Resolved Structure of Arp 220 Nuclei at \lambda ~3 mm

TL;DR

This study uses high-resolution ALMA data to resolve the detailed structure of Arp 220's nuclei at 3 mm, revealing starburst disks, concentrated dust emission with high brightness temperatures, and potential AGN activity.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed spatially-resolved imaging of the nuclear dust and plasma components in Arp 220 at 3 mm, identifying a compact, luminous dust core and a bipolar outflow.

Findings

The western nucleus hosts a ~20 pc dust core with Tb ~ 530 K.

The dust core's luminosity surface density reaches 10^{15.5} Lsun/kpc^2.

A bipolar outflow is observed perpendicular to the western nucleus disk.

Abstract

We analyze 3 mm emission of the ultraluminous infrared galaxy Arp 220 for spatially-resolved structure and spectral properties of the merger nuclei. ALMA archival data at ~0.05" resolution are used for extensive visibility fitting and deep imaging of continuum emission. The data are fitted well with two concentric components for each nucleus, such as two Gaussians or one Gaussian plus one exponential disk. The larger components in individual nuclei are similar in shape and extent, ~100-150 pc, to the cm-wave emission due to supernovae. They are therefore identified with the known starburst nuclear disks. The smaller components in both nuclei have about a few 10 pc sizes and peak brightness temperatures (Tb) more than twice higher than in previous single-Gaussian fitting. They correspond to the dust emission that we find centrally concentrated in both nuclei by subtracting the plasma emission measured at 33 GHz. The dust emission in the western nucleus is found to have a peak Tb ~ 530 K and a full width at half maximum of about 20 pc. This component is estimated to have a bolometric luminosity on the order of 10^{12.5} Lsun and a 20 pc-scale luminosity surface density 10^{15.5} Lsun/kpc^2. A luminous AGN is a plausible energy source for these high values while other explanations remain to be explored. Our continuum image also reveals a third structural component of the western nucleus --- a pair of faint spurs perpendicular to the disk major axis. We attribute it to a bipolar outflow from the highly inclined (i ~ 60 deg) western nuclear disk.