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Luminous IR Galaxies: Evolution and Molecular Gas

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 April 2016

Yu Gao
Yu Gao*
Affiliation:
Dept. of Astronomy, Univ. of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801, USA

Extract

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Luminous infrared galaxies (LIRGs), denned by the criterion LIR ≳ 2 × 1011L⊙ (for H0=75 kms−1 Mpc−1), are the most powerful IR sources in the Universe, with most of their emission (~ 90%) in the far-IR. Most LIRGs are interacting/merging galaxies with large amounts of molecular gas as revealed by CO surveys (Sanders et al. 1991; Solomon et al. 1996). However, whether starbursts or dust-enshrouded AGNs/QSOs dominate the IR luminosity is not resolved.

CO may not trace the active star-forming regions where gas density is more than one order of magnitude higher than the average. Dense molecular gas is better traced by high dipole-moment molecules like HCN and CS (e.g., Nguyen-Q-Rieu et al. 1992; Gao & Solomon 1996). Therefore, it is essential to survey HCN emission in a large sample of LIRGs to better reveal the nature of LIRGs. We here study IR and molecular gas properties vs. galaxy-galaxy interactions in LIRGs over various merging phases to trace their evolution and explore some links among interactions, starbursts, and AGN phenomena.

Type
IX. Surveys and Properties of Active Galaxies and Related Sources
Information
International Astronomical Union Colloquium , Volume 159: Emission Lines in Active Galaxies: New Methods and Techniques , 1997 , pp. 439 - 440
Copyright
Copyright © Astronomical Society of the Pacific 1997

References

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