Vivian UAnother one of our #JWST #ERS1328 papers hit the arXiv when I was busy with #AAS241 so apologies for the late post -- this one led by Jeff Rich is about the intriguing nature of the nuclear cores in #VV114, complete with #NIRSpec and #MRS SPECTRA!! You know you want to read this for your #JWSTCycle2 proposal... π
From Jeff: "We found an AGN where we didnβt expect to, no AGN where others had predicted one, and interesting ISM properties that require a lot more analyses."
GOALS-JWST: Pulling Back the Curtain on the AGN and Star Formation in VV 114
We present results from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Director's Discretionary Time Early Release Science (ERS) program 1328 targeting the nearby, Luminous Infrared Galaxy (LIRG), VV 114. We use the MIRI and NIRSpec instruments to obtain integral-field spectroscopy of the heavily obscured Eastern nucleus (V114E) and surrounding regions. The spatially resolved, high-resolution, spectra reveal the physical conditions in the gas and dust over a projected area of 2-3 kpc that includes the two brightest IR sources, the NE and SW cores. Our observations show for the first time spectroscopic evidence that the SW core hosts an AGN as evidenced by its very low 6.2 ΞΌm and 3.3 ΞΌm PAH equivalent widths (0.12 and 0.017 ΞΌm respectively) and mid and near-IR colors. Our observations of the NE core show signs of deeply embedded star formation including absorption features due to aliphatic hydrocarbons, large quantities of amorphous silicates, as well as HCN due to cool gas along the line of sight. We detect elevated [Fe II]/PfΞ± consistent with extended shocks coincident with enhanced emission from warm H$_{2}$, far from the IR-bright cores and clumps. We also identify broadening and multiple kinematic components in both H$_{2}$ and fine structure lines caused by outflows and previously identified tidal features.
