A 4~Kpc Molecular Gas Lane in Cygnus A

Abstract

We present the discovery of a 4 kpc molecular gas lane in the Cygnus A host galaxy, using ALMA CO 2-1 observations. The gas lane is oriented roughly perpendicular to the projected radio jet axis. The CO emission generally follows the clumpy dust lanes seen in HST I-band images. The total molecular gas mass is $30\times 10^8$ M$_\odot$ for Milky Way type clouds, and $3.6 \times 10^8$ M$_\odot$ for starburst conditions. There is a velocity change from the northern to southern CO peaks of about $\pm 175$~km~s$^{-1}$, and an apparently smooth velocity gradient between the peaks, although the emission in the central region is weak. In the inner $\sim 0.5"$ projected distance from the radio core, comparison of the CO velocities to those observed for H$_2$ 2.1218 $\mu$m emission shows higher velocities for the vibrationally excited warm molecular gas than the cooler CO 2-1 line emitting gas at similar projected radii. A possible explanation for these different projected velocities at a given radius is that the cooler CO gas is distributed in a clumpy ring at radius $\sim 1.5"$ to $2"$, while the warm H$_2$ 2.12$\mu$m emitting gas is interior to this ring. Of course, the current data cannot rule-out a clumpy, amorphous molecular gas distribution linearly distributed perpendicular to the radio jet axis. We consider surface brightness properties on scales down to $\sim 265$~pc, and discuss the Cygnus A results in the context of other radio galaxies with CO emission.