Herschel and Odin observations of H2O, CO, CH, CH+, and [N II] in the barred spiral galaxy NGC 1365
Authors: Sandqvist Aa. , Hjalmarson Å. , Larsson B. , Frisk U. , Lundin S. , Rydbeck G. 
Published: January 2021

Context. The Odin satellite is now into its twentieth year of operation, much surpassing its design life of two years. One of its major astronomical pursuits was the search for and study of water vapor in diverse regions of the Solar System and the Milky Way galaxy. The Herschel space observatory was needed to detect water vapor in external galaxies.

Aims. Our goal is to study the distribution and excitation of water vapor and other molecules in the barred spiral galaxy NGC 1365.

Methods. Herschel has observed the central region of NGC 1365 in two positions, and both its SPIRE and PACS observations are available in the Herschel Science Archive. Herschel PACS images have been produced of the 70 and 160 μm infrared emission from the whole galaxy, and also of the cold dust distribution as obtained from the ratio of the 160 to 70 μm images. The Herschel SPIRE observations have been used to produce simultaneously observed maps of the 557 GHz o-H2O, 752 GHz p-H2O, 691 GHz CO(6−5), 1037 GHz CO(9−8), 537 GHz CH, 835 GHz CH+, and the 1461 GHz [N II] lines (efficiently probing the warm ionized medium) in the inner bar and circumnuclear torus region; – however, these observations have no effective velocity resolution. For this reason Odin has recently observed the 557 GHz ortho-H2O ground state line in the central region with high (5 km s−1) spectral resolution.

Results. The emission and absorption of H2O at 557 GHz, with a velocity resolution of 5 km s−1, has been marginally detected in NGC 1365 with Odin. The water vapor is predominantly located in a shocked 15″ (1.3 kpc) region near some central compact radio sources and hot-spot H II regions, close to the northeast component of the molecular torus surrounding the nucleus. An analysis of the H2O line intensities and velocities indicates that a shock-region is located here. This is corroborated by a statistical image deconvolution of our SEST CO(3−2) observations, yielding 5″ resolution, and a study of our Very Large Array H I absorption observations, as well as comparisons with published interferometric CO observations. Additionally, an enticing 20″ H I ridge is found to extend south-southeast from the nucleus, coinciding in position with the southern edge of an O III outflow cone, emanating from the nucleus. The molecular chemistry of the shocked central region of NGC 1365 is analyzed with special emphasis on the CO, H2O and CH, CH+ results.

Conclusions. The dominating activity near the northeast (NE) torus component may have been triggered by the rapid bar-driven inflow into the circumnuclear torus causing cloud-cloud collisions and shocks, leading to the formation of stellar superclusters and, hence, also to more efficient PDR chemistry, which, here, may also benefit from cosmic ray focusing caused by the observed aligned magnetic field. The very high activity near the NE torus component may reflect the fact that the eastern bar-driven gas inflow into the NE region is much more massive than the corresponding western gas inflow into the southwest region. The H2O and CH+ emissions peak in the NE torus region, but the CO and CH emissions are more evenly distributed across the whole circumnuclear torus. The higher energy CO spectral line energy distribution (SLED) is nicely modeled by a low velocity (10 km s−1) shock, which may as well explain the required CH excitation and its high abundance in denser gas. The higher velocity (40 km s−1) shock required to model the H2O SLED in the NE torus region, paired with the intense UV radiation from the observed massive young stellar superclusters, may also explain the high abundance of CH+ in this region. The nuclear H I ridge may have been created by the action of outflow-driving X-ray photons colliding with ice-covered dust grains. A precessing nuclear engine, as is suggested by the tilted massive inner gas torus, may be necessary to explain the various nuclear outflows encountered.