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Published January 1, 2015 | Submitted + Published
Journal Article Open

Suppression of Star Formation in NGC 1266

Abstract

NGC1266 is a nearby lenticular galaxy that harbors a massive outflow of molecular gas powered by the mechanical energy of an active galactic nucleus (AGN). It has been speculated that such outflows hinder star formation (SF) in their host galaxies, providing a form of feedback to the process of galaxy formation. Previous studies, however, indicated that only jets from extremely rare, high power quasars or radio galaxies could impart significant feedback on their hosts. Here we present detailed observations of the gas and dust continuum of NGC1266 at millimeter wavelengths. Our observations show that molecular gas is being driven out of the nuclear region at Ṁ_(out) ≈ 110M_⊙ yr^(−1), of which the vast majority cannot escape the nucleus. Only 2M_⊙ yr^(−1) is actually capable of escaping the galaxy. Most of the molecular gas that remains is very inefficient at forming stars. The far-infrared emission is dominated by an ultra-compact (≾50 pc) source that could either be powered by an AGN or by an ultra-compact starburst. The ratio of the SF surface density (Σ_(SFR)) to the gas surface density (Σ_(H2)) indicates that SF is suppressed by a factor of ≈ 50 compared to normal star-forming galaxies if all gas is forming stars, and ≈150 for the outskirt (98%) dense molecular gas if the central region is is powered by an ultra-compact starburst. The AGN-driven bulk outflow could account for this extreme suppression by hindering the fragmentation and gravitational collapse necessary to form stars through a process of turbulent injection. This result suggests that even relatively common, low-power AGNs are able to alter the evolution of their host galaxies as their black holes grow onto the M-σ relation.

Additional Information

© 2015 American Astronomical Society. Received 2014 June 30; accepted 2014 October 26; published 2014 December 17. K.A. thanks Daniel Perley for the Keck time that provided the NGC1266 u′ data. K.A. also thanks Chris McKee, Carl Heiles, Kartik Sheth, Adam Leroy, Mark Krumholz and Nathan Roth for insightful discussions. The authors would also like to thank the anonymous referee for useful recommendations, as well as pointing us to the publically available XMM data, which we were able to use to further clarify the activity present in this system. K.A. is supported by funding through Herschel, a European Space Agency Cornerstone Mission with significant participation by NASA, through an award issued by JPL/Caltech. The research of K.A. was also supported by the NSF grant AST-0838258. K.N. and D.S.M. are supported by NSF grant 1109803. SLC was supported by ALMA-CONICYT program 31110020. PC gratefully acknowledges support from the NASA ATP program through NASA grant NNX13AH43G, and NSF grant AST-1255469. This paper makes use of the following ALMA data: ADS/JAO.ALMA#2011.0.00511.S. ALMA is a partnership of ESO (representing its member states), NSF (USA) and NINS (Japan), together with NRC (Canada) and NSC and ASIAA (Taiwan), in cooperation with the Republic of Chile. The Joint ALMA Observatory is operated by ESO, AUI/NRAO and NAOJ. The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc. Support for CARMA construction was derived from the states of California, Illinois, and Maryland, the James S. McDonnell Foundation, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the Kenneth T. and Eileen L. Norris Foundation, the University of Chicago, the Associates of the California Institute of Technology, and the National Science Foundation. Ongoing CARMA development and operations are supported by the National Science Foundation under a cooperative agreement, and by the CARMA partner universities. This research has made use of NASA's Astrophysics Data System. Based in part on observations made with the NASA Galaxy Evolution Explorer. GALEX is operated for NASA by the California Institute of Technology under NASA contract NAS5-98034."

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Published - 0004-637X_798_1_31.pdf

Submitted - 1410.4556v2.pdf

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Additional details

Created:
August 22, 2023
Modified:
October 18, 2023