A&A 379, 823-844 (2001)
DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361:20011377
U. Klaas1 -
M. Haas1 -
S. A. H. Müller1,2 -
R. Chini2 -
B. Schulz3 -
I. Coulson4 -
H. Hippelein1 -
K. Wilke1 -
M. Albrecht2 -
D. Lemke1
1 -
Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie (MPIA), Königstuhl 17, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany
2 -
Astronomisches Institut, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, 44780 Bochum, Germany
3 -
ISO Data Centre, Astrophysics Division, Space Science Dep. of ESA,
Villafranca, PO Box 50727, 28080 Madrid, Spain
4 -
Joint Astronomy Centre, 660 N. Aohuku Place, University Park, Hilo 96720, Hawaii, USA
Received 22 December 2000 / Accepted 24 September 2001
Abstract
Infrared to millimetre spectral energy distributions (SEDs) have been obtained for
41 bright ultra-luminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs). The observations were carried out with ISOPHOT
between 10 and 200 m and supplemented for 16 sources with JCMT/SCUBA at 450 and 850
m and
with SEST at 1.3 mm. In addition, seven sources were observed at 1.2 and 2.2
m with the 2.2 m
telescope on Calar Alto. These new SEDs represent the most complete set of infrared photometric templates
obtained so far on ULIRGs in the local universe.
The SEDs peak at 60-100
m and show often a quite shallow Rayleigh-Jeans tail. Fits with one single
modified blackbody yield a high FIR opacity and small dust emissivity exponent
.
However,
this concept leads to conflicts with several other observational constraints, like the low PAH extinction
or the extended filamentary optical morphology. A more consistent picture is obtained using several dust
components with
,
low to moderate FIR opacity and cool (50 K > T > 30 K) to cold
(30 K > T > 10 K) temperatures. This provides evidence for two dust stages, the cool starburst
dominated one and the cold cirrus-like one. The third stage with several hundred Kelvin warm dust is
identified in the AGN dominated ULIRGs, showing up as a NIR-MIR power-law flux increase. While AGNs and SBs
appear indistinguishable at FIR and submm wavelengths, they differ in the NIR-MIR. This suggests that the
cool FIR emitting dust is not related to the AGN, and that the AGN only powers the warm and hot dust.
In comparison with optical and MIR spectroscopy, a criterion based on the SED shapes and the NIR colours is
established to reveal AGNs among ULIRGs. Also the possibility of recognising evolutionary trends among the
ULIRGs via the relative amounts of cold, cool and warm dust components is investigated.
Key words: infrared: galaxies - galaxies: active, evolution, fundamental parameters, photometry, starbursts
Ultra-luminous IR galaxies (ULIRGs) emit the bulk of their energy
in the mid- and far-infrared with
.
Optical and near-infrared images show a disturbed morphology and signatures
of interaction and merging. Spectra show emission lines characteristic for strong
starbursts, shocks (LINERs) and in some cases also Seyfert types (AGNs).
Sanders et al. (1988a) suggested that the ULIRGs form an evolutionary link
between starburst galaxies and quasars. The current literature and the research
state are excellently reviewed by Sanders & Mirabel (1996), and most recently by
Genzel & Cesarsky (2000).
Here we focus on the following topics:
Name | 1.2 | 2.2 | 10 | 12 | 15 | 25 | 60 | 90 | 120 | 150 | 180 | 200 | 450 | 850 | 1300 |
00199-7426 | 0.057 | <0.120 | 0.09 | 0.25 | 7.50 | 5.34 | 4.21 | 3.00 | |||||||
00262+4251* | 0.0054 | 0.0055 | <0.087 | 0.043 | 0.10 | 0.36 | 3.36 | 2.60 | 2.90 | 2.40 | 2.40 | <2.10 | |||
00406-3127 | 0.77 | 0.63 | 0.44 | 0.32 | |||||||||||
03068-5346 | <0.063 | 0.040 | 0.05 | 0.15 | 3.60 | 3.34 | 3.33 | 2.78 | 1.72 | 1.35 | |||||
03158+4227 | <0.165 | 0.085 | <0.21 | 0.25 | 5.25 | 3.88 | 3.19 | 1.75 | <1.79 | 1.05 | |||||
03538-6432 | 1.37 | 1.07 | 0.85 | 0.62 | |||||||||||
04232+1436 | 0.0055 | 0.0106 | <0.108 | 0.065 | 0.07 | 0.39 | 3.88 | 4.14 | 3.50 | 2.30 | 1.60 | 1.10 | |||
05189-2524 | 0.600 | 0.800 | 1.00 | 3.08 | 13.02 | 10.70 | 10.00 | 6.80 | 4.36 | 3.84 | <0.036 | ||||
06035-7102 | 0.090 | 0.130 | 0.15 | 0.53 | 5.86 | 5.05 | 5.15 | 2.90 | 2.01 | 1.35 | |||||
06206-6315 | <0.072 | 0.040 | 0.11 | 0.24 | 4.84 | 4.20 | 4.57 | 2.90 | 1.87 | 1.50 | |||||
12112+0305 | 0.065 | 0.100 | 0.20 | 0.44 | 9.94 | 8.95 | 8.31 | 5.87 | 3.93 | 2.93 | |||||
MK231a | 1.425 | 2.400 | 2.90 | 8.66 | 31.68 | 27.34 | 24.32 | 14.74 | 9.75 | 6.88 | |||||
MK273b | 0.100 | 0.250 | 0.50 | 2.07 | 27.45 | 23.78 | 19.99 | 13.10 | 8.69 | 7.40 | |||||
MK463c | 0.425 | 0.580 | 0.80 | 1.79 | 2.33 | 1.94 | 1.60 | 0.99 | <0.84 | 0.45 | |||||
14348-1447 | <0.096 | 0.108 | <0.27 | 0.42 | 8.21 | 7.23 | 6.66 | 5.61 | 3.76 | 2.69 | 0.21 | 0.024 | <0.009 | ||
14378-3651 | <0.276 | <0.399 | <0.36 | 0.41 | 8.53 | 7.49 | 5.90 | 3.60 | 2.80 | 2.45 | <0.010 | ||||
15245+1019 | <0.084 | 0.051 | <0.18 | 0.22 | 5.25 | 5.43 | 5.58 | 3.60 | 1.94 | 1.31 | |||||
15250+3609 | <0.267 | 0.238 | 0.56 | 1.31 | 8.63 | 6.66 | 4.16 | 2.37 | 1.60 | 1.16 | |||||
Arp 220d | 0.147 | 0.600 | 1.14 | 8.28 | 113.35 | 111.50 | 109.00 | 87.89 | 63.95 | 54.81 | |||||
15462-0450* | 0.064 | 0.100 | 0.15 | 0.38 | 2.81 | 2.80 | 2.44 | <2.5 | |||||||
16090-0139 | <0.252 | 0.100 | <0.21 | 0.20 | 6.70 | 5.80 | 4.00 | 2.75 | 2.00 | 1.21 | <0.13 | <0.017 | |||
NGC 6240e | 0.259 | 0.750 | 1.00 | 3.31 | 23.60 | 26.70 | 25.90 | 18.91 | 12.73 | 9.00 | 1.00 | 0.150 | |||
17208-0014 | 0.080 | 0.200 | 0.25 | 1.32 | 32.22 | 31.90 | 30.00 | 23.00 | 17.50 | 12.50 | 1.07 | 0.155 | |||
17463+5806 | 0.63 | 0.58 | 0.37 | 0.23 | |||||||||||
18090+0130* | 0.0200 | 0.0195 | 0.187 | 0.300 | <0.38 | 0.59 | 16.63 | 14.50 | 10.48 | 9.74 | |||||
18470+3234 | 0.0027 | 0.0036 | <0.081 | 0.135 | 0.15 | 0.44 | 4.15 | 3.55 | 3.20 | 2.45 | 1.70 | 1.25 | |||
19254-7245f | 0.123 | 0.200 | 0.40 | 1.32 | 5.57 | 5.26 | 4.27 | 3.06 | 2.30 | 1.61 | 0.012 | ||||
19458+0944* | <0.396 | <0.540 | <0.77 | 0.26 | 5.82 | 7.61 | 7.05 | ||||||||
20046-0623 | 0.0039 | 0.0040 | <0.084 | 0.125 | <0.39 | 0.47 | 4.50 | 4.71 | 3.69 | 3.18 | 2.79 | 1.40 | <0.16 | <0.026 | |
20087-0308 | <0.117 | 0.070 | 0.10 | 0.25 | 5.54 | 4.85 | 5.96 | 4.05 | 2.95 | 2.30 | <0.10 | <0.010 | |||
20100-4156 | <0.090 | 0.090 | 0.14 | 0.34 | 6.53 | 5.11 | 4.51 | 3.36 | 2.09 | 1.86 | <0.014 | ||||
20414-1651 | <0.168 | <0.117 | <0.18 | 0.25 | 6.16 | 4.22 | 3.60 | 2.56 | 1.54 | <1.35 | |||||
ESO 286-19g | <0.204 | 0.275 | 0.50 | 2.11 | 13.90 | 9.26 | 6.73 | 4.14 | 2.56 | 1.80 | |||||
21130-4446 | <0.090 | 0.055 | <0.45 | 0.15 | 4.03 | 3.60 | 4.50 | 3.94 | 3.14 | 2.90 | <0.023 | ||||
21504-0628 | 0.0055 | 0.0057 | 0.040 | 0.050 | 0.15 | 0.28 | 3.33 | 2.82 | 2.80 | 1.52 | 1.26 | 0.70 | <0.11 | <0.016 | |
22491-1808 | <0.063 | 0.080 | 0.11 | 0.50 | 6.80 | 5.45 | 3.55 | 2.70 | 1.95 | 1.70 | <0.20 | 0.019 | |||
ESO 148-2h | 0.126 | 0.250 | 0.36 | 1.55 | 12.50 | 11.36 | 10.00 | 6.40 | 4.70 | 3.50 | |||||
23230-6926 | 0.035 | 0.060 | 0.10 | 0.29 | 4.80 | 3.98 | 4.10 | 3.00 | 2.00 | 1.70 | 0.010 | ||||
23365+3604 | 0.0075 | 0.0065 | <0.120 | 0.080 | 0.15 | 0.65 | 7.78 | 6.76 | 6.75 | 4.81 | 3.35 | 3.01 | 0.17 | 0.020 | |
23389-6139 | <0.075 | 0.031 | <0.26 | 0.20 | 3.88 | 3.30 | 4.03 | 2.83 | 1.99 | 1.52 | <0.005 | ||||
23515-2917 | 0.80 | 0.64 | 0.48 | 0.33 |
From the Queen Mary & Westfield College IRAS galaxy catalogue (QIGC, 17711 entries,
Rowan-Robinson et al. 1991) we chose the 48 brightest sources with (1)
Jy and (2)
(based on
kms-1/Mpc). Throughout this paper, however, we use
kms-1/Mpc, thus, some of the sources reach only about
10
.
In the course of the ISO mission 37 out of these 48 sources
could be observed (77%), all objects having z < 0.2. Thus, the sample is representative
for the nearby bright ULIRGs. In coordination with the other ISO Guaranteed Time programmes the
two slightly less luminous objects NGC 6240 and Mrk 463 were included.
Later we observed four more objects with higher redshifts (
0.4 > z > 0.2,
Jy) which were visible to the satellite.
The observations were carried out with ISOPHOT (Lemke et al. 1996),
the photometer on board ISO (Kessler et al. 1996). A description
of the ISOPHOT observation templates (AOTs) is given in Laureijs et al. (2000).
The MIR 10 to 25 m observations were done in triangular chopped mode
(AOT P03) with a 52
aperture and a chopper throw of 60
which matched the compact size of the targets well.
The FIR 60 to 200
m observations were performed with the array
cameras C100 and C200 in the "sparse map'' off-on mode (AOT P37-39)
with background positions 3-4
north of the source. Beam sizes
used for photometry are given in Table 1. The four faint
sources at higher redshift were observed in mini-map mode (AOT P22)
in a
raster and restricted to the filters at 120, 150, 180,
and 200
m.
The data were reduced using the PHT Interactive Analysis tool (PIA)
(V7.3.3e) in standard processing mode, together with the calibration data set
V4.0 (ISOPHOT Data User Manual V4.0, Laureijs et al. 1998). This includes
correction for non-linearity of the electronics, deglitching (removal of data
disturbed by cosmic particle events), and correction for signal dependence on
the reset interval time. To handle the signal transients in the time series of
bright FCS illuminations, only the last half was taken, when the values approached
the final signal level. The calibration of detector responsivity and its changes
was performed using associated measurements of the thermal fine calibration source
(FCS) on board.
For the chopped measurements with the P1 and P2 detectors at wavelengths
10-25 m we inspected the sequence of chopper plateaux and removed
outliers, with the criterion that the uncertainty was larger than the average
three sigma of the measurements. By this procedure typically the first
chopper plateau of a series and those with residual glitches were removed.
Finally the fluxes were corrected for aperture/beam size effects.
For the
pixel C100 array (60 and 90
m)
the fluxes were derived with two methods using (1) only the central pixel
(46
)
and (2) the whole array
(138
). Both methods yield essentially the
same flux (with some higher noise for the whole array), providing evidence that
the objects are point-like and not resolved in the FIR.
The error propagation in ISOPHOT data reduction is described in Laureijs & Klaas (1999). The statistical errors derived from signal processing are about 5-20%, depending on the wavelength range and object brightness (see caption to Table 1), but systematic errors due to absolute calibration accuracy are estimated to be 30% (Klaas et al. 1998b). To account for the overall uncertainty in the signal derivation as well as relative and absolute photometric calibration we have adopted a general photometric uncertainty of 30%.
The 450 and 850 m observations were obtained on July 1st and 3rd, 1999,
using the Submillimetre Common User Bolometer Array (SCUBA, Holland et al. 1999)
at the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) on Mauna Kea, Hawaii.
In general, photometry with 1
chopper throw, mini-jiggle and
beam switching was performed. We used the SCUBA narrow band filters in order
to minimize possible CO line contributions (see also Sect. 4.1). The
atmospheric transmission was determined every hour from measurement series at various
zenith distances (sky dips). The conditions were excellent and stable
(
on July 1st and
on
July 3rd, respectively).
was extrapolated from the 850
m
skydips (
on July 1st and
on
July 3rd, respectively). Mars and Uranus served as standard calibrators, and repeated
photometry measurements gave a reproducibility of better than 5% and 14% at
850
m and 450
m, respectively. The observing time per source was
10-20 min (actually the dome carousel driver was out of order, so that the targets
could only be observed during their oblique rising passage across the dome slit pointing
towards south-east). The data were reduced using the SCUBA User Reduction Facility
(SURF) with special emphasis on identifying noisy bolometer pixels and removing the sky
noise determined from off-source pixels.
In order to check for possible extended submm flux, jiggle maps covering 2
were obtained for three sources. These sources were NGC 6240 and 17208-0014, both
revealing a submm flux excess (as discussed below), and 20046-0623 providing the same
good upper limits for different beams. None of the sources seems to be extended at the
spatial resolution of about 8
and 15
FWHM, respectively.
These test cases suggest that for the other sources the bulk of submm flux is also
contained within our photometry beams and that some possible extended submm flux is
small and lies within the total adopted uncertainties of about 20-30%, in
particular since NGC6240 and 17208-0014 lie in the low redshift range of our sample.
The m observations were obtained between July 4th and 9th, 1999, using the
MPIfR single channel facility bolometer (Kreysa 1990) at the Swedish ESO
Submillimetre Telescope (SEST) on La Silla, Chile. The system provides a beamsize of
24
and was used in the ON-OFF mode with dual beam switching and a beam separation
of 68
in azimuth. Pointing and focus were checked at least every two hours and
the pointing accuracy was always better than 4
.
The atmospheric transmission as
determined by sky dips was stable at about
.
Uranus
served as a standard calibrator. The observing time per source was about 1 hour (on-source).
From repeated calibrator measurements we estimate the absolute accuracy to be about
20-30%.
![]() |
Figure 1:
Spectral energy distributions of ultra-luminous IR galaxies,
ordered along the columns by RA. Upper limits are indicated by a downward
arrow and in the case of ISO, SCUBA and SEST measurements in addition by open symbols.
The redshifts and, if known, the optical spectral types are listed. The wavelength
and frequency ranges are as observed and not corrected with regard to the rest frame
of the objects. The dotted lines represent modified blackbody fits. Emissivity
exponent ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
J and K-band images were obtained at the Calar Alto 2.2 m telescope on August 21 and 22,
2000, using the
pixel NIR camera MAGIC (Herbst et al. 1993)
with a pixel scale of 0
6416. The observations were performed in standard dithering
mode with a total exposure time per source of about 10 and 30 min in J and K, respectively.
The seeing was about 2
preventing the identification of spatial details in the
sources (see Appendix A). But the conditions were photometric, in particular during the
second night. The UKIRT standard stars FS2, FS27 and FS35 were observed for flux calibration.
The data reduction followed the standard procedures. Based on the cross calibration of
the standard stars, we estimate the photometric accuracy to be about 15%. In the case of
IRAS18090+0130 the uncertainty is somewhat higher due to superposition of two stars.
The fluxes from our observations are listed in Table 1. The 60 and 90 m
values agree within 20% with the IRAS 60 and 100
m ones. For many sources, where IRAS
provided only upper limits at 12 or 25
m, now the 10-25
m fluxes could be
measured. Also, for 16 sources out of 41, submm/mm fluxes and good upper limits are provided,
as well as NIR 1.2 and 2.2
m fluxes for seven sources.
The spectral energy distributions (SEDs, as measured, not corrected for redshift) are shown in Fig. 1, supplemented by literature data. The remarkable features of the SEDs are:
The determination of the Rayleigh Jeans branch allows a detailed analysis with respect
to the dust emissivity
and the opacity
,
as carried
out in the next section, under the condition that the emission is of thermal nature. Therefore,
beforehand one has to check possible contamination of the submm and mm fluxes by CO lines and/or
synchrotron emission:
In order to characterise the dust emission, the SEDs are fitted with modified blackbodies.
Such fits, however, are not unique. They rely largely on the mass absorption coefficient
and its wavelength dependence
,
both still being a matter of debate.
Values of
between 1 and 2 are commonly used (e.g. Hildebrand 1983). In case of a flat
Rayleigh-Jeans tail the SEDs can also be modelled by several dust components. Since the
interpretation of the dust emission as well as the derivation of the dust mass depend on the
blackbody models used, we investigate the two main cases. They represent simplified formalisms,
each relying on implicit assumptions, and a realistic description probably lies between these two
extremes. In the following two subsections the FIR-submm range is investigated,
and the MIR part is addressed in the third subsection.
We used the following model:
![]() |
Figure 2:
Distribution of
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
The relation of the parameters ,
and T with the SED shapes is:
The fitted parameters ,
and T are listed in
Table 2, together with
.
A visual impression of the quality of
the fits is given in Fig. 1. In summary, the results for the mm-subsample are:
The quoted parameter values should be considered with some tolerance and their interdependence borne in mind:
The dust parameters were determined via Eq. (1) only for the mm-subsample.
For the remaining sources with wavelength coverage limited to 200 m (IR-subsample)
could not be fitted reliably (as we found from tests with the mm-subsample using only
the 60-200
m fluxes). For the IR-subsample we kept
fixed using the average value
derived from the mm-subsample. Then
and T could be determined
reasonably well from the 60-200
m fluxes alone. (Exceptions are 00262+4251, 15462-0450,
18090+0130 and 19458+0944 which have less complete spectral coverage due to bad quality measurements
as flagged in Table 1. In these cases
was fixed to 6.0). The
resulting values lie in the same range as for the mm-subsample (Table 2 and
Fig. 1). As a check, we fitted also
and T of the mm-subsample
with a fixed
using only the 60-200
m fluxes. The results are basically
consistent with those obtained from the longer wavelength coverage, except for the sources
with extremely low or high true
.
Hence, in the discussion below we can mostly use the full
sample, and only where
plays a role, we confine it to the mm-subsample.
As derived in the previous section, for the majority of the "mm-subsample'' sources (11 out
of 14, not having lower limits for ,
one of them having
,
Fig. 2) it is not possible to fit the FIR-submm SEDs properly with one single
modified blackbody with an emissivity law of
,
rather the superposition of two
or more modified blackbodies is required.
In the low opacity case Eq. (1) can be approximated by
In the case of multiple blackbodies no direct conclusion about the opacity
can
be drawn (nevertheless, in Sect. 5.1.2 below,
will be constrained using CO data).
The most realistic case might be that of several blackbodies with
,
and a range
of opacities from low to partly high.
The two basic SED shapes in the NIR-MIR outlined in Sect. 4.1 can be formally fitted by a superposition of several warm dust components. For the cases with flat NIR plateau the maximum temperatures are about 100-150 K (e.g. Klaas et al. 1997, 1998a). The power-law-like SEDs can be approximated by a suite of blackbodies up to the dust grain evaporation temperatures of about 1000-1500 K (the hotter the blackbody the less dust mass is involved). Modelling of the continuum is hampered by the presence of strong spectral features like PAH emission and silicate absorption. Using higher spectral resolution, Laurent et al. (2000) investigated this spectral part quantitatively.
Table 2 lists the luminosities derived within various bandpasses in the rest frame of the objects by integrating the spectral energy distribution as outlined by the thick solid and dash-dotted lines shown in Fig. 1 for the indicated wavelength ranges. On the Rayleigh-Jeans tail and around the SED maximum this comprises the single blackbody curve obtained with the Eq. (1) fit, and shortward thereof the lines connecting the data values by linear interpolation.
The total IR-submm luminosity
is dominated by the FIR in the wavelength
range 40-150
m, while the 150-1000
m submm range plays a minor role
(
)
as well as the 10-40
m
MIR range (except for Mrk463 and the z > 0.3 sources which are MIR dominant). The luminosities
extrapolated from the four IRAS bands (formula cf. Table 1 in
Sanders & Mirabel 1996) typically slightly overestimate our IR-submm luminosity values by about 15%;
nevertheless this is still a good agreement.
The MIR/FIR luminosity ratio has a median value of about 0.3. Thus, the sample of bright nearby ULIRGs
preferentially comprises objects with cool MIR/FIR colours (compared with quasars having
/
,
cf. Haas et al. 2000a). Though the luminosity range of the
ULIRG sample spans about one decade, there is no trend of luminosity with optical spectral type or
MIR/FIR colours.
For sources without submm/mm observations available, the submm luminosity
is extrapolated using the average value
(Sect. 4.3.1), while the actual
depends on the actual value of
.
A check on the mm-subsample shows that, for the case of minimum
or maximum
,
obtained using the average
can deviate from the
true value by factors of 2 and 0.5, respectively.
In order to derive the dust masses, we used the standard approach based on Hildebrand (1983) and
further developed by various authors (e.g. Chini et al. 1986; Krügel et al. 1990):
Name | z | D | L
![]() |
L
![]() |
L
![]() |
T | ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
M
![]() |
r![]() |
r![]() |
T | M
![]() |
r
![]() |
r
![]() |
M
![]() |
M(H![]() |
10-40 ![]() |
40-150 | 150-1000 | single BB | several BBs | ||||||||||||||
[Mpc] | [10![]() ![]() |
[10![]() ![]() |
[10![]() ![]() |
[K] | [10![]() ![]() |
[pc] | [
![]() |
[K] | [10![]() ![]() |
[pc] | [
![]() |
[10![]() ![]() |
[10![]() ![]() |
|||||
00199-7426 | 0.0963 | 403 | 307 | 1139 | 130 | 48 | 2.50 | <1.6> | 1.07 | 109 | 390 | 0.199 | 32 | 160 | 1097 | 0.6 | 549 | |
00262+4251* | 0.0971 | 407 | 342 | 675 | 77 | 68 | 6.00 | <1.6> | 1.24 | 28 | 131 | 0.066 | 36 | 48 | 602 | 0.3 | 762 | 29a |
00406-3127 | 0.3422 | 1602 | 2480 | 101 | 53 | 0.50 | <1.6> | 1.04 | 51 | 688 | 0.088 | 43 | 59 | 666 | 0.1 | 157 | ||
03068-5346 | 0.0778 | 323 | 126 | 481 | 37 | 60 | 2.50 | <1.6> | 1.07 | 22 | 172 | 0.109 | 36 | 32 | 488 | 0.3 | 152 | |
03158+4227 | 0.1343 | 573 | 685 | 1724 | 71 | 77 | 2.00 | <1.6> | 1.09 | 26 | 220 | 0.079 | 43 | 42 | 563 | 0.2 | 115 | |
03538-6432 | 0.3100 | 1431 | 2877 | 188 | 68 | 5.00 | <1.6> | 1.06 | 72 | 263 | 0.038 | 39 | 110 | 910 | 0.1 | 519 | ||
04232+1436 | 0.0799 | 332 | 244 | 540 | 34 | 51 | 1.00 | <1.6> | 1.04 | 23 | 275 | 0.170 | 37 | 33 | 495 | 0.3 | 73 | 41a |
05189-2524 | 0.0425 | 173 | 460 | 500 | 33 | 70 | 2.50 | 1.4 | 1.07 | 15 | 128 | 0.152 | 38 | 26 | 443 | 0.5 | 448![]() |
23b |
06035-7102 | 0.0794 | 330 | 376 | 785 | 40 | 49 | 0.50 | <1.6> | 1.09 | 29 | 434 | 0.271 | 38 | 35 | 513 | 0.3 | 82 | 38b |
06206-6315 | 0.0924 | 386 | 271 | 878 | 54 | 61 | 2.00 | <1.6> | 1.09 | 30 | 225 | 0.120 | 37 | 50 | 611 | 0.3 | 130 | 52b |
12112+0305 | 0.0723 | 299 | 264 | 1052 | 68 | 53 | 1.00 | 1.5 | 1.06 | 42 | 355 | 0.244 | 36 | 71 | 731 | 0.5 | 856 | |
Mrk 231 | 0.0417 | 170 | 1215 | 1219 | 58 | 54 | 1.00 | 1.9 | 1.02 | 22 | 371 | 0.449 | 50 | 28 | 456 | 0.5 | 131![]() |
35a |
Mrk 273 | 0.0373 | 152 | 248 | 714 | 47 | 62 | 2.00 | 1.6 | 1.14 | 27 | 208 | 0.282 | 36 | 47 | 596 | 0.8 | 104![]() |
23a |
Mrk 463 | 0.0506 | 207 | 347 | 136 | 5 | 52 | 0.50 | 2.0 | 1.06 | 4 | 188 | 0.187 | 40 | 5 | 198 | 0.2 | 12 | |
14348-1447 | 0.0811 | 337 | 294 | 1037 | 79 | 67 | 5.00 | 2.0 | 1.12 | 37 | 194 | 0.118 | 35 | 81 | 781 | 0.5 | 219![]() |
64c |
14378-3651 | 0.0676 | 279 | 199 | 651 | 49 | 69 | 5.00 | >1.7 | 1.10 | 26 | 139 | 0.103 | 36 | 44 | 579 | 0.4 | 423 | 15b |
15245+1019 | 0.0756 | 314 | 138 | 621 | 39 | 51 | 1.00 | <1.6> | 1.15 | 27 | 300 | 0.197 | 37 | 38 | 534 | 0.4 | 97 | |
15250+3609 | 0.0553 | 227 | 304 | 461 | 17 | 59 | 0.50 | 1.3 | 1.10 | 10 | 215 | 0.195 | 44 | 11 | 289 | 0.3 | 28 | |
Arp 220 | 0.0182 | 73 | 190 | 820 | 86 | 61 | 5.00 | 1.7 | 1.09 | 66 | 214 | 0.600 | 40 | 32 | 488 | 1.4 | 1479![]() |
32a |
15462-0450* | 0.1005 | 422 | 397 | 763 | 109 | 59 | 6.00 | <1.6> | 1.12 | 52 | 179 | 0.087 | 34 | 73 | 741 | 0.4 | 1498 | |
16090-0139 | 0.1334 | 569 | 635 | 1944 | 85 | 49 | 0.50 | >1.9 | 1.15 | 43 | 645 | 0.233 | 40 | 66 | 708 | 0.3 | 182 | 56a |
NGC 6240 | 0.0245 | 99 | 157 | 347 | 28 | 57 | 2.50 | 1.5 | 1.07 | 21 | 154 | 0.320 | 33 | 36 | 520 | 1.1 | 580![]() |
37a |
17208-0014 | 0.0424 | 173 | 235 | 1226 | 107 | 60 | 3.00 | 1.7 | 1.09 | 64 | 274 | 0.326 | 34 | 116 | 936 | 1.1 | 602![]() |
32a |
17463+5806 | 0.3411 | 1596 | 2192 | 87 | 59 | 1.00 | <1.6> | 1.10 | 40 | 434 | 0.056 | 43 | 57 | 658 | 0.1 | 142 | ||
18090+0130* | 0.0660 | 273 | 322 | 1100 | 193 | 46 | 6.00 | <1.6> | 1.06 | 173 | 319 | 0.241 | 28 | 322 | 1558 | 1.2 | 1746 | |
18470+3234 | 0.0788 | 327 | 270 | 537 | 35 | 74 | 6.00 | <1.6> | 1.07 | 14 | 92 | 0.058 | 38 | 26 | 442 | 0.3 | 113 | |
19254-7245 | 0.0615 | 253 | 375 | 473 | 32 | 72 | 3.00 | 1.2 | 1.04 | 15 | 108 | 0.088 | 38 | 24 | 429 | 0.3 | 1265![]() |
35b |
19458+0944* | 0.0995 | 418 | 602 | 1343 | 307 | 46 | 6.00 | <1.6> | 1.21 | 226 | 373 | 0.184 | 28 | 388 | 1711 | 0.8 | 6405 | 55a |
20046-0623 | 0.0845 | 352 | 344 | 658 | 47 | 60 | 3.00 | >1.8 | 1.18 | 26 | 188 | 0.110 | 34 | 57 | 654 | 0.4 | 123 | |
20087-0308 | 0.1055 | 444 | 337 | 1370 | 103 | 61 | 4.00 | >2.0 | 1.10 | 50 | 254 | 0.118 | 35 | 110 | 911 | 0.4 | 239![]() |
74a |
20100-4156 | 0.1295 | 551 | 622 | 1919 | 135 | 67 | 3.50 | >1.5 | 1.07 | 65 | 252 | 0.094 | 40 | 86 | 803 | 0.3 | 337 | |
20414-1651 | 0.0870 | 363 | 265 | 836 | 38 | 65 | 1.50 | <1.6> | 1.12 | 19 | 206 | 0.117 | 40 | 29 | 471 | 0.3 | 88 | |
ESO 286-19 | 0.0426 | 174 | 272 | 460 | 16 | 60 | 0.50 | <1.6> | 1.05 | 8 | 225 | 0.266 | 44 | 11 | 289 | 0.3 | 28 | 22b |
21130-4446 | 0.0925 | 387 | 130 | 772 | 98 | 52 | 2.50 | >1.2 | 1.19 | 71 | 262 | 0.140 | 32 | 111 | 916 | 0.5 | 932 | |
21504-0628 | 0.0775 | 322 | 214 | 425 | 21 | 75 | 2.50 | >1.6 | 1.10 | 8 | 106 | 0.068 | 40 | 16 | 343 | 0.2 | 39 | |
22491-1808 | 0.0760 | 315 | 268 | 661 | 40 | 73 | 3.00 | 1.7 | 1.10 | 16 | 143 | 0.093 | 39 | 32 | 488 | 0.3 | 213![]() |
31b |
ESO 148-2 | 0.0446 | 182 | 248 | 502 | 33 | 68 | 3.00 | <1.6> | 1.05 | 17 | 136 | 0.154 | 36 | 34 | 504 | 0.6 | 83 | 18b |
23230-6926 | 0.1062 | 447 | 327 | 1038 | 88 | 66 | 4.00 | 1.5 | 1.12 | 42 | 187 | 0.086 | 36 | 66 | 705 | 0.3 | 1565 | |
23365+3604 | 0.0645 | 266 | 250 | 704 | 47 | 68 | 4.00 | 2.0 | 1.12 | 21 | 159 | 0.123 | 36 | 47 | 595 | 0.5 | 108![]() |
39a |
23389-6139 | 0.0927 | 388 | 182 | 753 | 56 | 63 | 4.00 | >1.9 | 1.12 | 26 | 173 | 0.092 | 35 | 59 | 668 | 0.4 | 135 | |
23515-3127 | 0.3347 | 1562 | 2323 | 105 | 50 | 0.50 | <1.6> | 1.04 | 62 | 759 | 0.100 | 42 | 58 | 662 | 0.1 | 184 |
For all cases, the dust mass does not show any correlation with the total, mid- or far-infrared
luminosity. But the dust mass is quite well correlated with the submm luminosity
.
The smallest possible extent of the FIR emitting region is listed in Table 2. For the
case of an opaque blackbody (Eq. (1)), the brightness radius
is determined via
The observations show that, though the SEDs usually peak at 60-100 m, they can stay on a plateau before
the onset of the Rayleigh-Jeans tail.
The analysis of Sects. 4.3.1 and 4.3.2 showed that the observed SEDs
can be modelled by either one single tepid (50-75 K) blackbody with
,
partly inferring a high opacity even in the FIR, or by several cool to cold transparent dust bodies
with
.
Which of these scenarios (or which combination) might more realistically apply for
the ULIRGs?
In the following discussion, we will check for observational evidence for the existence of cold
cirrus-like dust in ULIRGs being in line with the multiple blackbody model. One prerequisite to allow a
fit of the SEDs with several blackbodies is that
.
Even in the case of several
blackbodies the opacity cannot be low at all, since the derived dust mass and the size of the emission area
exceed other constraints. In order to reduce the amount of dust mass and size, the opacity of some of the
blackbodies must be increased (whereby the dust temperature also rises, resulting in a lower dust mass and
a smaller region). Thus, we end up with the picture of several blackbodies with
,
which are
partly optically thick.
The following arguments can be brought forward against the concept of one single blackbody to describe the FIR-submm SEDs of most of our ULIRGs (i.e all of our mm-subsample except Arp 220):
ULIRGs | PAH | 100 | 850 |
7.7 ![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
|
05189-2524 | 0.220 | 11.73 | 0.048 |
UGC5101 | 0.186 | 21.24 | 0.143 |
12112+0305 | 0.080 | 9.73 | 0.030 |
Mrk 231 | 0.289 | 30.33 | 0.045 |
Mrk 273 | 0.193 | 24.58 | 0.077 |
14348-1447 | 0.068 | 7.60 | 0.016 |
15250+3609 | 0.128 | 5.80 | 0.027 |
Arp 220 | 0.414 | 126.7 | 0.744 |
NGC6240 | 0.420 | 28.13 | 0.137 |
17208-0014 | 0.274 | 35.66 | 0.119 |
19254-7245 | 0.084 | 5.38 | 0.029 |
20100-4156 | 0.041 | 5.20 | <0.019 |
22491-1808 | 0.043 | 5.06 | 0.012 |
23365+3604 | 0.086 | 8.00 | 0.014 |
23389-6139 | 0.028 | 4.33 | <0.009 |
Comparison Galaxies | |||
Arp 148 | 0.250 | 10.99 | 0.092 |
MGC+02-04-025 | 0.380 | 9.60 | 0.039 |
Mrk 331 | 0.650 | 20.86 | 0.132 |
NGC23 | 0.560 | 14.96 | 0.144 |
NGC695 | 0.700 | 13.80 | 0.136 |
NGC1122 | 0.600 | 15.15 | 0.084 |
NGC1667 | 0.400 | 16.54 | 0.163 |
NGC5256 | 0.350 | 10.35 | 0.082 |
NGC5653 | 0.700 | 21.86 | 0.205 |
NGC5713 | 1.000 | 36.27 | 0.359 |
NGC5962 | 0.300 | 20.79 | 0.317 |
NGC6052 | 0.270 | 10.18 | 0.095 |
NGC7591 | 0.400 | 13.52 | 0.135 |
NGC7592 | 0.450 | 10.50 | 0.108 |
NGC7674 | 0.250 | 7.91 | 0.108 |
NGC7679 | 0.350 | 10.65 | 0.093 |
UGC2238 | 0.600 | 15.22 | 0.104 |
UGC2369 | 0.300 | 11.10 | 0.072 |
UGC2982 | 0.900 | 17.32 | 0.176 |
UGC8387 | 0.500 | 24.90 | 0.113 |
![]() |
Figure 5:
Normalised 7.7 ![]() ![]() |
Further clues on the relation between PAH and FIR-submm emitting dust comes from the comparison of
the ULIRGs with normal galaxies: we examined the PAH/100 m and PAH/850
m flux
ratios of the ULIRGs with that for normal galaxies, for which both 850
m and PAH data are
available. Among the SCUBA sample of 104 galaxies obtained by Dunne et al. (2000), 20 sources were
also measured with ISOPHOT-S (by several observers) covering a similar area (24
)
as the
SCUBA observations. We derived the PAH7.7
m fluxes from the ISO data archive products
processed with OLP Version 9.0 (Laureijs et al. 2000). The values are listed in
Table 3 and an example for the MIR spectra is shown in
Fig. 4. Note, that now we consider only the vertical distribution in
Fig. 5 and ignore the horizontal one: the range for the normal galaxies
is indicated by the thick vertical bars on the left-hand side. Strikingly the normal galaxies
populate a similar PAH/850
m range (
)
as the "typical'' ULIRGs
(
,
excluding Arp 220), but the PAH/100
m range (
)
lies
higher than for the ULIRGs (
). This difference cannot be explained by PAH
destruction in the ULIRGs, since it should be reflected in the PAH/850
m ratio as well.
Neither can this difference be due to extinction, because the shift of the normal galaxies
with respect to the ULIRGs must then be larger at 850
m than at 100
m (see the length
and orientation of the extinction arrows in Fig. 5). The difference of the
PAH/100
m ratio between normal galaxies and ULIRGs can be best explained by the higher
dust temperatures of the ULIRGs of about T = 30-60 K compared with T = 15-30 K in normal
galaxies, which increases the 100
m flux with respect to that at 850
m. This behaviour
also suggests that the PAH carriers not only trace the dust in active regions, but are even more
related to the entire dust content;
For a low FIR opacity and several cold to cool blackbodies with ,
the estimated total
dust mass
is considerably higher (on average by a factor of ten)
than for the single optically thick blackbody (cf. Table 2). This is because of the
contribution from the additional cold component (
for
).
For the mm-subsample
lies in the range
10
-10
.
As mentioned in Sect. 4.5, the uncertainty for
is quite large, because the decomposition into several blackbodies is
not unique. Nevertheless, when comparing the
for the most reliable fits
(marked by "+'' in Table 2) with the molecular gas mass derived from integrated CO
luminosities (Table 2), the gas-to-dust mass ratio lies in the range between 30 and 300
with an average of
,
close to the canonical value of about 150. The multiple blackbody model
seems to yield a consistent total dust mass.
Stricter constraints on the dust mass can be obtained, when comparing it with the extension of CO gas
inferred from interferometric data (Downes & Solomon 1998). In order to keep the opacity, i.e. column
density, low, the extent of the dust region must exceed a minimum size. As a check, we distribute the dust
mass associated with the bulk FIR emission,
(Sect. 4.5)
evenly within a disk of minimal radius
,
so that
(
in Table 2). In each object the radius
is smaller
than the radius of the optical-NIR image sizes. With the possible exception of Arp 220, the extent of low
opacity dust is consistent with the size of the CO disk, where available (from Tables 3 and 4 in
Downes & Solomon 1998): Mrk 231:0
9, Mrk 273:0
9-3
1, 17208-0014:1
8,
23365+3604:1
0. For
,
corresponding to
,
the minimal radius
is about a factor two larger than listed in Table 2,
and exceeds the CO disk sizes. If the dust and the molecular gas are well mixed, then the opacity of the
bulk FIR dust component cannot be low (
), rather it must be "moderately''
high (
,
corresponding to
)
in many
ULIRGs. Furthermore, with regard to our previous findings on the PAH/850
m and PAH/100
m ratios,
which required relatively low extinction in the MIR (except for Arp 220), we conclude that the bulk
FIR dust component cannot contain the majority of the PAH carriers. The relative constancy of the
PAH/850
m flux ratio with regard to normal galaxies is preserved, since the cold component
dominates at 850
m, as can be seen from the examples in Fig. 3.
In summary, an emissivity exponent
works well for the ULIRGs, as in normal spirals and
Markarian galaxies. In some ULIRGs the single component fits already give
,
and for those
with
several blackbodies with
can be used. However, in order
to match the dust mass and the size of the emitting regions with the constraints from the CO observations,
the opacity of the bulk FIR dust component might be moderately high
(
).
The previous discussion suggests that the FIR-submm SEDs are composed of several (at least two)
modified blackbodies with cool to cold temperatures. Actually, the dust might exhibit
a continuous temperature range, but, when applying a formal model, within the uncertainties, a restriction
to a few components works best. These dust components represent two stages: (1) the "cirrus'' and
(2) "starburst'' stages.
The nuclear regions are probably surrounded by clumpy "Super-Orion'' complexes providing the heating power for the starburst dust. The gaps in between the cloud complexes and the outer regions with lower density and weaker interstellar radiation field host the cirrus-like cold dust. In this picture the PAH emission comes preferentially from the submm emitting dust. Some fraction of the FIR peak dust emission in the nucleus or in dense clouds can be opaque in the FIR.
In this section we assess for each optical spectral class (see Table 4) the typical shape of the IR-to-mm SEDs. While the SEDs of AGNs and SBs appear to be indistinguishable at FIR and submm wavelengths, they differ in the NIR-MIR. This suggests that the cool FIR emitting dust is not connected to the AGN, and that the AGN only powers the warm and hot dust. The difference at short IR wavelengths provides a NIR diagnostic tool based on the J-K colours, in order to reveal the presence of an AGN (with red colours, while SBs have blue colours). This tool is successful in the sense that if an AGN is seen by other diagnostics (optical or MIR spectroscopy or X-rays), then in most cases it is also seen via the NIR colours.
Name | Morph | EB-V | Optical | MIR | NIR | X-ray |
. | [mag] | Sp-type | type | class | AGN | |
00199-7426 | double m1 | LINER? s1 | SB | |||
00262+4251 | merger m2,* | SB* | ||||
00406-3127r1 | merger m6 | Seyf 2 s6 | ||||
03068-5346 | double?DSS | |||||
03158+4227 | compactm2 | No | ||||
03538-6432r1 | compactDSS | |||||
04232+1436 | merger * | AGN* | ||||
05189-2524 | merger m3 | 2.03 | Seyf 2 s3 | AGNa | AGN | Yes |
06035-7102 | double m1 | 1.34 | HII/SB s1 | SB | SB | |
06206-6315 | double m1 | 2.06 | Seyf 2 s1 | SB | AGN | |
12112+0305 | double m3 | 0.92 | LINER s3 | SB | SB/n | |
Mrk 231 | merger m3 | 0.70 | Seyf 1 s3 | AGN | AGN | Yes |
Mrk 273 | merger m3 | 1.22 | Sy2 s3/LINs8 | AGN | SB/n | No |
Mrk 463 | double m4 | 0.60 | Seyf 2 s4 | AGN | AGN | Yes |
14348-1447 | merger m3 | 1.15 | LINER s3 | SB | SB/n | |
14378-3651 | merger m1 | 1.26 | LINER s1 | SB | ||
15245+1019 | merger m2 | |||||
15250+3609 | ring gal. m3 | 0.76 | LINER s3 | SB | SB | |
Arp 220 | merger m3 | 1.05 | LINER s3 | SB | SB/n | No |
15462-0450 | merger m2 | 0.60 | Seyf 1 s5 | AGN | ||
16090-0139 | merger m1,2 | 1.55 | LINER s1,5 | SB | ||
NGC 6240 | double m5 | 1.65 | LINER s5 | SB | SB/n | Yes |
17208-0014 | merger m1,2 | 1.75 | HII/SB s1 | SB | SB/n | No |
17463+5806r1 | compactDSS | |||||
18090+0130 | merger * | SB* | ||||
18470+3234 | double m2,* | 1.13 | HII/SB s5 | SB* | ||
19254-7245 | double m1,2 | 2.92 | Seyf 2 s1 | AGN | AGN | Yes |
19458+0944 | double m2 | |||||
20046-0623 | double m1,2,* | LINER * | SB | |||
20087-0308 | merger m1,2 | 1.43 | LINER s1 | SB | ||
20100-4156 | double m1 | 1.12 | HII/SB s1 | SB | SB | |
20414-1651 | merger? m1,2 | 1.31 | LINER s1 | |||
ESO 286-19 | merger m1 | 1.07 | LINER s1 | SB | SB | No |
21130-4446 | merger m1 | 0.50 | HII/SB s1 | SB | ||
21504-0628 | merger m1,* | LINER * | SB* | |||
22491-1808 | merger m1 | 0.81 | HII/SB s1 | SB | SB/f | |
ESO 148-2 | merger m1 | 1.01 | HII/SB s1 | SB | SB | No |
23230-6926 | merger m1 | 1.49 | LINER s1 | SB | ||
23365+3604 | merger m7,* | 0.88 | LINER s7 | SB | SB* | |
23389-6139 | double m1 | 3.06 | Seyf 2 s1 | SB | ||
23515-3127r1 | compactDSS | Seyf 2 s6 |
Our sample contains eight galaxies (with z < 0.3) which have optical Seyfert spectra, i.e. are sources known to house an AGN. Two are Seyfert1s and six are Seyfert2s (see Table 4).
The SEDs of the Seyferts show a variety of shapes in the NIR and MIR range:
In a torus geometry the flat sources like 23389-6139 could be seen more edge-on, so that the hot AGN heated dust is more hidden. Then the flat NIR flux plateau - with blue colours - may be understood in terms of light scattered at bipolar cones. Alternatively, young hot stars in the host galaxies might contribute significantly to the NIR flux, shifting the colours towards the blue. Also, the AGN could be weak compared with the strength of the starbursts; perhaps Mrk273 belongs to this group.
A somewhat indefinite case is the double source 06206-6315, which is classified by Duc et al. (1997) as a
Seyfert2, but as starburst via PAH diagnostics (Lutz et al. 1999; Rigopoulou et al. 1999),
although both spectra look quite noisy. The steep optical to NIR 2.2 m flux increase argues in favor
of a relatively unobscured AGN.
In the FIR and submm range the Seyfert SEDs also exhibit some diversity, though only a relatively moderate one. Examples are Mrk463 and 19254-7245, both with double nuclei (and similar power-law NIR flux increase): while Mrk463 only shows little FIR flux compared to the MIR flux, 19254-7245 has a strong FIR bump and even a considerable amount of mm flux due to cold dust. A similar difference is found for Mrk231 and 05189-2524, both with a "single'' nucleus, i.e. probably mergers in an advanced state: both show a strong FIR bump, but Mrk231 has a steeper Rayleigh-Jeans tail and less cold dust than 05189-2524. Thus, the host galaxies of AGNs may or may not have cold dust.
Our sample contains 11 LINERs (Low Ionisation Nuclear Emission Regions) and 9 HII/SBs. In general, the SEDs look very similar for both optical spectral types. Therefore, we discuss them together here.
The SEDs appear quite homogeneous from the NIR to the FIR, with some diversity in the submm range:
all SEDs show a relatively flat NIR flux plateau with a faint 2 m bump, PAH emission and/or
Si 9.7
m absorption features, then a steep rise in flux at about 10
m, i.e. a 10
m knee.
The flux peaks in the FIR at about 60-100
m. The only variety appears in the submm range:
some sources show a steep Rayleigh-Jeans tail, others exhibit a flatter tail providing evidence for
additional cold dust. Typical sources with and without cold dust are 23230-6926 and 23365+3604, respectively,
among the LINERs, and 17208-0014 and ESO286-19, respectively, among the HII/SBs.
The homogeneity and extreme similarity of the NIR to FIR SEDs suggests that the dust in LINERs and HII/SBs has similar properties, in particular concerning the spatial distribution and heating mechanism. In fact, this similarity places the LINERs closer to HII/SB than AGN dominated ULIRGs. A similar conclusion (that LINERs are not AGN dominated) was drawn from the PAH diagnostics (Lutz et al. 1999).
![]() |
Figure 6:
Two-colour diagrams 2.2 ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
Figure 7: Histogram showing the correspondence of the NIR SED shape classification (via the J-K colour) with the optical emission line diagnostic and MIR (PAH class) spectroscopic classifications. |
The NIR-MIR power-law flux increase for the AGN-type ULIRGs and the flat NIR flux plateau with a
10 m knee for the SB-type ULIRGs suggests the utilization of these two different SED
shapes for a classification scheme. Earlier investigations (e.g. Hill et al. 1988) showed that red NIR
colours provide a high probability of finding an AGN among moderately luminous IRAS galaxies.
As a quantitative characterisation measure for the SED shapes we use the J-K colours:
J-
mag identifies power-law shape SEDs; this value corresponds to a
2.2
m/1.25
m flux ratio of about 2.34.
Although longer MIR wavelengths are less sensitive to extinction, this range suffers from possible
confusion by strong PAH emission and 9.7 m silicate absorption which complicates the analysis;
detailed work has been done by several authors, e.g. Laurent et al. (2000), Imanishi & Dudley
(2000) and Tran et al. (2001).
As shown in Fig. 6, the J-K colours (2.2 m/1.25
m flux ratios)
provide a much clearer separation of AGN- and SB-ULIRGs than the MIR colours (25
m/60
m)
used to identify warm AGN-type objects (de Grijp et al. 1985), to say nothing of the FIR
colours (120
m/200
m).
In Fig. 7 we show in histograms the correspondence of this NIR photometry classification scheme with the spectroscopic optical emission line and the MIR PAH diagnostic classification as compiled in Table 4. With respect to the optical classification, we find that the NIR SED shape confirms for 22 out of 22 (100%) the optical classification as a HII/LINER object and for 6 out of 8 (75%) the classification as Seyfert1/2. With respect to the MIR PAH diagnostics, we find that the NIR SED shape confirms for 12 out of 14 (86%) the PAH classification as SB and for 4 out of 5 (80%) the PAH classification as AGN.
These classifications are further confirmed by comparing them with the hard X-ray classifications (Table 4). Thus, the J-K colours represent an attractive tool to explore the nature of ULIRGs and other dust rich IR galaxies. This is of particular advantage, if the galaxies are too distant or too faint for spectroscopy. Then the intrinsic J-K colours can provide constraints on the nature of cosmologically interesting ULIRGs.
All these methods have some limitations, of course, and in some cases provide indefinite
classifications. For example, the J-K colour does not reveal any AGN in Mrk273 which is optically classified
as Seyfert2 and has a PAH/continuum flux ratio of 1.9 favouring the starburst dominance (Rigopoulou et al.
1999). Also X-ray observations with Beppo-Sax unveiled an AGN in NGC 6240 (Vignati et al. 1999), which is
optically classified as a LINER, SB dominated according to PAH diagnostics, and shows no AGN-typical
power-law NIR-MIR flux increase (except for the 1
nuclear region).
Pure starburst objects have a flat NIR flux plateau followed by a steep rise longwards of 10 m.
Part of this pronounced 10
m knee could be due to the 9.7
m silicate absorption.
In contrast, galactic compact HII regions housing O5-O9 stars show SEDs with a steep power-law-like rise.
As for AGNs this rise already starts at about 1
m (Chini et al. 1987). Also the prototype starburst
galaxy M 82 has such a SED shape (e.g. Thuma et al. 2000). Thus, a power-law SED could, in principle, also
occur in ULIRGs with starburst classification. But this is not observed for our sample.
HST NICMOS images (Scoville et al. 2000) reveal that the central 1
region is redder than the
outer regions. Figure 1 shows that for those 9 sources in common with our sample (05189-2524,
12112+0305, Mrk273, 14348-1447, 15250+3609, Arp220, NGC6240, 17208-0014 and 22491-1808) most of the
nuclear SEDs (marked with "
'' symbols) exhibit - even for LINERs and HIIs - a power-law-like flux
increase in the NIR. J-K colours of these nuclear regions are similar to the colours in larger apertures
found for the AGN-type ULIRGs. For 05189-2524 the NICMOS fluxes (hardly to recognize in Fig. 1)
are practically identical with the ground based fluxes showing that this source is completely dominated by
the central point-like source. For the others the much higher and bluer ground-based fluxes suggest that the
sources are extended on the 5-10
scale, in particular for 17208-0014 and 22491-1808 for which
already the NICMOS images indicate that the SEDs are composed of many different components.
With regard to the Balmer decrement LINERs and HII-starburst galaxies have low EB-V
(Table 4), as found for Seyfert1s. The highest EB-V are those for
Seyfert 2s, indicating that their emission regions are the most deeply embedded ones. A deeply embedded HII
region should suffer from extinction in the same way. However, deeply embedded young stars will probably be
outshone by those located closer to the outer surface of the galaxy and will not dominate the NIR colours.
In conclusion, the relatively flat blue NIR flux plateau comes from the practically unobscured outer regions.
The strong flux rise longwards of 10 m is caused by more deeply embedded luminous star forming regions.
This naturally explains the appearance of the 10
m knee.
It is now widely accepted that a powerful (and not obscured) AGN creates a strong NIR-MIR emission (e.g. Sanders et al. 1988a, 1988b; Pier & Krolik 1992, 1993; Rowan-Robinson 1995; Haas et al. 2000a). However, it is still a matter of debate whether the FIR/submm emission in ULIRGs (as well as quasars) is also mainly powered by the AGN (e.g. Sanders 1999) or by circumnuclear SBs (e.g. Rowan-Robinson 1995; Genzel et al. 1998).
The power-law flux increase of Mrk231 appears similar to that of the quasars PG0050+124 and PG1613+658 (Haas et al. 2000a). For these quasars it is not clear whether and in which wavelength range a starburst contributes to their power-law SEDs: energetically, the AGN radiation would be sufficient to heat the dust, and since pure starbursts have different SED shapes (with knees, as shown above), the superposition of a significant starburst component would probably destroy the smooth power-law shape. For Mrk231, however, the FIR luminosity exceeds the MIR- and the (dereddened) UV-optical-luminosity (Downes & Solomon 1998). Downes & Solomon (1998) found two rotating gas disks with radii of 460 and 1150 pc, respectively, and concluded that the outer one is starburst dominated, since it is too extended and FIR-luminous to intercept sufficient power from the central region. Although the AGN is clearly visible, it dominates neither the FIR luminosity nor the total energy output. However, the PAH/continuum diagnostics indicates a dominating AGN in Mrk231 (Genzel et al. 1998; Lutz et al. 1999). The reason for this might be that the unobscured AGN continuum diminishes the relative PAH strength, mimicking a weak starburst and overemphasising the role of the AGN. Thus, it is necessary to consider not only the ratio PAH/continuum, but also the absolute PAH and continuum levels, both of which may be affected by different amounts of extinction due to different sites of origin in the galaxies. For the diagnostics of moderately luminous Seyfert 1s and Seyfert 2s this has already been stressed by Clavel et al. (2000).
As shown in Fig. 6, the ULIRGs with and without AGN signatures cannot be
distinguished via their FIR colours (
/
). This suggests that
either the FIR/submm emission is largely independent of the presence of an AGN, or that every ULIRG
not classified as AGN contains a hidden AGN. The relative high number of ULIRGs with signs
of strong starbursts versus ULIRGs with AGN signatures in our sample (22:10 from optical emission line
diagnostics, 13:5 from PAH diagnostics) would argue in favour of the first alternative. Since in
Sect. 5.1.2 we concluded that the bulk FIR component might be moderately opaque
(
)
even IR diagnostics, in particular the PAH/850
m
flux ratio, have limited meaningfullness in this context. An exception seems to be Arp220 where the dust
geometry leads to a strong deficiency of PAH strength versus 850
m flux and dereddening would yield
a quasar-like IR continuum (Haas et al. 2001). Again, this is only 1 out of 22 sources of the submm ULIRG
subsample showing this behaviour. Therefore, we see some evidence from our sample that the role of
the AGN for powering the FIR/submm emission in nearby ULIRGs is negligible.
ULIRGs may well have considerable amounts of cold dust at 10-30 K, a temperature typical for dust in less active spiral galaxies. If the cold dust (from the parent galaxies) is continuously heated during the merging process, then we would expect more advanced mergers to show a relatively larger amount of warm dust than mergers in a beginning phase. To check this hypothesis, we use the morphological appearance and the separation of the galaxy nuclei as a measure for the merger state. This is a simplification, since the encounter might not lead to a monotonous approach of the two galaxies. According to simulations by Dubinski et al. (1999) the merging process contains repeated approaches with semi-elastical collisions followed by a drift apart. Nevertheless, we divided the sources into (1) single and (2) double (see Table 4). We use the MIR, FIR and submm luminosities as a measure for the amount of warm, cool and cold dust, respectively. Figure 8 does not show any trend of MIR-, FIR- and submm-luminosity ratios with the simple morphological classifications. Within our sample, which covers only a small range in bolometric luminosity, the relative amounts of warm, cool and cold dust are not correlated with the merger state inferred from the morphology.
![]() |
Figure 8: Distribution of the MIR/(FIR+submm) luminosity ratio versus total IR luminosity (top) and FIR/submm luminosity ratio versus FIR+submm luminosity (bottom). Different symbols for each spectral type as in Fig. 2. The symbol size indicates sources with either a single nucleus (small and filled or thick) or a double nucleus (large and open or thin). |
A similar independence was found between the strength of the PAH-feature/MIR-continuum and the (projected) separation of the galaxy nuclei (Lutz et al. 1998; Rigopoulou et al. 1999). Either the (projected) separation of the nuclei is not well suited to measure the progress of the merging process, or the dust heating does not steadily increase during the merging. It seems likely that while the merging nuclei approach each other relatively slowly and/or repeatedly, the dust clouds undergo several phases of compression, turning into cold proto-starburst clouds which subsequently undergo heating by starbursts (and by an AGN, if present). These distinct phases could occur simultaneously in a merger, but at different locations. Photometry of the entire galaxy then shows a mixture of dust complexes at different phases. This is actually revealed by spatially resolved submm observations of the colliding IR luminous (not yet ultra-luminous) galaxy pair NGC4038/39 (Haas et al. 2000b).
![]() |
Figure 9:
Two colour diagram (25 ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Irrespective of the morphology, the
/
versus
/
two-colour
diagram (Fig. 9) illustrates the distribution of our ULIRG mm-subsample.
Schematically, the cold cirrus-like dust is represented by the 850
m emission, the cool SB dust by
the 150 and 60
m emission, and the warm AGN dust by the 25
m emission. In this diagram trends
are recognizable: strong AGNs are located in the upper half (
/
), SBs
in the lower half. The galaxies with and without cold cirrus-like dust lie towards the left and right side,
respectively. This diagram illustrates that despite similar luminosities the nearby ULIRG sample exhibits
quite some diversity. Whether or not this is due to evolution is still a puzzle.
Finally, it is interesting to note that the four ULIRGs at medium redshift (
)
have similar
dust temperatures as the low redshift ULIRGs, but exhibit the highest FIR luminosities among the sample.
While their MIR SEDs and their spectral types can be determined soon, the question of whether they also
contain cold dust will have to be left to future observations with the Herschel Space Observatory or the
Atacama Large Millimetre Array.
Infrared to millimetre spectral energy distributions (SEDs) have been obtained for 41 bright ultra-luminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs). These are the most up-to-date and detailed photometric templates of the nearby ULIRGs, which are the fundamental ingredient for cosmological studies. Arp 220, which has been considered so far as a the archetypal ULIRG, is one of the most peculiar objects in our sample.
The SED maxima lie between 60 and 100 m, and for those 22 sources with submm detections or upper
limits the slopes of the Rayleigh-Jeans tails can be well constrained. The FIR and submm parts of the SEDs
between 60 and 1300
m can be fitted in two ways:
Firstly, with a single modified blackbody yielding large ranges for both the opacity (
)
and the emissivity (
). The resulting temperatures
range from 50 to 70 K. However, there are several reasons against the physical relevance of one single
dust component:
This second way to fit the SEDs provides evidence favouring two dust stages:
In the NIR-MIR the SEDs reveal two basic shapes:
The detection or non-detection of cold dust could reflect different evolutionary states of the ULIRGs associated with the merger state. However, the current means to determine the merger state, like the projected distance of the nuclei, appears to be insufficient to verify evolutionary trends.
Acknowledgements
The development and operation of ISOPHOT were supported by MPIA and funds from Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR, formerly DARA). The ISOPHOT Data Centre at MPIA is supported by Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V. (DLR) with funds of Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, grant No. 50QI98013. The authors are responsible for the contents of this publication. JCMT is operated by the Joint Astronomy Centre on behalf of the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council of the UK, The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research, and the National Research Council of Canada.
It is a pleasure for us to thank Dr. Uwe Graser for kindly obtaining the optical spectra during operational tests, and Drs. Robert D. Joseph and José-Míguel Rodríguez-Espinoza for stimulating discussions. We thank the referee, Dr. Suzanne Madden, for a comprehensive set of valuable comments.
For literature search and photometry we used the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Data Base (NED) and the NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS).
![]() |
Figure A.1:
K-band images showing a field of 60
![]() ![]() ![]() |
The J- and K-band images look very similar, therefore only the K-band images are shown
(Fig. 10). Most of the emission is concentrated, but also irregular/extended tails
are present. The pointlike blue source 10
southwest of 00262+4251, and the two ones located
about 6
north and south of 18090+0130 are probably stars (and are excluded from the photometry).
The photometry derived from the images is listed in Table 1.
![]() |
Figure B.1: Spectra of 20046-0623 (top) and 21504-0628 (bottom), blue (left) and red (right) channel of the TWIN spectrograph. |
Figure 11 shows optical spectra for two sources, obtained with the TWIN spectrograph at the 3.5 mtelescope on Calar Alto, Spain. Both sources have a LINER spectrum according to the line diagnostics by Veilleux & Osterbrock (1987). Now all sources of our mm-subsample are spectroscopically classified (see Table 4).