Ramos Almeida, C. orcid.org/0000-0001-8353-649X, Esparza-Arredondo, D. orcid.org/0000-0001-8042-9867, González-Martín, O. orcid.org/0000-0002-2356-8358 et al. (11 more authors) (2023) Absence of nuclear polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon emission from a compact starburst: the case of the type-2 quasar Mrk 477. Astronomy & Astrophysics, 669. L5. ISSN 0004-6361
Abstract
Mrk 477 is the closest type-2 quasar, at a distance of 163 Mpc. This makes it an ideal laboratory for studying the interplay between nuclear activity and star formation with a great level of detail and signal-to-noise. In this Letter we present new mid-infrared (mid-IR) imaging and spectroscopic data with an angular resolution of 0.4″ (∼300 pc) obtained with the Gran Telescopio Canarias instrument CanariCam. The N-band (8–13 μm) spectrum of the central ∼400 pc of the galaxy reveals [S IV]λ10.51 μm emission, but no 8.6 or 11.3 μm polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) features, which are commonly used as tracers of recent star formation. This is in stark contrast with the presence of a nuclear starburst of ∼300 pc in size, an age of 6 Myr, and a mass of 1.1×108 M⊙, as constrained from ultraviolet Hubble Space Telescope observations. Considering this, we argue that even the more resilient, neutral molecules that mainly produce the 11.3 μm PAH band are most likely being destroyed in the vicinity of the active nucleus despite the relatively large X-ray column density, log NH = 23.5 cm−2, and modest X-ray luminosity, 1.5×1043 erg s−1. This highlights the importance of being cautious when using PAH features as star formation tracers in the central region of galaxies to evaluate the impact of feedback from active galactic nuclei.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2023 The Authors. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Keywords: | galaxies: active; galaxies: nuclei; quasars: individual: Mrk 477; galaxies: evolution; ISM: lines and bands |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) > Department of Physics and Astronomy (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 22 Feb 2023 11:08 |
Last Modified: | 22 Feb 2023 11:08 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | EDP Sciences |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1051/0004-6361/202245409 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:196622 |