# Interferometric observations of nearby galaxies

## 1. Overview

In the last few years the sensitivity and versatility of mm-wave interferometers have improved in large steps. Using mosaicking techniques, it has become a relatively easy task to map the regions of the molecular gas emission in nearby galaxies with high angular and spectral resolution at a very good signal-to-noise ratio.

Here, I will present some examples of results on nearby galaxies obtained recently that cover a relatively large range of galaxy types. All observations were performed at the IRAM Plateau de Bure interferometer (PdBI), the most sensitive telescope in the range of 80…250 GHz. The instrument is located in the French Alps at an altitude of 2550 m. At present it consists of 5 antennas of a diameter of 15 m each which can be placed on different stations along a T-shaped track. Usually, the antennas are arranged in one of four standard configurations yielding baselines from 24 m to 230 m (N-S) and 400 m (E-W). Typical angular resolutions start from about $`4^{\prime \prime }`$ for a compact array (called CD) at 100 GHz and reach sub-arcsecond values for the most extended configuration. For a more exhaustive description see Guilloteau et al. (1992) and the IRAM website http://iram.fr. Due to the relatively large dishes the field of view is rather small, about $`50^{\prime \prime }`$ at 100 GHz. This can however be overcome nowadays by applying mosaicking techniques and it remains the advantage of the larger collecting area. Properly set up, a mosaic covers the field of interest with an almost uniform sensitivity which is particularly useful for elongated sources such as outflows and edge-on galaxies.

The choice of the objects reflects the present work on external galaxies done in particular at the Radioastronomical Institute of the University of Bonn. The focus is however a bit shifted towards particular objects that exploit the capabilities of the PdBI. Most of the projects are just started or in progress, so this is to a large extent a “preview” report.

## 2. Dwarf and starburst galaxies

The research on dwarf galaxies at the RAI Bonn is at the heart of a graduate school programme joining the Astronomical Institutes of Bonn and Bochum, supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft since 1993. At its start aimed exclusively at the Magellanic Clouds, the topic has shifted towards low mass galaxies in general in a second period; the third period starting in 1999 also includes the comparison between dwarf and starburst galaxies. In this section four examples are shown, three of which are subject of a PhD Thesis (T. Fritz, A. Weiß, A. Tarchi).

### 2.1. A star forming dwarf

Investigators: T. Fritz, A. Heithausen, U. Klein, N. Neininger, C.L. Taylor, W. Walsh   
Dwarf galaxies offer an excellent opportunity to probe the properties of the interstellar medium (ISM) in the absence of strong streaming motions, shear forces or large density gradients. Despite of their low mass, some of them are actively star forming galaxies at a rate that is high compared to their gas mass. These “blue compact dwarf galaxies” (BCDGs) are known to have a low metal abundance and almost no detectable molecular gas. Several surveys have been conducted with the aim to detect CO in dwarf galaxies, but generally in vain. Based on a Hi survey of Taylor et al. (1994), a more detailed search was carried out with the 30-m telescope (Barone et al., in preparation) and a clear detection of CO emission in the BCDG Haro 2 could be obtained. This was the basis of subsequent PdBI observations.

Haro 2 was observed in the compact ‘CD’ configuration as a mosaic of 3 fields. This was chosen in order to cover the entire star-forming body as it had been determined from optical photometry (Loose and Thuan 1986). Extended emission of <sup>12</sup>CO (1-0) and (2-1) was easily detected in the field, showing a relatively strong central peak and two lobes extended along the major axis of the star forming region. This extent is consistent with the preceding 30-m observations, but now the structure can be investigated in much more detail. Particularly surprising is the structure of the velocity field. Haro 2 is a dwarf galaxy with more or less elliptical appearance, but the emission of the molecular gas shows a very disturbed velocity field with steep gradients. It is not even clear whether there are several separate components or maybe even a merger. The nature of this unexpected behaviour is currently under investigation.

### 2.2. A merging starburst “dwarf”

Investigators: S. Hüttemeister, U. Klein, N. Neininger, A. Greve   
The upper size limit for dwarf galaxies is not well defined, but the Clumpy Irregular galaxy Mrk 297 is certainly a bit at the bigger side with a mass of about $`2\times 10^{10}`$ M. It also shows intense star formation. This one consists of two distinct kinematic components and is interpreted as an ongoing merger of two late-type spirals, one seen edge-on, the other face-on. Mrk 297 was covered with a four-field mosaic in the compact configuration and shows a rather concentrated emission of <sup>12</sup>CO. The velocity structure is however rather complex over the range of detectable emission ($`180`$ km/s wide). We hope to get a closer view about the molecular gas distribution and its properties, in particular in the interaction zone.

### Starburst galaxies

If intense star formation occurs at the scale of a large part of a galaxy the phenomenon is called starburst galaxy. At present, we are conducting studies of two prominent examples of this case, one being the “prototype” M 82 and the other the special case of a starburst without obvious trigger, NGC 2146. In conjunction with the isolated star bursts in dwarf galaxies like those mentioned above or the Magellanic clouds, we hope to obtain a better understanding of the conditions of such an event.

### 2.3. M 82

Investigators: N. Neininger, A. Weiß, U. Klein, M. Guélin, R. Wielebinski   
The nearby irregular galaxy M 82 is commonly called the prototype starburst galaxy. Because of its brightness in the IR/mm regime and its proximity (3.25 Mpc) a wealth of observations has been done to understand the origin and nature of the intense star formation activity. The trigger of the activity seems to be clear: obviously, M 82 is interacting with its neighbours M 81 and NGC 3077 and the tidal forces during the encounter are supposed to have started the exceptional star formation. On the other hand, the evolution of the burst and many other parameters are not yet understood and even the structure of the disk is still a matter of debate. The rotation curve, obtained from near-IR spectra and CO observations, indicates that M 82 is indeed a disk galaxy. Early single-dish CO observations (e.g. Loiseau et al. 1988) were interpreted to show a molecular ring similar to that of the Milky Way close to the centre, probably confining the active region and collimating the strong outflow (Shopbell 1998).

Those data with an a spatial resolution of at best 150 pc were however inadequate to show any detail of the distribution of the molecular gas. Interferometric observations of CO at somewhat better resolution (e.g. Lo et al. 1987) and others covering the lines of tracers of dense gas (Brouillet and Schilke 1993) indicate a patchy structure of the material. The optical depth of CO being most probably high (Wild et al. 1992), we observed M 82 in the presumably optically thin (1$``$0) line of <sup>13</sup>CO with the PdBI (Neininger et al. 1998b).

In general, the spatial distribution of the <sup>13</sup>CO is rather similar to that of the <sup>12</sup>CO (Shen and Lo 1995): concentrated in two lobes embracing a weaker central region (Fig. 5.). In contrast to the low-resolution data which have commonly been interpreted as reflecting a torus of gas, the interferometer maps are better described by the presence of a molecular bar. For the stellar population, such a bar had already been proposed by Achtermann and Lacy (1995). A barred structure provides a straightforward means of transporting the gas needed to fuel the star formation towards the centre. The weakness of the emission close to the nucleus (the active region) is certainly due to dissociation of the molecules in the strong radiation field. In total, this provides a coherent global picture: during the passage close to M 81, the tidal forces disrupted the outer disk of M 82, leaving intergalactic streamers of atomic gas (Yun et al. 1994). The remaining instable inner disk partially collapsed, thus starting the starburst acitivity that in turn provoked the strong wind.

The physical conditions in the actual disk remain however unclear. For example, the similarity of the distributions in the <sup>12</sup>CO and <sup>13</sup>CO line casts doubt on the determination of the optical depth. Moreover, the relationship between the individual energy sources and the conditions in the gas is not yet clear: A number of radio point sources has been identified (Kronberg et al. 1985) – most of them are clearly identified as supernova remnants (SNRs) (see e.g. Wills et al. 1997 and references therein). Around the strongest SNR we have identified a 130 pc-wide bubble which is characterized by warmer gas and an enhanced cosmic ray production rate. It is however so big that this supernova could not possibly have created it – the SNR just marks the position where previous SNe and stellar winds have created a particular environment.

A number of questions remains, e.g.: what are the physical properties of the molecular gas in the central region of M 82 – such as the opacity, the temperatures, densities and abundances? So we continued our studies by using the capability of the PdBI to perform dual-frequency observations; we observed the same field as before simultaneously in the (2-1) line of <sup>12</sup>CO and in C<sup>18</sup>O. The reduction and interpretation of these data is currently under way (Weiß et al., in preparation).

### 2.4. NGC 2146

Investigators: N. Neininger, A. Greve, A. Tarchi   
The “dusty hand” galaxy features a system of three dust lanes (spiral arms?) and clear indications of a starburst such as a strong galactic wind. But in contrast to other galaxies with strong star formation activity like M 82 or NGC 3628, no companion is visible that could have triggered the activity; and in contrast to Mrk 297 there is no obvious hint at a merger as well. Nevertheless, the ‘hidden merger’ scenario seems to be the most plausible explanation. The claim is that the starburst is indeed caused by a merging, but the encounter has happened long ago and no marked traces are left anymore. Looking for such traces thus is an additional task when studying the properties of the gas in the starburst region here.

We mapped NGC 2146 with the PdBI in the <sup>12</sup>CO (1-0), (2-1) and the <sup>13</sup>CO(1-0) emission lines, the parameters set in a way as to ensure a uniform coverage in all cases. The detectable emission is well concentrated towards the center as in many other spiral galaxies. But already within these $`60^{\prime \prime }`$ (about 4 kpc) a warp is clearly visible (Fig. 5., rightpart). Consistent with the earlier findings no obvious hints at a second component are present, but the molecular gas shows clear signs of an outflow (see Fig. 1).

Parallel to these observations of the molecular gas content, we have obtained high-resolution data at radio wavelengths ($`\lambda `$ 6 and 20 cm) with a combination of MERLIN and the VLA. We could identify a number of point sources which are currently under investigation (Tarchi et al., in prparation). The hope is to eventually compare their properties with their counterparts in M 82.

## 3. Normal galaxies

Especially since the availability of the mosaicking technique a growing number of nearby galaxies has been investigated. Results on several objects have been published recently and a (maybe incomplete) list of them is included in the references. Here I want to present the most “extreme” case in a little more detail.

### 3.1. The highest spatial resolution: M 31

Investigators: N. Neininger, M. Guélin, R. Lucas et al.   

All the above described galaxies are several Mpc away from us and we can only derive global properties of the molecular gas content. Even in our own Galaxy the detailed investigation of the molecular gas is limited to a few prominent examples and it is very difficult to obtain an homogeneous view at small and large scales. A particularly tricky problem is the need to rely on velocity information to determine the distances of the objects under study and the related ambiguities. Therefore we started a global survey of the nearest grand design spiral, M 31, with the 30-m telescope (Neininger et al. 1998a). From this survey we choose a number of cloud complexes for a further investigation with the PdBI. That way, we are able to combine a global view of the whole galaxy with detailed investigations at scale down to less than 10 pc.

Among the chosen regions are obviously cold, quiescent clouds that show a bright, single-component emission line in the survey (e.g. situated in the dark cloud D84 – the names are defined in Hodge 1981) as well as regions with multiple-peaked spectra. One example of such a disturbed region lies in the dark cloud D47, about $`5^{}`$ or 1 kpc away from D84 (see Fig. 2 and Fig. 2 in Neininger et al. 1998a). The velocity separation in this complex is up to 50 km/s – in the Galaxy, such a spectrum would be attributed to two components at very different places along the line of sight. Here, it is clear from the location and the separation of the spiral arms that everything belongs to one cloud complex. But wherefrom originate such big differences between those relatively close neighbours? A comparison with the distribution of the Hii regions gives a hint: the molecular cloud complex in D84 is isolated whereas that in D47 is located at the border of a particularly bright and extended Hii region. Similarly broad spectra are found in the big southern dark cloud D39 which hosts several star clusters. This are only few examples, but they point all into the same direction: broad or multiple-component spectra are most likely caused by local effects. These cloud complexes are certainly not virialized on the scale of 100 pc, the resolution of the 30-m telescope at the distance of M 31. The determination of the gas mass on the basis of data from the two instruments yields grossly differing values. To further investigate the properties of the molecular cloud complexes in M 31, we are enlarging our sample of combined studies with the two IRAM instruments while pushing the angular resolution well below the 10 pc limit with the PdBI.

## 4. A Black Hole candidate

Investigators: M. Krause, N. Neininger, C. Fendt   
The spiral galaxy NGC 4258 (or M 106) started to become famous in the 1960’s when it was recognized that its velocity field and the morphology of the H$`\alpha `$ emission was peculiar; further interest was rised by a high-resolution map of its radio emission (van der Kruit et al. 1972 and references therein). It shows two extended lobes that reach out along the minor axis of the optical image, with a steep (shock-?) front and extended trailing plateaux – if we assume for them a sense of rotation as defined by the main body of the galaxy. Since then, different models for the origin of the anomalous features have been proposed. The first one by van der Kruit et al. suggested an explosion in the center of the galaxy about 18 million years ago. The galactic rotation then winds up the trail of the ejected material, thus forming the lobes.

A new aspect was discovered in 1995 when Miyoshi et al. found evidence for a rapidly rotating accretion disk in the centre of NGC 4258. In the subsequent investigations it became one of the best candidates for a galaxy hosting a supermassive black hole. This moreover implies the existence of a jet if we follow the actual picture of accretion disk systems. Indeed, jets are known to create radio lobes and also the unusual H$`\alpha `$ arms might well be linked to a jet activity. This scenario has a weak point, however: usually, it is assumed that jets are aligned with the rotation axis of the accretion disk which in turn is fixed in space by the black hole. The axis of rotation of the accretion disk is very close to the major axis of the galactic disk. Thus, the jet has to travel a long way through the ISM of the galaxy. Moreover, the galactic material is moving transversely through the path of the jet. So it is necessary to investigate the properties of the molecular gas in NGC 4258 in addition to the studies of the atomic hydrogen and the radio emission.

Earlier 30-m observations had shown that the molecular gas is elongated along the anomalous H$`\alpha `$ arms (Krause et al. 1990) and hence we used a five-field mosaic to cover the whole emission region. The single emission “bar” (cf. Cox & Downes 1996) seen by the 30-m telescope splits into two separate parts that form emission ridges on both sides of the anomalous diffuse H$`\alpha `$ arm (see Fig. 4). This suggests the existence of a tunnel with walls made of molecular gas which is filled with hot ionized (atomic) gas that is entrained by the jet travelling along the axis of the tunnel. A similar scenario at a smaller scale is proposed for the outflows of Herbig-Haro objects (see e.g. Gueth et al. 1998 and references therein) where it can be more easily studied.

For NGC 4258 the story is however not yet settled – the evidence for the presence of a jet is accumulating, but the precise nature of it and the way how it may interact with the ISM is rather unclear. The PdBI data show a very distorted kinematical structure of the molecular gas (Krause et al. 1997) which is consistent with earlier Hi data (van Albada 1980) – that way the local and the global kinematics seem to be linked.

## 5. Summary

Sensitive mm-wave interferometers have become a versatile tool to investigate even the relatively extended molecular gas emission of nearby galaxies. The gain in angular resolution may attain a factor of ten compared to single-dish instruments and quite often this really opens new views. In particular the combination of high angular resolution and high sensitivity – ideally combined with large-scale information from single-dish telescopes – marks a major step forward. Most of the structures described or presented here were squeezed into a few spectra of the earlier observations and hence difficult to interpret. The analysis of kinematic details or the structure of the molecular gas distribution and the determination of its mass depends on such high-quality data.

### Acknowledgements

It is a pleasure to thank my colleagues from the RAI for providing background information and excellent viewgraphs of their present work which I was allowed to present at the conference.