Bibcode
Jogee, S.; Shlosman, I.; Laine, S.; Englmaier, P.; Knapen, J. H.; Scoville, N. Z.; Wilson, C. D.
Bibliographical reference
Active Galactic Nuclei: from Central Engine to Host Galaxy, meeting held in Meudon, France, July 23-27, 2002, Eds.: S. Collin, F. Combes and I. Shlosman. ASP (Astronomical Society of the Pacific), Conference Series, Vol. 290, p. 437.
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2003
Citations
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Description
Through observations and modeling, we demonstrate how the recently
discovered large-scale bar in NGC 5248 generates spiral structure that
continues from 10 kpc down to 100 pc. Deep inside the bar, two massive
CO spirals with streaming motions of 20--40 km/s cover nearly 180 deg in
azimuth and connect to two narrow K-band spirals which delineate the
super star clusters (SSCs) in a starburst ring at 375 pc. The data
suggest that the K-band spirals are young, and the starburst has been
triggered by a bar-driven spiral density wave (SDW). The SDW may even
have propagated into the inner 90 pc where evidence of recent activity
exists. We incorporate the effect of self-gravity in models of
bar-driven gaseous SDW and find good agreement between the model and
data. Thus study provides some of the best evidence to date for a strong
dynamical coupling between the nuclear region and the surrounding disk.
It suggests that a low central mass concentration, which may be common
in late-type galaxies, is particularly favorable to the propagation of a
bar-driven gaseous SDW deep into the central region of the galaxy,
whereas a large central mass concentration favors other processes, such
as the formation and decoupling of nuclear bars.