Bibcode
Efremov, Yu. N.; Afanasiev, V. L.; Alfaro, E. J.; Boomsma, R.; Bastian, N.; Larsen, S.; Sánchez-Gil, M. C.; Silchenko, O. K.; García-Lorenzo, B.; Muñoz-Tuñon, C.; Hodge, P. W.
Bibliographical reference
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 382, Issue 2, pp. 481-497.
Advertised on:
12
2007
Citations
12
Refereed citations
11
Description
The characteristics of ionized and H I gas in the peculiar star/cluster
complex in NGC 6946, obtained with the 6-m telescope (BTA) Special
Astrophysical Observatory Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), the Gemini
North telescope, and the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope, are
presented. The complex is unusual as hosting a super star cluster, the
most massive known in an apparently non-interacting giant galaxy. It
contains a number of smaller clusters and is bordered by a sharp
C-shaped rim. We found that the complex is additionally unusual in
having peculiar gas kinematics. The velocity field of the ionized gas
reveals a deep oval minimum, ~300 pc in size, centred 7 arcsec east of
the supercluster. The Vr of the ionized gas in the dip centre
is 100 km s-1 lower than in its surroundings, and emission
lines within the dip appear to be shock-excited. This dip is near the
centre of an H I hole and a semi-ring of H II regions. The H I (and less
certainly, H II) velocity fields reveal expansion, with the velocity
reaching ~30 km s-1 at a distance about 300 pc from the
centre of expansion, which is near the deep minimum position. The
superstar cluster is at the western rim of the minimum. The sharp
western rim of the whole complex is plausibly a manifestation of a
regular dust arc along the complex edge. Different hypotheses about the
complex and the Vr depression's origins are discussed,
including a high-velocity HI cloud/dark minihalo impact, a blue compact
dwarf galaxy merging, and a gas outflow due to release of energy from
the supercluster stars.