TWO-DIMENSIONAL MAPPING OF YOUNG STARS IN THE INNER 180 pc OF NGC 1068: CORRELATION WITH MOLECULAR GAS RING AND STELLAR KINEMATICS

Abstract

We report the first two-dimensional mapping of the stellar population and\nnon-stellar continua within the inner 180 pc (radius) of NGC 1068 at a spatial\nresolution of 8 pc, using integral field spectroscopy in the near-infrared. We\nhave applied the technique of spectral synthesis to data obtained with the\ninstrument NIFS and the adaptive optics module ALTAIR at the Gemini North\nTelescope. Two episodes of recent star formation are found to dominate the\nstellar population contribution: the first occurred 300 Myr ago, extending over\nmost of the nuclear region; the second occurred just 30 Myr ago, in a ring-like\nstructure at ~100 pc from the nucleus, where it is coincident with an expanding\nring of H2 emission. Inside the ring, where a decrease in the stellar velocity\ndispersion is observed, the stellar population is dominated by the 300 Myr age\ncomponent. In the inner 35 pc, the oldest age component (age > 2Gyr) dominates\nthe mass, while the flux is dominated by black-body components with\ntemperatures in the range 700 < T < 800 K which we attribute to the dusty\ntorus. We also find some contribution from black-body and power-law components\nbeyond the nucleus which we attribute to dust emission and scattered light.\n