Superwind-driven Intense H₂ Emission in NGC 6240 II: Detailed Comparison of Kinematical and Morphological Structures of the Warm and Cold Molecular Gas

We report on our new analysis of the spatial and kinematical distribution of warm and cold molecular gas in NGC 6240, which was undertaken to explore the origin of its unusually luminous H$_2$ emission. By comparing three-dimensional emission-line data (in space and velocity) of CO (J=2-1) in the radio and H$_2$ in the near infrared, we are able to study the H$_2$ emitting efficiency, defined in terms of the intensity ratio of H$_2$ to CO [$I$(H$_2$)/$I$(CO)], as a function of velocity. The integrated H$_2$ emitting efficiency is calculated by integrating the velocity profile of H$_2$ emitting efficiency in blue, red, and total (blue + red) velocity regions of the profile. We find that (1) both the total H$_2$ emitting efficiency and the blue-to-red ratio of the efficiency are larger in regions surrounding the CO and H$_2$ intensity peaks, and (2) the H$_2$ emitting efficiency and the kinematical conditions in the warm molecular gas are closely related to each other. A collision between the molecular gas concentration and the external superwind outflow from the southern nucleus seems plausible to explain these characteristics, since it can reproduce the enhanced emitting efficiency of blueshifted H$_2$ around the molecular gas concentration, if we assume that the superwind blows from the southern nucleus toward us, hitting the entire gas concentration from behind. In this model, internal cloud-cloud collisions within the molecular gas concentration are enhanced by the interaction with the superwind outflow, and efficient and intense shock-excited H$_2$ emission is expected as a result of the cloud-crushing mechanism.