Evidence of a Forming Nucleus in the Fourcade-Figueroa Galaxy

TL;DR

This study identifies and models an unresolved dust condensation at the center of the Fourcade-Figueroa galaxy, suggesting it is a forming nucleus with properties akin to starburst regions, based on multi-satellite infrared data.

Contribution

It provides the first evidence and detailed modeling of a forming nucleus in the Fourcade-Figueroa galaxy using multi-wavelength infrared observations.

Findings

Detected an unresolved dust condensation at galaxy center.

Modeled the condensation with a shell structure using DUSTY.

Estimated the condensation's temperature, size, extinction, and luminosity.

Abstract

We analyze data from the IRAS, WISE, and Planck satellites, revealing an unresolved dust condensation at the center of the Fourcade-Figueroa galaxy (ESO270-G017), which may correspond to a forming nucleus. We model the condensation's continuum spectrum in the spectral range from 3 to 1300 microns using the DUSTY code. The best-fit model, based on the Chi-square test, indicates that the condensation is a shell with an outer temperature of T_out ~ 12 K and an inner boundary temperature of T_i ~ 500 K. The shell's outer radius is r_o = 86.2 pc, and the inner cavity radius is r_i = 0.082 pc. The condensation produces an extinction A_V = 50 mag and its luminosity is L_c = 1.08E34 W, which would correspond to a burst of massive star formation approximately similar to the central 5 pc of R136 in the LMC and NGC3603, the ionizing cluster of a giant Carina arm HII region. The comparison with Normal, Luminous, and Ultra-Luminous Infrared Galaxies leads us to consider this obscured nucleus as the nearest and weakest object of this category.