Bibcode
Alonso-Herrero, A.; Roche, P. F.; Esquej, P.; González-Martín, O.; Pereira-Santaella, M.; Ramos Almeida, C.; Levenson, N. A.; Packham, C.; Asensio Ramos, A.; Mason, R. E.; Rodríguez-Espinosa, J. M.; Alvarez-Iglesias, C. A.; Colina, L.; Aretxaga, I.; Díaz-Santos, T.; Perlman, E.; Telesco, C. M.
Bibliographical reference
The Astrophysical Journal Letters, Volume 779, Issue 1, article id. L14, 5 pp. (2013).
Advertised on:
12
2013
Citations
27
Refereed citations
26
Description
We present mid-infrared (MIR) 8-13 μm spectroscopy of the nuclear
regions of the interacting galaxy Arp 299 (IC 694+NGC 3690) obtained
with CanariCam (CC) on the 10.4 m Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC). The
high angular resolution (~0.''3-0.''6) of the data allows us to probe
nuclear physical scales between 60 and 120 pc, which is a factor of 10
improvement over previous MIR spectroscopic observations of this system.
The GTC/CC spectroscopy displays evidence of deeply embedded active
galactic nucleus (AGN) activity in both nuclei. The GTC/CC nuclear
spectrum of NGC 3690/Arp 299-B1 can be explained as emission from
AGN-heated dust in a clumpy torus with both a high covering factor and
high extinction along the line of sight. The estimated bolometric
luminosity of the AGN in NGC 3690 is 3.2 ± 0.6 ×
1044 erg s–1. The nuclear GTC/CC spectrum of
IC 694/Arp 299-A shows 11.3 μm polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon
emission stemming from a deeply embedded (AV ~ 24 mag) region
of less than 120 pc in size. There is also a continuum-emitting dust
component. If associated with the putative AGN in IC 694, we estimate
that it would be approximately five times less luminous than the AGN in
NGC 3690. The presence of dual AGN activity makes Arp 299 a good example
to study such phenomena in the early coalescence phase of interacting
galaxies.
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