The detection of molecular gas in the central galaxies of cooling flow clusters

Abstract

We present the detections of CO line emission in the central galaxy of sixteen extreme cooling flow clusters using the IRAM 30m and the JCMT 15m. These detections of CO(1-0), CO(2-1), CO(3-2) and CO(4-3) are consistent with the presence of a substantial mass of warm molecular gas (10^9-11.5Mo) within 50kpc radius of the central galaxy. We present limits on thirteen other galaxies in similarly extreme cooling flow clusters. These results are consistent with the presence of a massive starburst in the central galaxy which warms a population of cold gas clouds producing both optical and NIR emission lines and significant CO line emission. Curiously, our CO detections are restricted to the lower radio power central galaxies. These are the first detections of molecular gas in a cooling flow other than NGC1275 in the Perseus cluster. As four of our targets have firm limits on their dust mass from SCUBA and the rest have crude limits from IRAS, we can calculate gas-to-dust ratios. Simple analysis indicates that the best secondary indicatorof molecular gas is optical line luminosity. We review the implications of these results and the prospects for observations in the near future.