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N. Scoville (Caltech)
High Resolution mm-wave Interferometry has revealed massive concentrations of dense interstellar molecular gas in the nuclei of merging ULIRG galaxies. This gas, equivalent to the entire gas content of the Galaxy, but is located in nuclear disk structures typically 300 pc in radius. Within these disks, starburst activity takes place with star formation rates of up to ~ 500 solar masses per yr. We review observations of the ISM in these galactic nuclei and discuss possible links between the starburst and AGN phenomena.