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Constraining Dark Matter Halo Profiles and Galaxy Formation Models Using Spiral Arm Morphology. I. Method Outline
We investigate the use of spiral arm pitch angles as a probe of diskgalaxy mass profiles. We confirm our previous result that spiral armpitch angles (P) are well correlated with the rate of shear (S) in diskgalaxy rotation curves by using a much larger sample (51 galaxies) thanused previously (17 galaxies). We use this correlation to argue thatimaging data alone can provide a powerful probe of galactic massdistributions out to large look-back times. In contrast to previouswork, we show that observed spiral arm pitch angles are similar whenmeasured in the optical (at 0.4 μm) and the near-infrared (at 2.1μm) with a mean difference of 2.3d+/-2.7d. This is then used tostrengthen the known correlation between P and S using B-band images. Wethen use two example galaxies to demonstrate how an inferred shear ratecoupled with a bulge-disk decomposition model and a Tully-Fisher-derivedvelocity normalization can be used to place constraints on a galaxy'sbaryon fraction and dark matter halo profile. We show that ESO 582-G12,a galaxy with a high shear rate (slightly declining rotation curve) at~10 kpc, favors an adiabatically contracted halo, with high initial NFWconcentration (cvir>16) and a high fraction of halobaryons in the form of stars (~15%-40%). In contrast, IC 2522 has a lowshear rate (rising rotation curve) at ~10 kpc and favorsnonadiabatically contracted models with low NFW concentrations(cvir~=2-8) and a low stellar baryon fraction <10%.
| Spatial distribution of galaxies in the Puppis region
We determine the spatial distribution of the galaxies located behind thepart of the zone of avoidance of the Milky Way defined by 220°
| Inner-truncated Disks in Galaxies
We present an analysis of the disk brightness profiles of 218 spiral andlenticular galaxies. At least 28% of disk galaxies exhibit innertruncations in these profiles. There are no significant trends oftruncation incidence with Hubble type, but the incidence among barredsystems is 49%, more than 4 times that for nonbarred galaxies. However,not all barred systems have inner truncations, and not allinner-truncated systems are currently barred. Truncations represent areal dearth of disk stars in the inner regions and are not an artifactof our selection or fitting procedures nor the result of obscuration bydust. Disk surface brightness profiles in the outer regions are wellrepresented by simple exponentials for both truncated and nontruncateddisks. However, truncated and nontruncated systems have systematicallydifferent slopes and central surface brightness parameters for theirdisk brightness distributions. Truncation radii do not appear tocorrelate well with the sizes or brightnesses of the bulges. Thissuggests that the low angular momentum material apparently missing fromthe inner disk was not simply consumed in forming the bulge population.Disk parameters and the statistics of bar orientations in our sampleindicate that the missing stars of the inner disk have not simply beenredistributed azimuthally into bar structures. The sharpness of thebrightness truncations and their locations with respect to othergalactic structures suggest that resonances associated with diskkinematics, or tidal interactions with the mass of bulge stars, might beresponsible for this phenomenon.
| Oxygen and nitrogen abundances in nearby galaxies. Correlations between oxygen abundance and macroscopic properties
We performed a compilation of more than 1000 published spectra of H IIregions in spiral galaxies. The oxygen and nitrogen abundances in each HII region were recomputed in a homogeneous way, using the P-method. Theradial distributions of oxygen and nitrogen abundances were derived. Thecorrelations between oxygen abundance and macroscopic properties areexamined. We found that the oxygen abundance in spiral galaxiescorrelates with its luminosity, rotation velocity, and morphologicaltype: the correlation with the rotation velocity may be slightlytighter. There is a significant difference between theluminosity-metallicity relationship obtained here and that based on theoxygen abundances determined through the R23-calibrations.The oxygen abundance of NGC 5457 recently determined using directmeasurements of Te (Kennicutt et al. \cite{Kennicutt2003})agrees with the luminosity-metallicity relationship derived in thispaper, but is in conflict with the luminosity-metallicity relationshipderived with the R23-based oxygen abundances. The obtainedluminosity-metallicity relation for spiral galaxies is compared to thatfor irregular galaxies. Our sample of galaxies shows evidence that theslope of the O/H - MB relationship for spirals (-0.079± 0.018) is slightly more shallow than that for irregulargalaxies (-0.139 ± 0.011). The effective oxygen yields wereestimated for spiral and irregular galaxies. The effective oxygen yieldincreases with increasing luminosity from MB -11 toMB -18 (or with increasing rotation velocity fromVrot 10 km s-1 to Vrot 100km s-1) and then remains approximately constant. Irregulargalaxies from our sample have effective oxygen yields lowered by afactor of 3 at maximum, i.e. irregular galaxies usually keep at least1/3 of the oxygen they manufactured during their evolution.Appendix, Tables \ref{table:refero}, \ref{table:referV}, and Figs.\ref{figure:sample2}-\ref{figure:sample5} are only available inelectronic form at http://www.edpsciences.org}
| The structure and environment of young stellar clusters in spiral galaxies
A search for stellar clusters has been carried out in 18 nearby spiralgalaxies, using archive images from the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 onboard the Hubble Space Telescope. All of the galaxies have previouslybeen imaged from the ground in UBVI. A catalogue of structuralparameters, photometry and comments based on visual inspection of theclusters is compiled and used to investigate correlations betweencluster structure, environment, age and mass. Least-squares fits to thedata suggest correlations between both the full-width at half-maximum(FWHM) and half-light radius (Reff) of the clusters and theirmasses (M) at about the 3σ level. Although both relations show alarge scatter, the fits have substantially shallower slopes than for aconstant-density relation (size ∝ M1/3). However, manyof the youngest clusters have extended halos which make theReff determinations uncertain. There is no evidence forgalaxy-to-galaxy variations in the mean cluster sizes. In particular,the mean sizes do not appear to depend on the host galaxy star formationrate surface density. Many of the youngest objects (age <107 years) are located in strongly crowded regions, and about1/3-1/2 of them are double or multiple sources. The HST images are alsoused to check the nature of cluster candidates identified in a previousground-based survey. The contamination rate in the ground-based sampleis generally less than about 20%, but some cluster identificationsremain ambiguous because of crowding even with HST imaging, especiallyfor the youngest objects.Full Tables \ref{tab:all}-\ref{tab:hstphot}, and \ref{tab:gb} are onlyavailable in electronic form at the CDS via anonymous ftp tocdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/416/537Based on observations obtained with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope,obtained at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated bythe Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., underNASA contract NAS 5-26555.
| Companions of Bright Barred Shapley-Ames Galaxies
Companion galaxy environment for a subset of 78 bright and nearby barredgalaxies from the Shapley-Ames Catalog is presented. Among the spiralbarred galaxies, there are Seyfert galaxies, galaxies with circumnuclearstructures, galaxies not associated with any large-scale galaxy cloudstructure, galaxies with peculiar disk morphology (crooked arms), andgalaxies with normal disk morphology; the list includes all Hubbletypes. The companion galaxy list includes the number of companiongalaxies within 20 diameters, their Hubble type, and projectedseparation distance. In addition, the companion environment was searchedfor four known active spiral galaxies, three of them are Seyfertgalaxies, namely, NGC 1068, NGC 1097, and NGC 5548, and one is astarburst galaxy, M82. Among the results obtained, it is noted that theonly spiral barred galaxy classified as Seyfert 1 in our list has nocompanions within a projected distance of 20 diameters; six out of 10Seyfert 2 bar galaxies have no companions within 10 diameters, six outof 10 Seyfert 2 galaxies have one or more companions at projectedseparation distances between 10 and 20 diameters; six out of 12 galaxieswith circumnuclear structures have two or more companions within 20diameters.
| A new catalogue of ISM content of normal galaxies
We have compiled a catalogue of the gas content for a sample of 1916galaxies, considered to be a fair representation of ``normality''. Thedefinition of a ``normal'' galaxy adopted in this work implies that wehave purposely excluded from the catalogue galaxies having distortedmorphology (such as interaction bridges, tails or lopsidedness) and/orany signature of peculiar kinematics (such as polar rings,counterrotating disks or other decoupled components). In contrast, wehave included systems hosting active galactic nuclei (AGN) in thecatalogue. This catalogue revises previous compendia on the ISM contentof galaxies published by \citet{bregman} and \citet{casoli}, andcompiles data available in the literature from several small samples ofgalaxies. Masses for warm dust, atomic and molecular gas, as well asX-ray luminosities have been converted to a uniform distance scale takenfrom the Catalogue of Principal Galaxies (PGC). We have used twodifferent normalization factors to explore the variation of the gascontent along the Hubble sequence: the blue luminosity (LB)and the square of linear diameter (D225). Ourcatalogue significantly improves the statistics of previous referencecatalogues and can be used in future studies to define a template ISMcontent for ``normal'' galaxies along the Hubble sequence. The cataloguecan be accessed on-line and is also available at the Centre desDonnées Stellaires (CDS).The catalogue is available in electronic form athttp://dipastro.pd.astro.it/galletta/ismcat and at the CDS via anonymousftp to\ cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or via\http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/405/5
| Bar strengths in spiral galaxies estimated from 2MASS images
Non-axisymmetric forces are presented for a sample of 107 spiralgalaxies, of which 31 are barred (SB) and 53 show nuclear activity. As adata base we use JHK images from the 2 Micron All-sky Survey, and thenon-axisymmetries are characterized by the ratio of the tangential forceto the mean axisymmetric radial force field, following Buta & Block.Bar strengths have an important role in many extragalactic problems andtherefore it is important to verify that the different numerical methodsapplied for calculating the forces give mutually consistent results. Weapply both direct Cartesian integration and a polar grid integrationutilizing a limited number of azimuthal Fourier components of density.We find that the bar strength is independent of the method used toevaluate the gravitational potential. However, because of thedistance-dependent smoothing by Fourier decomposition, the polar methodis more suitable for weak and noisy images. The largest source ofuncertainty in the derived bar strength appears to be the uncertainty inthe vertical scaleheight, which is difficult to measure directly formost galaxies. On the other hand, the derived bar strength is ratherinsensitive to the possible gradient in the vertical scaleheight of thedisc or to the exact model of the vertical density distribution,provided that the same effective vertical dispersion is assumed in allmodels. In comparison with the pioneering study by Buta & Block, thebar strength estimate is improved here by taking into account thedependence of the vertical scaleheight on the Hubble type: we find thatfor thin discs bar strengths are stronger than for thick discs by anamount that may correspond to as much as one bar strength class. Weconfirm the previous result by Buta and co-workers showing that thedispersion in bar strength is large among all the de Vaucouleurs opticalbar classes. In the near-infrared 40 per cent of the galaxies in oursample have bars (showing constant phases in the m= 2 Fourier amplitudesin the bar region), while in the optical band one-third of these barsare obscured by dust. Significant non-axisymmetric forces can also beinduced by the spiral arms, generally in the outer parts of the galacticdiscs, which may have important implications on galaxy evolution.Possible biases of the selected sample are also studied: we find thatthe number of bars identified drops rapidly when the inclination of thegalactic disc is larger than 50°. A similar bias is found in theThird Reference Catalogue of Bright Galaxies, which might be of interestwhen comparing bar frequencies at high and low redshifts.
| A Search for H2O Maser Emission in Southern Active Galactic Nuclei and Star-forming Galaxies: Discovery of a Maser in the Edge-on Galaxy IRAS F01063-8034
We report the cumulative results of five surveys for H2Omaser emission at 1.35 cm wavelength in 131 active galactic nuclei(AGNs) and star-forming galaxies, conducted at the Parkes Observatorybetween 1993 and 1998. We detected one new maser, in the edge-on galaxyIRAS F01063-8034, which exhibits a single ~0.1 Jy spectral feature at4282+/-6 km s-1 (heliocentric) with an unusually large54+/-16 km s-1 half-power full width. The centroid velocityof the emission increased to 4319.6+/-0.6 km s-1 (38+/-2 kms-1 width) over the 13 days between discovery andconfirmation of the detection. A similarly broad-line width and largechange in velocity has been noted for the maser in NGC 1052, wherein jetactivity excites the emission. Neither optical spectroscopy,radio-infrared correlations, nor infrared colors provide compellingevidence of unusual activity in the nucleus of IRAS F01063-8034. Sincethe galaxy appears to be outwardly normal at optical and infraredwavelengths, detection of an H2O maser therein is unique. Themaser emission is evidence that the galaxy harbors an AGN that isprobably obscured by the edge-on galactic disk. The detection highlightsthe possibility that undetected AGNs could be hidden in other relativelynearby galaxies. No other maser emission features have been identifiedat velocities between 3084 and 6181 km s-1.
| The H I Line Width/Linear Diameter Relationship as an Independent Test of the Hubble Constant
The relationship between corrected H I line widths and linear diameters(LW/LD) for spiral galaxies is used as an independent check on the valueof the Hubble constant. After calibrating the Tully-Fisher (TF) relationin both the B and I bands, the B-band relation is used for galaxies ofmorphological/luminosity types Sc I, Sc I.2, Sc I.3, Sab, Sb, Sb I-II,and Sb II to derive the LW/LD relation. We find that for this sample thescatter in the LW/LD is smallest with a Hubble constant of 90-95 kms-1 Mpc-1. Lower values of the Hubble constantproduce a separation in the LW/LD relation that is a function ofmorphological type. Since a Hubble constant of 90-95 is significantlylarger than the final Key Project value of 72 km s-1Mpc-1, a comparison of TF, surface brightness fluctuation(SBF), and fundamental plane (FP) is made. This comparison indicatesthat the Key Project TF distances to 21 clusters may be too large. For asample of 11 clusters, the Key Project TF distances provide anunweighted mean Hubble constant of 77 km s-1Mpc-1, while a combination of the FP, SBF, and our TFdistances for the same 11 clusters gives H0=91 kms-1 Mpc-1. A more subtle result in our data is amorphological dichotomy in the Hubble constant. The data suggest that ScI galaxies follow a Hubble constant of 90-95 while Sb galaxies follow aHubble constant closer to 75 km s-1 Mpc-1.Possible explanations for this result are considered, but it is shownthat this Sb/Sc I Hubble flow discrepancy is also present in the VirgoCluster and is consistent with previous investigations that indicatethat some galaxies carry a component of age-related intrinsic redshift.
| The Luminosity Function of Star Clusters in Spiral Galaxies
Star clusters in six nearby spiral galaxies are examined using archiveimages from the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) on board theHubble Space Telescope (HST). The galaxies have previously been studiedfrom the ground and some of them are known to possess rich populationsof ``young massive clusters.'' Comparison with the HST images indicatesa success rate of ~75% for the ground-based cluster detections, withtypical contaminants being blends or loose groupings of several stars incrowded regions. The luminosity functions (LFs) of cluster candidatesidentified on the HST images are analyzed and compared with existingdata for the Milky Way and the LMC. The LFs are well approximated bypower laws of the form dN(L)/dL~Lα, with slopes in therange -2.4<~α<~-2.0. The steeper slopes tend to be foundamong fits covering brighter magnitude intervals, although direct hintsof a variation in the LF slope with magnitude are seen only at lowsignificance in two galaxies. The surface density of star clusters at areference magnitude of MV=-8,Σ-8cl, scales with the mean star formationrate (SFR) per unit area, ΣSFR. Assuming that the LFcan be generally expressed asdN(L)/dL=cAΣγSFRLα,where A is the galaxy area, γ~1.0-1.4, α=-2.4, and thenormalization constant c is determined from the WFPC2 data analyzedhere, the maximum cluster luminosity expected in a galaxy from randomsampling of the LF is estimated as a function of ΣSFRand A. The predictions agree well with existing observations of galaxiesspanning a wide range of ΣSFR values, suggesting thatsampling statistics play an important role in determining the maximumobserved luminosities of star clusters in galaxies. Based onobservations obtained with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, obtainedat the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by theAssociation of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASAcontract NAS 5-26555.
| Bar Galaxies and Their Environments
The prints of the Palomar Sky Survey, luminosity classifications, andradial velocities were used to assign all northern Shapley-Ames galaxiesto either (1) field, (2) group, or (3) cluster environments. Thisinformation for 930 galaxies shows no evidence for a dependence of barfrequency on galaxy environment. This suggests that the formation of abar in a disk galaxy is mainly determined by the properties of theparent galaxy, rather than by the characteristics of its environment.
| Young massive star clusters in nearby spiral galaxies. III. Correlations between cluster populations and host galaxy properties
We present an analysis of correlations between integrated properties ofgalaxies and their populations of young massive star clusters. Data for21 nearby galaxies presented by Larsen & Richtler (\cite{lr99}) areused together with literature data for 10 additional galaxies, spanninga range in specific U-band cluster luminosity T_L(U) from 0 to 15. Wefind that T_L(U) correlates with several observable host galaxyparameters, in particular the ratio of Far-Infrared (FIR) tomBox{B-band} flux and the surface brightness. Taking the FIRluminosity as an indicator of the star formation rate (SFR), it is foundthat T_L(U) correlates very well with the SFR per unit area. A similarcorrelation is seen between T_L(U) and the atomic hydrogen surfacedensity. The cluster formation efficiency seems to depend on the SFR ina continuous way, rather than being related to any particularly violentmode of star formation. We discuss fundamental features of possiblescenarios for cluster formation. One possibility is that the correlationbetween T_L(U) and SFR is due to a common controlling parameter, mostprobably the high density of the ISM. Another scenario conceives a highT_L(U) as resulting from the energy input from many massive stars incase of a high SFR. Based on observations made with the Nordic OpticalTelescope, operated on the island of La Palma jointly by Denmark,Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden, in the Spanish Observatorio delRoque de los Muchachos of the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias, andwith the Danish 1.5-m telescope at ESO, La Silla, Chile.
| Intergalactic Dust and Observations of Type IA Supernovae
Estimates of the cosmic star formation rate and of cluster metallicitiesindependently imply that at z<~0.5 the gas in the universe hassubstantial average metallicity: 1/10<~Z/Zsolar<~1/3for Ωgas=0.05. This metal density probably cannot becontained in known solar-metallicity galaxies of density parameterΩ*~0.004, implying significant enrichment of theintergalactic medium (IGM) by ejection of metals and dust from galaxiesvia winds, in mergers or in dust efflux driven by radiation pressure.Galaxies have a dust-to-metal ratio of ~0.5 in their interstellar media,but some fraction (1-f)>0 of this must be destroyed in the IGM orduring the ejection process. Assuming the Draine & Lee dust modeland preferential destruction of small grains (as destruction bysputtering would provide), I calculate the reddening and extinction of auniform cosmological dust component in terms of f and the minimum grainsize amin. Very small grains provide most of the reddeningbut less than half of the opacity for optical extinction. For f>~0.3and amin>~0.1 μm, the intergalactic dust would be toogray to have been detected by its reddening, yet dense enough to becosmologically important: it could account for the recently observedType Ia supernova dimming at z~0.5 without cosmic acceleration. It wouldalso have implications for galaxy counts and evolutionary studies andwould contribute significantly to the cosmic infrared background (CIB).The importance of gray intergalactic dust of the described type can betested by observations of z=0.5 supernovae in (rest) R-band or longerwavelengths and by the fluxes of a large sample of supernovae at z>1.
| Star-forming Complexes in a Sample of Spiral and Irregular Galaxies
Over 300 star-forming complexes in 11 intermediate- and late-type spiraland irregular galaxies have been observed in the B, I, and Hαbands to determine their luminosity functions, ages, sizes, and masses.The total Hα luminosity from complexes compared with the totalgalaxy Hα luminosity ranges from 20% to 70%, but the percentage isnearly constant at 7% in the B band for most galaxies. A comparison ofthe colors and luminosities of the complexes with published clusterevolutionary models suggests that the complexes range in age from a fewtimes 10^6 yr to nearly 10^9 yr; the majority have ages of less than 1to 2x10^7 yr. The complex masses range from 10^4 to 10^7 M_solar. Theluminosity functions for the complexes follow a power law with anexponent of approximately -2 late-type galaxies have slightly shallowerslopes than intermediate-type galaxies. The sizes of the largestcomplexes in each galaxy scale approximately with the square root of thegalaxy luminosity, confirming previous studies. The complexes may have afractal size distribution that is consistent with values predicted bytheoretical turbulence models of the interstellar medium.
| Young massive star clusters in nearby galaxies . I. Identification and general properties of the cluster systems
Using ground-based UBVRIHα CCD photometry we have been carryingout a search for young massive star clusters (YMCs) in a sampleconsisting of 21 nearby spiral galaxies. We find a large varietyconcerning the richness of the cluster systems, with some galaxiescontaining no YMCs at all and others hosting very large numbers of YMCs.Examples of galaxies with poor cluster systems are NGC 300 and NGC 4395,while the richest cluster systems are found in the galaxies NGC 5236 (M83), NGC 2997 and NGC 1313. The age distributions of clusters in thesegalaxies show no obvious peaks, indicating that massive clusters areformed as an ongoing process rather than in bursts. This is in contrastto what is observed in starbursts and merger galaxies. The radialdistributions of clusters follow the Hα surface brightnesses. Forthe galaxies in our sample there is no correlation between themorphological type and the presence of YMCs. Based on observations madewith the Nordic Optical Telescope, operated on the island of La Palmajointly by Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden, in the SpanishObservatorio del Roque de los Muchachos of the Instituto de Astrofisicade Canarias, and with the Danish 1.5-m telescope at ESO, La Silla,Chile.
| The COBE Diffuse Infrared Background Experiment Search for the Cosmic Infrared Background. IV. Cosmological Implications
A direct measurement of the extragalactic background light (EBL) canprovide important constraints on the integrated cosmological history ofstar formation, metal and dust production, and the conversion ofstarlight into infrared emission by dust. In this paper we examine thecosmological implications of the recent detection of the EBL in the 125to 5000 μm wavelength region by the Diffuse Infrared BackgroundExperiment (DIRBE) and Far Infrared Absolute Spectrophotometer (FIRAS)on board the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE). We first show that the140 and 240 μm isotropic residual emission found in the DIRBE datacannot be produced by foreground emission sources in the solar system orthe Galaxy. The DIRBE 140 and 240 μm isotropic residuals, and byinference the FIRAS residuals as well, are therefore extragalactic.Assuming that most of the 140 and 240 μm emission is from dust yieldsa 2 sigma lower limit of nuI(nu) ~ 5 nW m^-2 sr^-1 for the EBL at 100mum. The integrated EBL detected by the COBE between 140 and 5000 μmis ~16 nW m^-2 sr^-1, roughly 20%-50% of the integrated EBL intensityexpected from energy release by nucleosynthesis throughout cosmichistory. This also implies that at least ~5%-15% of the baryonic massdensity implied by big bang nucleosynthesis has been processed throughstars. The COBE observations provide important constraints on the cosmicstar formation rate, and we calculate the EBL spectrum for various starformation histories. The results show that the UV and opticallydetermined cosmic star formation rates fall short in producing theobserved 140 to 5000 μm background. The COBE observations require thestar formation rate at redshifts of z ~ 1.5 to be larger than thatinferred from UV-optical observations by at least a factor of 2. Thisexcess stellar energy must be mainly generated by massive stars, sinceit otherwise would result in a local K-band luminosity density that islarger than observed. The energy sources could either be yet undetecteddust-enshrouded galaxies, or extremely dusty star-forming regions inobserved galaxies, and they may be responsible for the observed ironenrichment in the intracluster medium. The exact star formation historyor scenarios required to produce the EBL at far-IR wavelengths cannot beunambiguously resolved by the COBE observations and must await futureobservations.
| The Opacity of Nearby Galaxies from Colors and Counts of Background Galaxies. I. The Synthetic Field Method and Its Application to NGC 4536 and NGC 3664
We describe a new direct method for determining the opacity offoreground galaxies that does not require any a priori assumptions aboutthe spatial distribution or the reddening law of the obscuring material.The method is to measure the colors and counts of background galaxiesthat can be identified through the foreground system. The method iscalibrated and the effects of confusion and obscuration are decoupled byadding various versions of a suitable deep-reference frame containingonly field galaxies with known properties into the image of theforeground galaxy and analyzing these ``synthetic field'' images in thesame way as the real images. We test the method on Hubble SpaceTelescope Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 archived images of two galaxiesthat are quite different: NGC 4536 is a large Sc spiral, and NGC 3664 isa small Magellanic irregular. The reference frames are taken from theHubble Deep Field. From the background galaxy counts, NGC 4536 shows anextinction of A_I ~ 1 mag in the northwestern arm region and A_I <0.5 mag in the corresponding interarm region (no correction forinclination has been attempted). However, from the galaxy colors, thesame reddening of E(V-I) ~ 0.2 is observed in both the arm and theinterarm regions. In the interarm region, the combination of extinctionand reddening can be explained by a diffuse component with a Galacticreddening law (R_V ~ 3). In the spiral arm, however, the same diffuse,low-opacity component seems to coexist with regions of much higheropacity. Since the exposures are shorter, the results for NGC 3664 areless clear but also appear to be consistent with a two-componentdistribution.
| Bulge-Disk Decomposition of 659 Spiral and Lenticular Galaxy Brightness Profiles
We present one of the largest homogeneous sets of spiral and lenticulargalaxy brightness profile decompositions completed to date. The 659galaxies in our sample have been fitted with a de Vaucouleurs law forthe bulge component and an inner-truncated exponential for the diskcomponent. Of the 659 galaxies in the sample, 620 were successfullyfitted with the chosen fitting functions. The fits are generally welldefined, with more than 90% having rms deviations from the observedprofile of less than 0.35 mag. We find no correlations of fittingquality, as measured by these rms residuals, with either morphologicaltype or inclination. Similarly, the estimated errors of the fittedcoefficients show no significant trends with type or inclination. Thesedecompositions form a useful basis for the study of the lightdistributions of spiral and lenticular galaxies. The object base issufficiently large that well-defined samples of galaxies can be selectedfrom it.
| Scale height determination of 10 spiral galaxies including NGC 864.
Not Available
| Catalogue of HI maps of galaxies. I.
A catalogue is presented of galaxies having large-scale observations inthe HI line. This catalogue collects from the literature the informationthat characterizes the observations in the 21-cm line and the way thatthese data were presented by means of maps, graphics and tables, forshowing the distribution and kinematics of the gas. It containsfurthermore a measure of the HI extension that is detected at the levelof the maximum sensitivity reached in the observations. This catalogueis intended as a guide for references on the HI maps published in theliterature from 1953 to 1995 and is the basis for the analysis of thedata presented in Paper II. The catalogue is only available inelectronic form at the CDS via anonymous ftp 130.79.128.5 orhttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/Abstract.html
| Total magnitude, radius, colour indices, colour gradients and photometric type of galaxies
We present a catalogue of aperture photometry of galaxies, in UBVRI,assembled from three different origins: (i) an update of the catalogueof Buta et al. (1995) (ii) published photometric profiles and (iii)aperture photometry performed on CCD images. We explored different setsof growth curves to fit these data: (i) The Sersic law, (ii) The net ofgrowth curves used for the preparation of the RC3 and (iii) A linearinterpolation between the de Vaucouleurs (r(1/4) ) and exponential laws.Finally we adopted the latter solution. Fitting these growth curves, wederive (1) the total magnitude, (2) the effective radius, (3) the colourindices and (4) gradients and (5) the photometric type of 5169 galaxies.The photometric type is defined to statistically match the revisedmorphologic type and parametrizes the shape of the growth curve. It iscoded from -9, for very concentrated galaxies, to +10, for diffusegalaxies. Based in part on observations collected at the Haute-ProvenceObservatory.
| A catalogue of spatially resolved kinematics of galaxies: Bibliography
We present a catalogue of galaxies for which spatially resolved data ontheir internal kinematics have been published; there is no a priorirestriction regarding their morphological type. The catalogue lists thereferences to the articles where the data are published, as well as acoded description of these data: observed emission or absorption lines,velocity or velocity dispersion, radial profile or 2D field, positionangle. Tables 1, 2, and 3 are proposed in electronic form only, and areavailable from the CDS, via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (to130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/Abstract.html
| Large-scale shocks and star-formation bursts in barred galaxies.
Not Available
| An Einstein X-Ray Survey of Optically Selected Galaxies. I. Data
We present the results of a complete Einstein imaging proportionalcounter X-ray survey of optically selected galaxies from theShapley-Ames Catalog, the Uppsala General Catalogue, and the EuropeanSouthern Observatory Catalog. Well-defined optical criteria are used toselect the galaxies, and X-ray fluxes are measured at the opticallydefined positions. The result is a comprehensive list of X-ray detectionand upper limit measurements for 1018 galaxies. Of these, 827 haveeither independent distance estimates or radial velocities. Associatedoptical, redshift, and distance data have been assembled for thesegalaxies, and their distances come from a combination of directlypredicted distances and those predicted from the Faber-Burstein GreatAttractor/Virgocentric infall model. The accuracy of the X-ray fluxeshas been checked in three different ways; all are consistent with thederived X-ray fluxes being of <=0.1 dex accuracy. In particular,there is agreement with previously published X-ray fluxes for galaxiesin common with a 1991 study by Roberts et al. and a 1992 study byFabbiano et al. The data presented here will be used in further studiesto characterize the X-ray output of galaxies of various morphologicaltypes and thus to enable the determination of the major sourcescontributing to the X-ray emission from galaxies.
| Homogeneous Velocity-Distance Data for Peculiar Velocity Analysis. III. The Mark III Catalog of Galaxy Peculiar Velocities
This is the third in a series of papers in which we assemble and analyzea homogeneous catalog of peculiar velocity data. In Papers I and II, wedescribed the Tully-Fisher (TF) redshift-distance samples thatconstitute the bulk of the catalog and our methodology for obtainingmutually consistent TF calibrations for these samples. In this paper, wesupply further technical details of the treatment of the data andpresent a subset of the catalog in tabular form. The full catalog, knownas the Mark III Catalog of Galaxy Peculiar Velocities, is available inaccessible on-line databases, as described herein. The electroniccatalog incorporates not only the TF samples discussed in Papers I andII but also elliptical galaxy Dn- sigma samples originally presentedelsewhere. The relative zero pointing of the elliptical and spiral datasets is discussed here. The basic elements of the Mark III Catalog arethe observables for each object (redshift, magnitude, velocity width,etc.) and inferred distances derived from the TF or Dn- sigma relations.Distances obtained from both the forward and inverse TF relations aretabulated for the spirals. Malmquist bias--corrected distances arecomputed for each catalog object using density fields obtained from theIRAS 1.2 Jy redshift survey. Distances for both individual objects andgroups are provided. A variety of auxiliary data, including distancesand local densities predicted from the IRAS redshift surveyreconstruction method, are tabulated as well. We study the distributionsof TF residuals for three of our samples and conclude that they are wellapproximated as Gaussian. However, for the Mathewson et al. sample wedemonstrate a significant decrease in TF scatter with increasingvelocity width. We test for, but find no evidence of, a correlationbetween TF residuals and galaxy morphology. Finally, we derivetransformations that map the apparent magnitude and velocity width datafor each spiral sample onto a common system. This permits theapplication of analysis methods that assume that a unique TF relationdescribes the entire sample.
| Lopsided Spiral Galaxies and a Limit on the Galaxy Accretion Rate
We present a measurement of lopsidedness for the stellar disks of 60field spiral galaxies in terms of the azimuthal m = 1 Fourier amplitude,A1, of the stellar light. We confirm the previous result (Rix &Zaritsky) that ~30% of field spiral galaxies in a magnitude-limitedsample exhibit significant lopsidedness ( >= 0.2) atlarge radii (R > 1.5 disk scalelengths). We conjecture that thislopsidedness is caused by tidal interactions and calculate an upperlimit on the accretion rate of small galaxies. We exploit thecorrelation between lopsidedness and photometric measures of recent starformation (Zaritsky) to obtain two independent estimates of the lifetimeof these m = 1 distortions. First, we show that lopsided galaxies havean excess of blue luminosity relative to that of symmetric galaxies withthe same H I linewidth, which we attribute to a recent star formationepisode that was triggered by an interaction between the galaxy and acompanion. We use stellar population models (Bruzual & Charlot) toestimate the time since that interaction. Second, we use the N-bodysimulation of an infalling satellite by Walker, Mihos, & Hernquistto estimate how fast tidally induced m = 1 distortions are erasedthrough phase mixing. Both approaches indicate that the observations areconsistent with a hypothesized tidal interaction that occurred about 1Gyr ago for galaxies that are lopsided at the 20% level. By combiningthis lifetime estimate for lopsidedness, the observed frequency of suchdistortions, and a correction to the survey volume that depends on theincrease in luminosity during an interaction, we derive an upper limiton the current companion accretion rate of field spiral galaxies (forcompanion masses ~10% parent galaxy mass) that lies in the range0.07--0.25 Gyr-1. The principal uncertainty in this limit arises fromambiguities in the interpretation of the correlation betweenlopsidedness and MB.
| Optical Rotation Curves and Linewidths for Tully-Fisher Applications
Abstract image available at:http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?1997AJ....114.2402C&db_key=AST
| Scaleheights of 486 southern spiral galaxies and some statistical correlation
Based on Peng's method (1988), we obtain scaleheights of 486 southernspiral galaxies, the images of which are taken from the Digitized SkySurvey at Xinglong Station of Beijing Astronomical Observatory. Thefitted spiral arms of 70 galaxies are compared with their images to gettheir optimum inclinations. The scaleheights of other 416 ones arelisted in Table A1 in Appendix. After compiling and analyzing the data,we find some statistical correlations. The most interesting results arethat a flatter galaxy is bluer and looks brighter, and galaxies becomeflatter along the Hubble sequence Sab -- Scd. Based on photographic dataof the National Geographic Society -- Palomar Observatory Sky Survey(NGS-POSS) obtained using the Oschin Telescope Palomar Mountain. TheNGS-POSS was funded by a grant from the National Geographic Society tothe California Institute of Technology. The plates were processed intothe present compressed digital form with their permission. The DigitizedSky Survey was produced at the Space Telescope Science Institute underUS Government grant NAG W-2166. Table A1 is available in electronic fromonly, via anonymous ftp 130.79.128.5 orhttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/Abstract.html
| Influence of a partial incompleteness of the sample on the determination of the Hubble constant.
This paper presents a study of the Malmquist bias effect in thedetermination of the Hubble constant from the method of "sosies"(look-alike) galaxies. It is shown that a bias appears when a partialincompleteness exists in the sample. A new method, based on the use ofthe completeness curve, is proposed to correct for such a bias. Afterthis correction, the Hubble constant drops of about 20% just because ofthe existence of the partial incompleteness. From the present resultsand on the acceptance of the distance modulus of primary calibrators,the value of the Hubble constant would be: H_0_=~60km/s/Mpc with aninternal statistical error of about 2km/s/Mpc.
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