Active Galactic Nucleus and Extended Starbursts in a Mid-stage Merger VV114
D. Iono, T. Saito, M. S. Yun, R. Kawabe, D. Espada, Y. Hagiwara, M., Imanishi, T. Izumi, K. Kohno, K. Motohara, K. Nakanishi, H. Sugai, K., Tateuchi, Y. Tamura, J. Ueda, Y. Yoshii

TL;DR
This study uses high-resolution ALMA observations to map dense gas in a mid-stage galaxy merger, revealing dense gas structures associated with both an active nucleus and star-forming regions, highlighting the power of dense gas tracers.
Contribution
First detailed ALMA mapping of dense gas in a mid-stage galaxy merger, distinguishing between AGN-related and star formation-related dense gas structures.
Findings
Detection of compact dense gas associated with the AGN
Extended filamentary dense gas aligned with star-forming regions
Moderately dense gas conditions inferred from radiative transfer models
Abstract
High resolution (0.4 arcsec) Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) Cycle 0 observations of HCO+(4-3) and HCN(4-3) toward a mid-stage infrared bright merger VV114 have revealed compact nuclear (<200 pc) and extended (3 - 4 kpc) dense gas distribution across the eastern part of the galaxy pair. We find a significant enhancement of HCN(4-3) emission in an unresolved compact and broad (290km/s) component found in the eastern nucleus of VV114, and we suggest dense gas associated with the surrounding material around an Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN), with a mass upper limit of < 4 x 10^8 Msun. The extended dense gas is distributed along a filamentary structure with resolved dense gas concentrations (230pc; 10^6 Msun) separated by a mean projected distance of 600 pc, many of which are generally consistent with the location of star formation traced in Pa alpha emission. Radiative…
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