Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Lyu, Xuanyi
• Westmeier, T
• Meurer, Gerhardt R
• Hanish, D J

Titel

On the origin of the anomalous gas, non-declining rotation curve, and disc asymmetries in NGC 253

Ist Teil von

• Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 2023-07, Vol.524 (1), p.1169-1190

Ort / Verlag

Oxford University Press

Erscheinungsjahr

2023

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

Electronic Journals Library - Freely accessible e-journals

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• ABSTRACT We present a multiwavelength (from far-ultraviolet to ${\rm H}\, \rm {\small I}$ emission) study of star formation feedback on the kinematics of the interstellar medium in the Sculptor galaxy, NGC 253. Its three well-known features (a disrupted stellar disc, a previously reported declining rotation curve, and anomalous ${\rm H}\, \rm {\small I}$ gas) are studied in a common context of disc asymmetries. About 170 h of on-source ATCA observations are collected and reduced into two versions of ${\rm H}\, \rm {\small I}$ data cubes of different angular resolution (30 arcsec/2 arcmin) and H i column density sensitivity (7.4 × 1019 cm−2/4 × 1018 cm−2). We separate the anomalous gas from the disc using a custom-made line profile fitting toolkit called FMG. Two star formation tracers (H α, FUV emission) are carefully processed and studied. We find that at R > 7.5 kpc, the star formation activity is strongly lopsided (SFRNE > SFRSW), and investigate several other properties (H α/FUV, dust temperature, stellar age, and disc stability parameters). We also find that the declining nature of the rotation curve perceived by previous studies is not intrinsic but a combined effect of kinematical asymmetries at R = 7.5–16 kpc. This is likely the consequence of star formation triggered outflow. The mass distribution and the time-scale of the anomalous gas also imply that it originates from gas outflow, which is perhaps caused by galaxy–galaxy interaction considering the crowded environment of NGC 253.