Properties of quasistellar objects and their progenitors in the radio and mm wavelength regimes in the context of ULIRG-to-QSO evolution

Abstract

The thesis at hand presents the results of a study of galaxies with active galactic nuclei (AGN) carried out in the radio and mm wavelength regimes at low and high angular resolutions. The studied objects cover a broad range of mechanisms responsible for powering the engines of the respective galaxies: ULIRGs (UltraLuminous Infrared Galaxies), a product of mergers between galaxies that are supposedly powered by starbursts, AGN or a mixture of the two, and QSOs (quasi-stellar objects) which are powered by AGN. Since ULIRGs and QSOs show similar properties (especially the infrared luminosities), it was proposed that they form the early and late phase of an evolutionary sequence where supposedly ULIRGs are the dust enshrouded progenitors of QSOs. As a prototypical ULIRG, Arp 220 represents an early-to-intermediate phase object in the scheme of the ULIRG-to-QSO evolution. For this object observations at multiple mm wavelengths and angular resolutions with the IRAM Plateau de Bure Interferometer (PdBI) are presented and analyzed. Arp 220 as a whole is studied in CO emission of the more extended structure. Furthermore, Arp 220-East is analyzed in more detail in the CO gas. Indications for emission ~10" towards the south, as well as to the north and to the west of the two nuclei, were found in the low resolution CO(1-0) maps ...

Zsfassung in dt. und engl. Sprache