  We report the existence of spiral arms in the recently formed gaseous and
dusty disk of the closest giant elliptical, NGC 5128 (Centaurus A), using high
resolution 12CO(2-1) observations of the central 3 arcmin (3 kpc) obtained with
the Submillimeter Array (SMA). This provides evidence that spiral-like features
can develop within ellipticals if enough cold gas exists. We elucidate the
distribution and kinematics of the molecular gas in this region with a
resolution of 4.4 x 1.9 (80 pc x 40 pc). The spiral arms extend from the
circumnuclear gas at a radius of 200 pc to at least 1 kiloparsec. The general
properties of the arms are similar to those in spiral galaxies: they are
trailing, the width is \sim 500 \pm 200 pc, and the pitch angle is 20 degrees.
From independent estimates of the time when the HI-rich galaxy merger occurred,
we infer that the formation of spiral arms happened on a time scale of less
than \sim10^8 yr. The formation of spiral arms increases the gas density and
thus the star formation efficiency in the early stages of the formation of a
disk.
