GOALS: The Great Observatories All-Sky LIRG Survey

Abstract

ABSTRACT The Great Observatories All-Sky LIRG Survey (GOALS) combines data from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, Chandra X-Ray Observatory, Hubble Space Telescope (HST), and Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) observatories, together with ground-based data, into a comprehensive imaging and spectroscopic survey of over 200 low-redshift (z < 0.088), Luminous Infrared Galaxies (LIRGs). The LIRGs are a complete subset of the IRAS Revised Bright Galaxy Sample (RBGS), which comprises 629 extragalactic objects with 60 μm flux densities above 5.24 Jy, and Galactic latitudes above five degrees. The LIRGs targeted in GOALS span the full range of nuclear spectral types defined via traditional optical line-ratio diagrams (type-1 and type-2 AGN, LINERs, and starbursts) as well as interaction stages (major mergers, minor mergers, and isolated galaxies). They provide an unbiased picture of the processes responsible for enhanced infrared emission in galaxies in the local Universe. As an example of the analytic power of the multiwavelength GOALS data set, we present Spitzer, Chandra, HST, and GALEX images and spectra for the interacting system VV 340 (IRAS F14547 + 2449). The Spitzer MIPS imaging data indicates that between 80–95% of the total far-infrared emission (or about 5 × 1011 L ⊙) originates in VV 340 north. While the Spitzer IRAC colors of VV 340 north and south are consistent with star-forming galaxies, both the Spitzer IRS and Chandra ACIS data indicate the presence of an AGN in VV 340 north. The observed line fluxes, without correction for extinction, imply that the AGN accounts for less than 10%–20% of the observed infrared emission. The X-ray data are consistent with a heavily absorbed (N H ≥1024 cm-2) AGN. The GALEX far and near-UV fluxes imply a extremely large infrared “excess” (IRX) for the system (FIR/Ffuv ∼ 81) which is well above the correlation seen in starburst galaxies. Most of this excess is driven by VV 340 N, which has an IR excess of nearly 400. The VV 340 system seems to be comprised of two very different galaxies: an infrared luminous edge-on galaxy (VV 340 north) that dominates the long-wavelength emission from the system, which hosts a buried AGN; and a face-on starburst (VV 340 south) that dominates the short-wavelength emission.