Warm Molecular Gas in Galaxy-Galaxy Merger NGC 6090

Abstract

We present Submillimeter Array observations of the CO (2-1) and (3-2) transitions toward the merging galaxies of NGC 6090. The high-resolution CO data reveal three gas concentrations. The main component is peaking in the overlap region between the two galaxies, where the near-IR and radio continuum emission are weak. The CO (2-1) emission from the face-on galaxy NGC 6090E is somewhat stronger than that from the edge-on galaxy NGC 6090W. The CO (3-2) emission peaks in the overlap region, similar to the CO (2-1) emission. More than 50% of the CO (3-2) emission arises from the 2'' (1.2 kpc) area of the overlap region. There appears to be CO (3-2) emission toward the nuclear region and the northwest arm of NGC 6090E, while no CO (3-2) emission is detected toward NGC 6090W. Unlike the CO gas, most of the radio continuum emission comes from NGC 6090E. The strong CO emission, together with the weak radio continuum emission, suggests that star formation in the overlap region has not proceeded long enough to produce significant numbers of supernovae that would be detectable from their radio continuum emission.