Abstract
We use the CO band at 2.3 μm to constrain the populations of young stars in the central regions of Seyfert galaxies. We report new CO band spectroscopy of 46 Seyfert galaxies. In most cases, the observed CO indices appear diluted by the presence of a nonstellar component (most likely, warm dust surrounding the active nucleus). We used JHKL aperture photometry to estimate the nonstellar contribution at 2.3 μm. We successfully corrected the CO band for the dilution for 16 galaxies which were not dominated by the nonstellar component. Comparing with CO indices measured in elliptical and purely starbursting galaxies, we find no evidence for strong starbursts in the majority of these galaxies.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 190-204 |
Number of pages | 15 |
Journal | Astrophysical Journal |
Volume | 545 |
Issue number | 1 PART 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Dec 10 2000 |
Keywords
- Galaxies : Seyfert
- Galaxies : nuclei
- Galaxies: starburst
- Infrared: galaxies
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Astronomy and Astrophysics
- Space and Planetary Science