Galaxies: The Long Wavelength View

Abstract

Far-infrared spectroscopy obtained with the ISO LWS has shown that there is strong variation (more than 2 orders of magnitude) in the [C II]/FIR ratios in galaxies extending from blue compact dwarfs, to normal and starburst galaxies, down to elliptical and ultraluminous galaxies (ULIGs). The variation in the relative [C II] 158 micron line strength has been attributed to low metallicity in blue compact dwarfs, high <G_o>/n for normal galaxies and ULIGs, soft radiation fields in ellipticals, and extinction or enhanced abundance of dust in ionized regions in ULIGs. Full ISO/LWS far-infrared (43 - 197 micron) spectra of six nearby IR-bright galaxies reveal a dramatic progression of decreasing fine-structure line emission from ionized species to molecular (OH and H2O) absorption line dominated. The archetypical ULIG, Arp 220, lies at the absorption line dominated end of this sequence. For Arp 220, radiative transfer models indicate that it is optically thick in the FIR and that the water molecules observed in absorption are radiatively excited. If extinction plays a role in the sequence it appears from this analysis that the affected regions are heavily obscured even in the far-infrared, while the detected line emission is not more obscured in ULIGs than in starbursts. Linear correlation between polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) 6.2 micron feature strength and the [C II] 158 micron line strength in starbursts and ULIGs suggests a similar effect for these emitting species, and that the detected PAH emission is not more obscured in ULIGs than in lower luminosity starbursts.