Mid-infrared observations of the ultraluminous galaxies IRAS14348-1447, IRAS19254-7245, and IRAS23128-5919

Abstract

We present a study of the three ultraluminous infrared galaxies IRAS14348-1447, IRAS19254-7245, and IRAS23128-5919, based on mid-infrared (MIR) spectro-imaging (5-18microns) observations performed with ISOCAM. We find that the MIR emission from each system, which consists of a pair of interacting late type galaxies, is principally confined to the nuclear regions with diameters of 1-2kpc and can account for more than 95% of their IRAS 12micron flux. In each interacting system, the galaxy hosting an active galactic nucleus (AGN) dominates the total spectrum and shows stronger dust continuum (12-16microns) relative to the Unidentified Infrared Band (UIB) emission (6-9microns), suggestive of its enhanced radiation field. The MIR dominant galaxy also exhibits elevated 15micron/Halpha and 15micron/K ratios which trace the high extinction due to the large quantities of molecular gas and dust present in its central regions. Using only diagnostics based on our mid-infrared spectra, we can establish that the Seyfert galaxy IRAS19254-7245 exhibits MIR spectral features of an AGN while the MIR spectrum of the Seyfert (or LINER) member of IRAS23128-5919 is characteristic of dust emission principally heated by star forming regions.