Abstract

AbstractHigh resolution interferometric CO maps of the circumnuclear regions of several barred galaxies show intense CO emission arising from twin peaks, which are oriented perpendicular to the large-scale stellar bars and located where dust lanes intersect nuclear rings of HII regions. These twin gas concentrations can be explained by the crowding of gas streamlines near stellar inner Lindblad resonances. In the barred nuclear starburst galaxy NGC 3504, a large concentration of molecular gas is centered on the nucleus, apparently inside an inner Lindblad resonance. Star formation is consuming the gas most rapidly where the rotation curve is nearly solid body, suggesting that tidal shear helps control the rate of star formation. A comparison with M82 and NGC 1068 suggests that the starburst in NGC 3504 is in an early phase of its evolution, and that starburst evolution is strongly influenced by shear.

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