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Is Centaurus A Special? A Neutral-Hydrogen Perspective

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2013

Christian Struve*
Affiliation:
Netherlands Foundation for Research in Astronomy, Postbus 2, 7990 AA Dwingeloo, The Netherlands Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, University of Groningen, PO Box 800, 9700 AV Groningen, The Netherlands
Raffaella Morganti
Affiliation:
Netherlands Foundation for Research in Astronomy, Postbus 2, 7990 AA Dwingeloo, The Netherlands Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, University of Groningen, PO Box 800, 9700 AV Groningen, The Netherlands
Tom A. Oosterloo
Affiliation:
Netherlands Foundation for Research in Astronomy, Postbus 2, 7990 AA Dwingeloo, The Netherlands Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, University of Groningen, PO Box 800, 9700 AV Groningen, The Netherlands
Bjorn H. C. Emonts
Affiliation:
CSIRO Australia Telescope National Facility, PO Box 76, Epping, NSW 1710
*
DCorresponding author. Email: struve@astron.nl
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Abstract

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Due to its proximity, the neutral hydrogen belonging to Cen A can be observed at high resolution with good sensitivity. This allows us to study the morphology and kinematics in detail, in order to understand the evolution of this radio-loud source (e.g. merger history, AGN activity). At the same time, it is important to compare results to other sources of the same class (i.e. early-type galaxies in general and radio galaxies in particular) to see how Cen A fits into the global picture of early-type/radio galaxy evolution. The amount of Hi, the morphology of a warped disk with Hi clouds surrounding the disk and the regular kinematics of the inner part of the Hi disk are not unusual for early-type galaxies. The growing evidence that mergers are not necessarily responsible for AGN activity fits with the observational result that the recent merger event in Cen A is not directly connected to the current phase of activity. Based on these results, we conclude that Cen A has typical neutral hydrogen properties for an early-type and radio galaxy and it can therefore — from the perspective of Hi — be seen as a typical example of its class.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Astronomical Society of Australia 2010

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