolution Extragalactic Molecular Inventory. Survey presentation and first results from the ACA array
• The Central 300 pc of the Galaxy probed by infrared spectra of H${}_3^{+}$ and CO: part I. Predominance of warm and diffuse gas and high H${}_2$ ionization rate
• AGN feedback in a galaxy merger: Multi-phase, galaxy-scale outflows including a fast molecular gas blob ~6 kpc away from IRAS F08572+3915
• The Near-Infrared CO Absorption Band as a Probe to the Innermost Part of an AGN Obscuring Material
• Astrophysics in 2006
• H${}_3^{+}$ absorption and emission in local U/LIRGs with JWST/NIRSpec: Evidence for high H${}_2$ ionization rates
• Probing dynamics and thermal properties inside molecular tori with CO rovibrational absorption lines
• Warm Molecular Gas in the Central Parsecs of the Buried Nucleus of NGC 4418 Traced with the Fundamental CO Ro-vibrational Absorptions
• Systematic Study of the Inner Structure of Molecular Tori in Nearby U/LIRGs using Velocity Decomposition of CO Rovibrational Absorption Lines
• Extragalactic H3O+: Some Consequences
• Ice emission and the redshifts of submillimeter sources
• H3+ in irradiated protoplanetary disks: Linking far-ultraviolet radiation and water vapor
• Study of the Inner Structure of the Molecular Torus in IRAS 08572+3915 NW with Velocity Decomposition of CO Rovibrational Absorption Lines