2D mapping of young stars in the inner 180 pc of NGC 1068: correlation with molecular gas ring and stellar kinematics

TL;DR

This study provides the first detailed 2D mapping of stellar populations and non-stellar components in the inner 180 pc of NGC 1068, revealing recent star formation episodes, stellar kinematics, and dust structures using near-infrared integral field spectroscopy.

Contribution

It introduces a novel 2D spectral synthesis mapping technique applied to NGC 1068, uncovering recent star formation history and dust emission in unprecedented detail.

Findings

Two recent star formation episodes at 300 Myr and 30 Myr ago.

Identification of a ring-like structure of young stars and H2 emission.

Dominance of old stellar populations and dusty torus in the nucleus.

Abstract

We report the first two-dimensional mapping of the stellar population and non-stellar continua within the inner 180 pc (radius) of NGC 1068 at a spatial resolution of 8 pc, using integral field spectroscopy in the near-infrared. We have applied the technique of spectral synthesis to data obtained with the instrument NIFS and the adaptive optics module ALTAIR at the Gemini North Telescope. Two episodes of recent star formation are found to dominate the stellar population contribution: the first occurred 300 Myr ago, extending over most of the nuclear region; the second occurred just 30 Myr ago, in a ring-like structure at ~100 pc from the nucleus, where it is coincident with an expanding ring of H2 emission. Inside the ring, where a decrease in the stellar velocity dispersion is observed, the stellar population is dominated by the 300 Myr age component. In the inner 35 pc, the oldest age component (age > 2Gyr) dominates the mass, while the flux is dominated by black-body components with temperatures in the range 700 < T < 800 K which we attribute to the dusty torus. We also find some contribution from black-body and power-law components beyond the nucleus which we attribute to dust emission and scattered light.