Landing page for project EC096

Starburst galaxy NGC2146 is one of the best laboratories to study the nature of outflows in starburst galaxies due to its proximity (14.5 Mpc). NGC2146 has an outflow along the minor axis driven by supernova explosions and stellar winds in the starburst region. About 20 point-like radio sources were detected at 5 GHz in the VLA and MERLIN images, interpreted as radio supernovae or supernova remnants. Recently, We observed the brightest point source with the VLBA at 5 GHz, resolved into three radio components in a straight line, with the central one being the brightest. The radio morphology is reminiscent of the structure of a core and two-sided jets. The nature of the radio emission in its core: radio jet from AGN or starburst contributions from young stellar clusters hosting supernovae is still unclear. Establishing the correct interpretation is crucial for our understanding of the physical processes that drive black hole growth, and regulate galaxy evolution via AGN- or starburst-driven feedback. With the new EVN observations, we propose to obtain the spectral index, proper motions, and variability of the radio components to confirm whether the nuclear radio emission is due to the AGN or starburst.

This data is part of the archive of VLBI data maintained by JIVE on behalf of the EVN, a network of radio telescopes located primarily in Europe and Asia, with additional antennas in South Africa. The EVN archive itself has the DOI https://doi.org/10.17616/R3Z197