HI versus Hα - comparing the kinematic tracers in modelling the initial conditions of the Mice
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Date
2018
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Abstract
We explore the effect of using different kinematic tracers (HI and Ha) on reconstructing the encounter parameters of the Mice major galaxy merger (NGC 4676A/B). We observed the Mice using the SparsePak Integral Field Unit (IFU) on the WIYN telescope, and compared the Ha velocity map with VLA H I observations. The relatively high spectral resolution of our data (R approximate to 5000) allows us to resolve more than one kinematic component in the emission lines of some fibres. We separate the H alpha-[N II] emission of the star-forming regions from shocks using their [NII]/H alpha line ratio and velocity dispersion. We show that the velocity of star-forming regions agree with that of the cold gas (H I), particularly, in the tidal tails of the system. We reconstruct the morphology and kinematics of these tidal tails utilizing an automated modelling method based on the IDENTIKIT software package. We quantify the goodness of fit and the uncertainties of the derived encounter parameters. Most of the initial conditions reconstructed using H alpha and HI are consistent with each other, and qualitatively agree with the results of previous works. For example, we find 210 +/-(50)(40) Myr, and 180 +/-(50)(40) Myr for the time since pericentre, when modelling H alpha and HI kinematics, respectively. This confirms that in some cases, H alpha kinematics can be used instead of HI kinematics for reconstructing the initial conditions of galaxy mergers, and our automated modelling method is applicable to some merging systems.
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galaxies: individual: NGC 4676, galaxies: interactions, galaxies: kinematics and dynamics