We present measurements of carbon monoxide emission in the central region of the nearby starburst NGC 6000 taken with the Submillimeter Array .
The J = 2 - 1 transition of ^ { 12 } CO , ^ { 13 } CO , and C ^ { 18 } O were imaged at a resolution of \sim 3 ^ { \prime \prime } \times 2 ^ { \prime \prime } ( 450 \times 300 pc ) .
We accurately determine the dynamical center of NGC 6000 at \alpha _ { J 2000.0 } = 15 ^ { h } 49 ^ { m } 49 \fs 5 and \delta _ { J 2000.0 } = -29 \arcdeg 23 \arcmin 13 ^ { \prime \prime } which agrees with the peak of molecular emission position .
The observed CO dynamics could be explained in the context of the presence of a bar potential affecting the molecular material , likely responsible for the strong nuclear concentration where more than 85 \% of the gas is located .
We detect a kinematically detached component of dense molecular gas at relatively high velocity which might be fueling the star formation .
A total nuclear dynamical mass of 7 \times 10 ^ { 9 } M _ { \odot } is derived and a total mass of gas of 4.6 \times 10 ^ { 8 } M _ { \odot } , yielding a M _ { gas } / M _ { dyn } \sim 6 \% , similar to other previously studied barred galaxies with central starbursts .
We determined the mass of molecular gas with the optically thin isotopologue C ^ { 18 } O and we estimate a CO-to-H2 conversion factor X _ { CO } = 0.4 \times 10 ^ { 19 } cm ^ { -2 } ( K km s ^ { -1 } ) ^ { -1 } in agreement with that determined in other starburst galaxies .