Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-995ml Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-28T16:05:04.473Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Quenching of Star Formation in Molecular Outflow Host NGC 1266

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 March 2013

K. Alatalo
Affiliation:
University of California, Berkeley, USA; email: kalatalo@ipac.caltech.edu IPAC/Caltech, USA
K. E. Nyland
Affiliation:
New Mexico Tech, Socorro, USA
G. Graves
Affiliation:
University of California, Berkeley, USA; email: kalatalo@ipac.caltech.edu
S. Deustua
Affiliation:
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, USA
L. M. Young
Affiliation:
New Mexico Tech, Socorro, USA
T. A. Davis
Affiliation:
ESO, Garching, Germany
A. F. Crocker
Affiliation:
University of Toledo, USA
M. Bureau
Affiliation:
University of Oxford, UK
E. Bayet
Affiliation:
University of Oxford, UK
L. Blitz
Affiliation:
New Mexico Tech, Socorro, USA
M. Bois
Affiliation:
Observatoire de Paris, France
F. Bournaud
Affiliation:
Université Paris Diderot, France
M. Cappellari
Affiliation:
University of Oxford, UK
R. L. Davies
Affiliation:
University of Oxford, UK
P. T. de Zeeuw
Affiliation:
ESO, Garching, Germany Leiden University, The Netherlands
E. Emsellem
Affiliation:
ESO, Garching, Germany Université de Lyon, France
S. Khochfar
Affiliation:
MPI for Extraterrestrial Physics, Garching, Germany
D. Krajnovic
Affiliation:
ESO, Garching, Germany
H. Kuntschner
Affiliation:
ESO, Garching, Germany
R. M. McDermid
Affiliation:
Gemini Observatory, Hilo, USA
R. Morganti
Affiliation:
ASTRON, Dwingeloo, The Netherlands
T. Naab
Affiliation:
MPI for Extraterrestrial Physics, Garching, Germany
T. Oosterloo
Affiliation:
ASTRON, Dwingeloo, The Netherlands
M. Sarzi
Affiliation:
University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, UK
N. Scott
Affiliation:
Swinburne University, Australia
P. Serra
Affiliation:
University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, UK
A. Weijmans
Affiliation:
University of Toronto, Canada
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

We detail the rich molecular story of NGC 1266, its serendipitous discovery within the ATLAS3D survey (Cappellari et al. 2011) and how it plays host to an AGN-driven molecular outflow, potentially quenching all of its star formation (SF) within the next 100 Myr. While major mergers appear to play a role in instigating outflows in other systems, deep imaging of NGC 1266 as well as stellar kinematic observations from SAURON, have failed to provide evidence that NGC 1266 has recently been involved in a major interaction. The molecular gas and the instantaneous SF tracers indicate that the current sites of star formation are located in a hypercompact disk within 200 pc of the nucleus (Fig. 1; SF rate ≈ 2 M yr−1). On the other hand, tracers of recent star formation, such as the Hβ absorption map from SAURON and stellar population analysis show that the young stars are distributed throughout a larger area of the galaxy than current star formation. As the AGN at the center of NGC 1266 continues to drive cold gas out of the galaxy, we expect star formation rates to decline as the star formation is ultimately quenched. Thus, NGC 1266 is in the midst of a key portion of its evolution and continued studies of this unique galaxy may help improve our understanding of how galaxies transition from the blue to the red sequence (Alatalo et al. 2011).

Type
Contributed Papers
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2013

References

Alatalo, K., et al. 2011, ApJ, 735, 88Google Scholar
Cappellari, M.et al. 2011, MNRAS, 413, 813CrossRefGoogle Scholar