Arp 299: a second merging system with two active nuclei?
Abstract
Recent BeppoSAX observations of Arp 299, a powerful far-IR merging starburst system composed of IC 694 and NGC 3690, clearly unveiled for the first time in this system the presence of a strongly absorbed active galactic nucleus (AGN). However the system was not spatially resolved by BeppoSAX. Here we present the analysis of archival Chandra and (for the first time) XMM-Newton observations, which allow us to disentangle the X-ray emission of the two galaxies. The detection of a strong 6.4 keV line in NGC 3690 clearly demonstrates the existence of an AGN in this galaxy, while the presence of a strong 6.7 keV Fe-Kalpha line in the spectrum of IC 694 suggests that also this nucleus might harbor an AGN. This would be the second discovery of two AGNs in a merging system after NGC 6240.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.astro-ph/0306436,
title = {Arp 299: a second merging system with two active nuclei?},
author = {L. Ballo and V. Braito and R. Della Ceca and L. Maraschi and F. Tavecchio and M. Dadina},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:astro-ph/0306436},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
7 pages, 2 figures, Latex manuscript. Revised version after referee' comments; accepted for publication by ApJ (January 10, 2004)