A multiwavelength view of the ISM in the merger remnant Fornax A galaxy

TL;DR

This study provides a detailed multi-wavelength analysis of the dust, gas, and ISM in the merger remnant galaxy NGC 1316, revealing complex dust morphology, properties similar to Galactic dust, and the distribution of hot and ionized gas.

Contribution

It offers a comprehensive multi-wavelength characterization of NGC 1316's ISM, including dust morphology, content estimates, and hot gas distribution, with new high-resolution X-ray insights.

Findings

Complex dust morphology with prominent lanes and arc-like structures.

Dust properties similar to Galactic dust grains based on extinction curve.

Estimated dust mass varies from optical to IR measurements, indicating different dust components.

Abstract

We present multi-wavelength imagery of the merger remnant galaxy NGC 1316 with an objective to study the content of dust and its association with the other phases of the ISM. Color-index maps as well as extinction maps derived for this galaxy reveal an intricate and complex dust morphology in NGC 1316, i.e., in the inner part it exists in the form of a prominent lane while at about 6--7\,kpc it apparently takes an arc-like pattern extended along the North-East direction. In addition to this, several other dust clumps and knots are also evident in this galaxy. Dust emission mapped using \textit{Spitzer} data at 8 $\mu$m indicates even more complex morphological structures of the dust in NGC1316. The extinction curve derived over the optical to near-IR bands closely follows the standard Galactic curve suggesting similar properties of the dust grains. The dust content of NGC 1316 estimated from optical extinction is $\sim$ 2.13$\times\, 10^5$ \Msun. This is a lower limit compared to that estimated using the IRAS flux densities $\sim$ 5.17$\times\, 10^6$ \Msun\, and flux densities at 24$\mu$m, 70$\mu$m and 160 $\mu$m from MIPS $\sim$ 3.2$\times\, 10^7$ \Msun. High resolution \textit{Chandra} observations of this merger remnant system have provided with an unprecedented view of the complex nature of hot gas distribution in NGC 1316 which closely matches the morphology of ionized gas and to some extent with the dust also. X-ray color-color plot for the resolved sources within optical D$_{25}$ extent of NGC 1316 has enabled us to separate them in different classes.