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Molecular gas in elliptical galaxies with dust lanesWe have searched for CO(1-0) line emission in eight dust lane elliptical and lenticular galaxies using the Nobeyama 45 m telescope. Five of the eight galaxies, including the well-studied elliptical NGC 1052, have CO emission at above the 5-sigma level, with inferred molecular gas masses ranging from 10 exp 8 to a few times 10 exp 9 solar masses. Our selection criterion differs from previous surveys in that it does not depend on the FIR fluxes, and thus is less sensitive to the sizes and distances of the host galaxies or to the degree to which dust is heated. The relatively high detection rate of CO in these ellipticals suggests a close correlation between molecular mass and cold dust. Compared with previously studied samples of FIR selected early-type galaxies, our sample has on average four times more CO emission per unit FIR (40-120 microns) luminosity. If the intrinsic gas-to-dust ratio of these galaxies as similar to that of the Milky Way, then only about 5 percent of the dust mass in dust lane ellipticals radiates substantially at 60 and 100 microns, and the remaining dust must be colder than about 30 K.
Document ID
19930032987
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
External Source(s)
Authors
Wang, Zhong
(California Inst. of Technology Pasadena, United States)
Kenney, Jeffrey D. P.
(Yale Univ. New Haven, CT, United States)
Ishizuki, Sumio
(Tokyo Univ. Japan)
Date Acquired
August 15, 2013
Publication Date
December 1, 1992
Publication Information
Publication: Astronomical Journal
Volume: 104
Issue: 6
ISSN: 0004-6256
Subject Category
Astrophysics
Accession Number
93A16984
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NSF AST-87-14405
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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