# 1 Introduction

## 1 Introduction

Whereas it is well known that gas may be driven into the core of merging disks, fueling a central AGN or a nuclear starburst, recent studies have shown that a significant fraction of the stellar/gaseous components is expelled into the intergalactic medium along tidal tails (e.g., Hibbard & van Gorkom, 1996; Duc et al, 1997). The tidal debris might be dispersed in the intergalactic/intracluster medium where it adds to the diffuse background light such as that observed in the Coma cluster (Gregg & West, 1998), might fall back towards the merger, or regroup to form a new generation of galaxies, the so-called tidal dwarf galaxies (TDGs). We illustrate in this paper these various phenomena with a detailed multi-wavelength study of the interacting system NGC 2992/3 (Arp 245).

## 2 Observations and simulations

NGC 2992/3 (Arp 245) is a nearby system composed of two interacting spiral galaxies: NGC 2992, an edge-on Sa with a Seyfert 2 nucleus and NGC 2993 a face-on LINER. Table 1 summarizes our observing campaign of Arp 245. An optical image shows in addition to well-defined stellar tidal tails which emanate from each disk resp. to the North and East, a more diffuse 30–kpc long bridge. At 21 cm, the neutral gaseous component shows a stunning morphology (see Fig. 1a). The HI VLA map exhibits a long gaseous tail escaping from NGC 2992 with a massive clump at its tip, a bridge between the two galaxies with an orientation slightly different than in the optical, and a large ring-like structure emanating from NGC 2993. The latter feature has a shape similar to the two other intergalactic HI rings known sofar: the ring in Leo, in the M96 group (Schneider et al., 1989) and the ring near NGC 5291 (Malphrus et al., 1997, Duc & Mirabel, 1998). These two rings are however much larger. Towards the nucleus of NGC 2992, HI is seen in absorption (Fig. 1b). Our H$`\alpha `$ map (Fig. 2a) which traces the ionized gas shows emission line regions in the disk of NGC 2993, in the inner regions of NGC 2992 as well as in the outer regions along filaments and at the tip of the northern tail.

We could reproduce the overall morphology of the system using N-body + SPH numerical simulations of the collision. They indicate that the system is observed in the early stage of the interaction just after the galaxies passed each other for the first time, about 100 Myrs after perigalacticon. The end-product of the collision will be a complete merger. The time scales provided by the numerical simulations are useful to date the various phenomena observed in NGC 2992/3 and discussed herebelow.

## 3 Inflow

Galaxy collisions are efficient in driving gas towards the central regions. The mechanism involves the loss of angular momentum and gas transfer towards the central regions possibly via a bar. This gas will then fuel a starburst or an AGN. Suggestions of gas inflow in Arp 245 come from the analysis of the HI spectrum towards the nucleus of NGC 2992. The line seen is absorption shows an asymmetry redwards of the systemic velocity which is indicative of foreground material falling towards the nucleus (see Fig. 1b). Whereas there is no evidence for the presence of a nuclear starburst in NGC 2992, strong Seyfert–2 type nuclear activity is observed. Indeed, Seyfert–2 galaxies show a statistical excess of large companions with respect to nonactive disk galaxies (e.g: Dultzin-Hacyan et al., 1999). One should note that the study of the inflow in NGC 2992 is largely hampered by the strong optical obscuration due to a prominent dust lane.

## 4 Outflows

Two kinds of outflows are observed in Arp 245 either in the form of small ionization filaments or large tidal tails. These outflows have a different location and nature but have been directly or indirectly triggered by the interaction.

An ionization cone is found in the inner regions of NGC 2992 whereas at larger distances numerous extended emission line regions are observed escaping up to 10 kpc from the inclined disk of NGC 2992. They form narrow filaments that have relative radial velocities with respect to the surrounding HI gas as high as 500 km/s (Marquez et al., 1998; Duc et al., in preparation). Their optical spectra (see Fig. 2b) are consistent with a power-law type ionizing radiation source and a high ionization parameter reaching log(U)=-2 (see Fig. 2b). Outflowing gas could be illuminated by a strong UV nuclear radiation. Other models invoke a strong local heating via shocks (Allen et al.,1999) and gas dragged along by nuclear plasmoids jets.

The material currently observed in the intergalactic medium, i.e along and at the tip of the bridge/tail/ring, was pulled out from the parent galaxies by tidal forces. The atomic hydrogen present in these tidal features accounts for almost half of the total HI mass in the system (5.4 $`10^9`$ M). Such a distribution is typical of interacting systems that lose a significant fraction of their gas in the IGM. Part of it might eventually fall back towards the parent galaxies or be tidally disrupted. The gas clouds that are most likely to survive are those which are expelled to large distances and are dense enough to become gravitationally bound, collapse and form stars. An example of such an object, known as a “Tidal Dwarf Galaxy”, is found at the tip of the northern tidal tail which emanates from NGC 2992. At that location there is a $`10^9`$ M$``$ HI condensation associated with emission-line regions (see Fig. 2a). Their optical spectra are typical of HII regions ionized by young massive stars (see Fig. 2b, up). The star-formation rate deduced from the H$`\alpha `$ luminosity is as high as 0.5 M yr<sup>-1</sup>. Nevertheless, broad band optical+near-infrared photometry of the tidal dwarf indicate that its stellar population is still dominated at this stage of the collision by the old stars pulled out from the disk of the parent galaxy. No star-forming regions appear to be associated with the HI ring south of NGC 2993. One reason for that is that the HI there is not dense enough to have collapsed, contrary to the tail of NGC 2992 or to the HI ring associated with NGC 5291 which hosts more than 20 TDGs (Duc & Mirabel, 1998). A critical HI column density, as high as $`10^{21}`$ cm<sup>-2</sup> in the case of Arp 245, is necessary for the onset of star formation.   

From spectra of the HII regions, we could estimate an oxygen abundance of about solar for the TDG. This is higher than the typical metallicity of TDGs (1/3 solar). TDGs are themselves more metal rich than classical dwarf galaxies of the same luminosity (Duc & Mirabel, 1998) due to the fact that they are recycled objects composed of already substantially enriched material. In–situ enrichment in the TDG is unlikely given the constraint on the time scale from the numerical simulations – the interaction in Arp 245 is younger than 100 Myrs. This implies that the material in the outer part parts of NGC 2992, which probably went into forming the TDG, was much more metal rich than gas in the outskirts of typical spirals where abundances of 1/3 solar are usually measured. A large scale enrichment could have been induced by the nuclear outflows evidenced by the ionization filaments. Alternatively, the interaction has directly dragged material into the tidal tail which originally was close to the nucleus where solar metallicities are expected.   

In any case, the inflow towards the nucleus and the outflows as exhibited by the ionization filaments and the tidal tails appear to be closely linked phenomena in Arp 245. They have either directly or indirectly been triggered by the collision.