paper

Gas Dynamics in the LINER Galaxy NGC 5005: Episodic Fueling of a Nuclear Disk

arXiv:astro-ph/9910021 · doi:10.1086/308647

Abstract

We report high-resolution CO(1-0) observations in the central 6 kpc of the LINER galaxy NGC 5005 with the Owens Valley Radio Observatory millimeter array. Molecular gas is distributed in three components - a ring at a radius of about 3 kpc, a strong central condensation, and a stream to the northwest of the nucleus but inside the 3 kpc ring. The central condensation is a disk of about 1 kpc radius with a molecular gas mass of 2 x 10^9 M_sun. The stream between the 3 kpc ring and the nuclear disk lies on a straight dust lane seen in the optical. If this material moves in the plane of the galaxy, it has a velocity offset by up to ~ 150 km/s from galactic rotation. We suggest that an optically inconspicuous stellar bar lying within the 3 kpc ring can explain the observed gas dynamics. This bar is expected to connect the nuclear disk and the ring along the position angle of the northwest stream. A position-velocity cut in this direction reveals features which match the characteristic motions of gas in a barred potential. Our model indicates that gas in the northwest stream is on an x_1 orbit at the bar's leading edge; it is falling into the nucleus with a large noncircular velocity, and will eventually contribute about 2 x 10^8 M_sun to the nuclear disk. If most of this material merges with the disk on its first passage of pericenter, the gas accretion rate during the collision will be 50 M_sun/yr. We associate the nuclear disk with an inner 2:1 Lindblad resonance, and the 3 kpc ring with an inner 4:1 Lindblad resonance. The high rate of bar-driven inflow and the irregular appearance of the northwest stream suggest that a major fueling event is in progress in NGC 5005. Such episodic (rather than continuous) gas supply can regulate the triggering of starburst and accretion activity in galactic nuclei. (abridged)

26 pages, 12 figures, AASTeX, ApJ in press (Feb. 10, 2000). For full-resolution figures, see http://www.ovro.caltech.edu/mm/science/science.html

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