A Multiwavelength View of IC 860: What Is in Action inside Quenching Galaxies ** Herschel is an ESA space observatory with science instruments provided by European-led principal investigator consortia and with important participation from NASA.
Journal article, 2022
We present a multiwavelength study of IC 860, a nearby post-starburst galaxy at the early stage of transitioning from blue and star forming to red and quiescent. Optical images reveal a galaxy-wide, dusty outflow originating from a compact core. We find evidence for a multiphase outflow in the molecular and neutral gas phase from the CO position-velocity diagram and NaD absorption features. We constrain the neutral mass outflow rate to be ∼0.5 M ⊙ yr−1, and the total hydrogen mass outflow rate to be ∼12 M ⊙ yr−1. Neither outflow component seems able to escape the galaxy. We also find evidence for a recent merger in the optical images, CO spatial distribution, and kinematics, and evidence for a buried active galactic nucleus in the optical emission line ratios, mid-IR properties, and radio spectral shape. The depletion time of the molecular gas reservoir under the current star formation rate is ∼7 Gyr, indicating that the galaxy could stay at the intermediate stage between the blue and red sequence for a long time. Thus the timescales for a significant decline in star formation rate (quenching) and gas depletion are not necessarily the same. Our analysis supports the quenching picture where outflows help suppress star formation by disturbing rather than expelling the gas and shed light on possible ongoing activities in similar quenching galaxies.
Author
Yuanze Luo
Johns Hopkins University
Kate Rowlands
Johns Hopkins University
Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI)
K. Alatalo
Johns Hopkins University
Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI)
Elizaveta Sazonova
Johns Hopkins University
Abdurro’uf
Academia Sinica
Timothy Heckman
Johns Hopkins University
Anne M. Medling
ARC Centre of Excellence for All-sky Astrophysics
University of Toledo
Susana E. Deustua
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
K. Nyland
Naval Research Laboratory
Lauranne Lanz
The College of New Jersey
Andreea O. Petric
Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI)
Justin A. Otter
Johns Hopkins University
Susanne Aalto
Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Astronomy and Plasmaphysics
Sabrina Dimassimo
Institute for Defense Analyses
K. Decker French
University of Illinois
J. S. Gallagher III
University of Wisconsin Madison
Joel C. Roediger
National Research Council Canada
Sofia Stepanoff
The College of New Jersey
Astrophysical Journal
0004-637X (ISSN) 1538-4357 (eISSN)
Vol. 938 1 63Subject Categories
Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology
Atom and Molecular Physics and Optics
Other Chemistry Topics
DOI
10.3847/1538-4357/ac8b7d