Extreme CO Isotopic Abundances in the ULIRG IRAS 13120-5453: An Extremely Young Starburst or Top-Heavy Initial Mass Function [GA]

http://arxiv.org/abs/1704.06671


We present ALMA $^{12}$CO (J=1-0, 3-2 and 6-5), $^{13}$CO (J=1-0) and C$^{18}$O (J=1-0) observations of the local Ultra Luminous Infrared Galaxy, IRAS 13120-5453 (dubbed “The Yo-yo”). The morphologies of the three isotopic species differ, where $^{13}$CO shows a hole in emission towards the center. We measure integrated brightness temperature line ratios of $^{12}$CO/$^{13}$CO $\geq$ 60 (exceeding 200) and $^{13}$CO/C$^{18}$O $\leq$ 1 in the central region. Assuming optical thin emission, C$^{18}$O is more abundant than $^{13}$CO in several regions. The abundances within the central 500 pc are consistent with enrichment of the ISM via a young starburst ($<$7Myr), a top-heavy initial mass function or a combination of both.

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K. Sliwa, C. Wilson, S. Aalto, et. al.
Tue, 25 Apr 17
28/59

Comments: 7 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in ApJL