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Published December 10, 2013 | Published + Submitted
Journal Article Open

Uncovering the Deeply Embedded Active Galactic Nucleus Activity in the Nuclear Regions of the Interacting Galaxy Arp 299

Abstract

We present mid-infrared (MIR) 8-13 μm spectroscopy of the nuclear regions of the interacting galaxy Arp 299 (IC 694+NGC 3690) obtained with CanariCam (CC) on the 10.4 m Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC). The high angular resolution (~0."3-0."6) of the data allows us to probe nuclear physical scales between 60 and 120 pc, which is a factor of 10 improvement over previous MIR spectroscopic observations of this system. The GTC/CC spectroscopy displays evidence of deeply embedded active galactic nucleus (AGN) activity in both nuclei. The GTC/CC nuclear spectrum of NGC 3690/Arp 299-B1 can be explained as emission from AGN-heated dust in a clumpy torus with both a high covering factor and high extinction along the line of sight. The estimated bolometric luminosity of the AGN in NGC 3690 is 3.2 ± 0.6 × 10^(44) erg s^(–1). The nuclear GTC/CC spectrum of IC 694/Arp 299-A shows 11.3 μm polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon emission stemming from a deeply embedded (A_V ~ 24 mag) region of less than 120 pc in size. There is also a continuum-emitting dust component. If associated with the putative AGN in IC 694, we estimate that it would be approximately five times less luminous than the AGN in NGC 3690. The presence of dual AGN activity makes Arp 299 a good example to study such phenomena in the early coalescence phase of interacting galaxies.

Additional Information

© 2013 American Astronomical Society. Received 2013 August 30; accepted 2013 November 13; published 2013 November 26. We are extremely grateful to the GTC staff for their constant and enthusiastic support. We also thank an anonymous referee for comments that helped improve the Letter. The following Spanish Plan Nacional de Astronomía y Astrofísica grants are acknowledged: AYA2009-05705-E (A.A.H., P.E., C.R.A., and M.P.S.), AYA2010-21887-C04 (C.R.A. and J.M.R.E.), AYA2010-18029 (A.A.R.), AYA2010-21161-C02-01 (L.C.), and AYA2012-39168-C03-01 (J.M.R.E. and O.G.M.). A.A.R. also acknowledges financial support through the Ramόn y Cajal fellowships and Consolider-Ingenio 2010 CSD2009-00038. C.P. and C.M.T. acknowledge support from NSF grants 0904421 and AST-903672, respectively. N.A.L. and R.M. are supported by the Gemini Observatory, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., on behalf of the international Gemini partnership of Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, and the United States of America. Based on observations made with the GTC, installed in the Spanish Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, in the island of La Palma. Based party on observations obtained with the Spitzer Space Observatory, which is operated by JPL, Caltech, under NASA contract 1407. This research has made use of the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED) which is operated by JPL, Caltech, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

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Submitted - 1311.3446v1.pdf

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August 22, 2023
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