Neutral gas and dust in the central region of the ultraluminous infrared galaxy Mrk 273

We have used MERLIN to observe neutral hydrogen absorption against the central region of the ultraluminous infrared galaxy (ULIRG) galaxy Mrk 273 with an angular resolution of 0.2 arcsec. This represents a factor of 5 increase in resolution compared with previous work. Absorption has been resolved against two of three radio continuum components. A Hubble Space Telescope (HST) image reveals a complex central region composed of clumpy emission obscured by dust lanes. We find that the northern and south-eastern radio components are associated with two optical components. The alignment supports the idea that Mrk 273 has a double nucleus due to a recent galactic merger event. Broad, strong and spatially varying absorption is seen against the northern radio component with a velocity gradient of 1990 +/- 50 km s(-1) kpc(-1). The absorption resolves into six discrete components with an average column density of 1.7 x 10(22) atom cm(-2). We propose that the absorption is due to a clumpy ring or disc of neutral gas of radius similar to 250 pc rotating around a central starburst. In addition to the broad component, narrow absorption (< 100 km s(-1)) is detected against the northern and south-eastern components. Absorption is not detected against the weak (2 mJy) south-western component. We propose that the narrow absorption is due to quiescent gas in a large-scale dust lane that coincides with these regions of narrow absorption.