THE SPATIAL EXTENT OF (U)LIRGS IN THE MID-INFRARED. II. FEATURE EMISSION

We present results from the second part of our analysis of the extended mid-infrared (MIR) emission of the GOALS sample based on 5-14 mu m low-resolution spectra obtained with the Infrared Spectrograph on Spitzer. We calculate the fraction of extended emission (FEE) as a function of wavelength for all galaxies in the sample, FEE lambda, defined as the fraction of the emission that originates outside of the unresolved central component of a source, and spatially separate the MIR spectrum of a galaxy into its nuclear and extended components. We find that the [Ne II] 12.81 mu m emission line is as compact as the hot dust MIR continuum, while the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) emission is more extended. In addition, the 6.2 and 7.7 mu m PAH emission is more compact than that of the 11.3 mu m PAH, which is consistent with the formers being enhanced in a more ionized medium. The presence of an active galactic nucleus (AGN) or a powerful nuclear starburst increases the compactness and the luminosity surface density of the hot dust MIR continuum, but has a negligible effect on the spatial extent of the PAH emission on kpc-scales. Furthermore, it appears that both processes, AGN and/or nuclear starburst, are indistinguishable in terms of how they modify the integrated PAH-to-continuum ratio of the FEE in (ultra) luminous infrared galaxies ((U)LIRGs). Globally, the 5-14 mu m spectra of the extended emission component are homogeneous for all galaxies in the GOALS sample. This suggests that, independently of the spatial distribution of the various MIR features, the physical properties of star formation occurring at distances farther than 1.5 kpc from the nuclei of (U) LIRGs are very similar, resembling local star-forming galaxies with L-IR < 10(11) L-circle dot, as well as star-formation-dominated ULIRGs at z similar to 2. In contrast, the MIR spectra of the nuclear component of local ULIRGs and LIRGs are very diverse. These results imply that the observed variety of the integrated MIR properties of local (U)LIRGs arise, on average, only from the processes that are taking place in their cores.