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Ultraluminous X-Ray Sources in Nearby Galaxies from ROSAT High Resolution Imager Observations I. Data Analysis
X-ray observations have revealed in other galaxies a class ofextranuclear X-ray point sources with X-ray luminosities of1039-1041 ergs s-1, exceeding theEddington luminosity for stellar mass X-ray binaries. Theseultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) may be powered by intermediate-massblack holes of a few thousand Msolar or stellar mass blackholes with special radiation processes. In this paper, we present asurvey of ULXs in 313 nearby galaxies withD25>1' within 40 Mpc with 467 ROSAT HighResolution Imager (HRI) archival observations. The HRI observations arereduced with uniform procedures, refined by simulations that help definethe point source detection algorithm employed in this survey. A sampleof 562 extragalactic X-ray point sources withLX=1038-1043 ergs s-1 isextracted from 173 survey galaxies, including 106 ULX candidates withinthe D25 isophotes of 63 galaxies and 110 ULX candidatesbetween 1D25 and 2D25 of 64 galaxies, from which aclean sample of 109 ULXs is constructed to minimize the contaminationfrom foreground or background objects. The strong connection betweenULXs and star formation is confirmed based on the striking preference ofULXs to occur in late-type galaxies, especially in star-forming regionssuch as spiral arms. ULXs are variable on timescales over days to yearsand exhibit a variety of long term variability patterns. Theidentifications of ULXs in the clean sample show some ULXs identified assupernovae (remnants), H II regions/nebulae, or young massive stars instar-forming regions, and a few other ULXs identified as old globularclusters. In a subsequent paper, the statistic properties of the surveywill be studied to calculate the occurrence frequencies and luminosityfunctions for ULXs in different types of galaxies to shed light on thenature of these enigmatic sources.
| 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.
| Dark halo properties from rotation curves
We study a large set of high spatial resolution optical rotation curvesof galaxies with the goal of determining the model parameters for a discembedded within a cold dark matter (CDM) halo, which we model witheither a Navarro-Frenk-White (NFW) profile or pseudo-isothermal profile.We show that parameter degeneracies present in lower resolution data arelifted at these higher resolutions. 34 per cent of the galaxies do nothave a meaningful fit when using the NFW profile and 32 per cent whenusing the pseudo-isothermal profile, however only 14 per cent do nothave a meaningful fit in either model. In both models we findcorrelations between the disc baryon fraction fd and the spinparameter of the halo λ', between fd and the dark halomass M200, and between M200 and the concentrationparameter c. We show that the distribution of the concentrationparameter c, for a NFW halo, is in good agreement with CDM predictions;no significant galaxy population is found with very low values of c. Theoverall distribution of λ' is in good agreement with theoreticalpredictions from hierarchical tidal torque theory. The whole sample isalso well fitted by a pseudo-isothermal dark halo with a core, but thesize of the core is rather small (6 per cent of the virial radius orsmaller; for 70 per cent of the sample the core size is less than 2kpc). Thus we conclude that the profile of dark matter is steep(r-1 or steeper) down to this radius; large dark matter cores(and therefore very low dark matter central densities) seem to beexcluded. Low-surface-brightness galaxies tend to have higher values ofλ' for a given fd and lower values of c for a givenmass than high-surface-brightness galaxies. In an appendix we give someuseful formulae for pseudo-isothermal profile haloes and we discuss indetail the issue of parameter degeneracies.
| X-Ray Emission from a Sample of Young Supernovae
When a massive star produces a powerful stellar wind prior to itssupernova event, theory predicts that the collision of the explodedstellar ejecta with the wind leads to a reverse shock, creating softX-ray emission. To understand the frequency at which luminous youngX-ray supernovae occur, we used ROSAT to observe a complete sample ofnearby supernovae (vhelio<1700 km s-1) thatoccurred in the period 1985.5 through 1994.3, which included eight TypeIa supernovae and 19 Type Ib and Type II events. Three supernovae aredetected in this time frame, SN 1987A (LMC), SN 1993J (NGC 3031), and apreviously unreported source, SN 1992ad, a Type II supernova in NGC4411b. No supernova had 0.5-2 keV luminosities exceeding2×1039 ergs s-1, so at the 95% confidencelevel, the probability of an individual supernova exceeding thisluminosity limit is less than 12%. Two of these supernovae hadluminosities brighter than 6×1038 ergs s-1and at the 95% confidence level, the probability of a supernova beingdetected above this luminosity is in the range 8.7%-51%. It is unlikelyfor young supernovae to be a large component of the IntermediateLuminosity X-Ray Object (IXO or ULX) class, where the luminosity exceeds2×1039 ergs s-1. The rate of successfuldetections appears to increase for sensitivities in the 1037ergs s-1 range, especially when obtained close to the time ofthe event.
| Cosmological Results from High-z Supernovae
The High-z Supernova Search Team has discovered and observed eight newsupernovae in the redshift interval z=0.3-1.2. These independentobservations, analyzed by similar but distinct methods, confirm theresults of Riess and Perlmutter and coworkers that supernova luminositydistances imply an accelerating universe. More importantly, they extendthe redshift range of consistently observed Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia)to z~1, where the signature of cosmological effects has the oppositesign of some plausible systematic effects. Consequently, thesemeasurements not only provide another quantitative confirmation of theimportance of dark energy, but also constitute a powerful qualitativetest for the cosmological origin of cosmic acceleration. We find a ratefor SN Ia of(1.4+/-0.5)×10-4h3Mpc-3yr-1at a mean redshift of 0.5. We present distances and host extinctions for230 SN Ia. These place the following constraints on cosmologicalquantities: if the equation of state parameter of the dark energy isw=-1, then H0t0=0.96+/-0.04, andΩΛ-1.4ΩM=0.35+/-0.14. Includingthe constraint of a flat universe, we findΩM=0.28+/-0.05, independent of any large-scalestructure measurements. Adopting a prior based on the Two Degree Field(2dF) Redshift Survey constraint on ΩM and assuming aflat universe, we find that the equation of state parameter of the darkenergy lies in the range -1.48-1, we obtain w<-0.73 at 95% confidence.These constraints are similar in precision and in value to recentresults reported using the WMAP satellite, also in combination with the2dF Redshift Survey.Based in part on observations 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 (AURA), Inc.,under NASA contract NAS 5-26555. This research is primarily associatedwith proposal GO-8177, but also uses and reports results from proposalsGO-7505, 7588, 8641, and 9118.Based in part on observations taken with the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, operated by the National Research Council of Canada, le Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique de France, and the University of Hawaii. CTIO: Based in part on observations taken at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory.Keck: Some of the data presented herein were obtained at the W. M. KeckObservatory, which is operated as a scientific partnership among theCalifornia Institute of Technology, the University of California, and theNational Aeronautics and Space Administration. The Observatory was madepossible by the generous financial support of the W. M. Keck Foundation.UH: Based in part on observations with the University of Hawaii 2.2 mtelescope at Mauna Kea Observatory, Institute for Astronomy, University ofHawaii. UKIRT: Based in part on observations with the United KingdomInfrared Telescope (UKIRT) operated by the Joint Astronomy Centre on behalfof the UK. Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council. VLT: Based inpart on observations obtained at the European Southern Observatory,Paranal, Chile, under programs ESO 64.O-0391 and ESO 64.O-0404. WIYN: Based in part on observations taken at the WIYN Observatory, a joint facility of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Indiana University, Yale University, and the National Optical Astronomy Observatories.
| The IRAS Revised Bright Galaxy Sample
IRAS flux densities, redshifts, and infrared luminosities are reportedfor all sources identified in the IRAS Revised Bright Galaxy Sample(RBGS), a complete flux-limited survey of all extragalactic objects withtotal 60 μm flux density greater than 5.24 Jy, covering the entiresky surveyed by IRAS at Galactic latitudes |b|>5°. The RBGS includes629 objects, with median and mean sample redshifts of 0.0082 and 0.0126,respectively, and a maximum redshift of 0.0876. The RBGS supersedes theprevious two-part IRAS Bright Galaxy Samples(BGS1+BGS2), which were compiled before the final(Pass 3) calibration of the IRAS Level 1 Archive in 1990 May. The RBGSalso makes use of more accurate and consistent automated methods tomeasure the flux of objects with extended emission. The RBGS contains 39objects that were not present in the BGS1+BGS2,and 28 objects from the BGS1+BGS2 have beendropped from RBGS because their revised 60 μm flux densities are notgreater than 5.24 Jy. Comparison of revised flux measurements forsources in both surveys shows that most flux differences are in therange ~5%-25%, although some faint sources at 12 and 25 μm differ byas much as a factor of 2. Basic properties of the RBGS sources aresummarized, including estimated total infrared luminosities, as well asupdates to cross identifications with sources from optical galaxycatalogs established using the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database. Inaddition, an atlas of images from the Digitized Sky Survey with overlaysof the IRAS position uncertainty ellipse and annotated scale bars isprovided for ease in visualizing the optical morphology in context withthe angular and metric size of each object. The revised bolometricinfrared luminosity function, φ(Lir), forinfrared-bright galaxies in the local universe remains best fit by adouble power law, φ(L)~Lα, withα=-0.6(+/-0.1) and α=-2.2(+/-0.1) below and above the``characteristic'' infrared luminosityL*ir~1010.5Lsolar,respectively. A companion paper provides IRAS High Resolution (HIRES)processing of over 100 RBGS sources where improved spatial resolutionoften provides better IRAS source positions or allows for deconvolutionof close galaxy pairs.
| A Search for Active Galactic Nuclei in Sc Galaxies with H II Spectra
We have searched for nuclear radio emission from a statisticallycomplete sample of 40 Sc galaxies within 30 Mpc that are opticallyclassified as star-forming objects, in order to determine whether weakactive galactic nuclei might be present. Only three nuclear radiosources were detected, in NGC 864, NGC 4123, and NGC 4535. Thesegalaxies have peak 6 cm radio powers of ~1020 WHz-1 at arcsecond resolution, while upper limits of thenondetected galaxies typically range from 1018.4 to1020 W Hz-1. The three nuclear radio sources areall resolved and appear to have diffuse morphologies, with linear sizesof ~300 pc. This strongly indicates that circumnuclear star formationhas been detected in these three H II galaxies. Comparisons withprevious 20 cm Very Large Array (VLA) results for the detected galaxiesshow that the extended nuclear radio emission has a flat spectrum in twoobjects and is almost certainly generated by thermal emission from gasionized by young stars in the centers of those galaxies. The 6 cm radiopowers are comparable to predictions for thermal emission that are basedon the nuclear Hα luminosities and imply nuclear star formationrates of 0.08-0.8 Msolar yr-1, while thelow-resolution NRAO VLA Sky Survey implies galaxy-wide star formationrates of 0.3-1.0 Msolar yr-1 in stars above 5Msolar. In a few of the undetected galaxies, the upper limitsto the radio power are lower than predicted from the Hαluminosity, possibly because of overresolution of central star-formingregions. Although the presence of active nuclei powered by massive blackholes cannot be definitively ruled out, the present results suggest thatthey are likely to be rare in these late-type galaxies with H IIspectra.
| 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.
| 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.
| Rotation curves and metallicity gradients from HII regions in spiral galaxies
In this paper we study long slit spectra in the region of Hαemission line of a sample of 111 spiral galaxies with recognizable andwell defined spiral morphology and with a well determined environmentalstatus, ranging from isolation to non-disruptive interaction withsatellites or companions. The form and properties of the rotation curvesare considered as a function of the isolation degree, morphological typeand luminosity. The line ratios are used to estimate the metallicity ofall the detected HII regions, thus producing a composite metallicityprofile for different types of spirals. We have found that isolatedgalaxies tend to be of later types and lower luminosity than theinteracting galaxies. The outer parts of the rotation curves of isolatedgalaxies tend to be flatter than in interacting galaxies, but they showsimilar relations between global parameters. The scatter of theTully-Fisher relation defined by isolated galaxies is significantlylower than that of interacting galaxies. The [NII]/Hα ratios, usedas a metallicity indicator, show a clear trend between Z andmorphological type, t, with earlier spirals showing higher ratios; thistrend is tighter when instead of t the gradient of the inner rotationcurve, G, is used; no trend is found with the change in interactionstatus. The Z-gradient of the disks depends on the type, being almostflat for early spirals, and increasing for later types. The[NII]/Hα ratios measured for disk HII regions of interactinggalaxies are higher than for normal/isolated objects, even if all thegalaxy families present similar distributions of Hα EquivalentWidth. Tables 3 and 4 and Figs. 6, 7 and 21 are only available inelectronic form at http://www.edpsciences.org. Table 5 is only availablein electronic form at the CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr(130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/393/389 Based on dataobtained Asiago/Ekar Observatory. Also based on observations made withINT operated on the island of La Palma by ING in the SpanishObservatorio del Roque de Los Muchachos of the Instituto deAstrofísica de Canarias.
| Local velocity field from sosie galaxies. I. The Peebles' model
Pratton et al. (1997) showed that the velocity field around clusterscould generate an apparent distortion that appears as tangentialstructures or radial filaments. In the present paper we determine theparameters of the Peebles' model (1976) describing infall of galaxiesonto clusters with the aim of testing quantitatively the amplitude ofthis distortion. The distances are determined from the concept of sosiegalaxies (Paturel 1984) using 21 calibrators for which the distanceswere recently calculated from two independent Cepheid calibrations. Weuse both B and I-band magnitudes. The Spaenhauer diagram method is usedto correct for the Malmquist bias. We give the equations for theconstruction of this diagram. We analyze the apparent Hubble constant indifferent regions around Virgo and obtain simultaneously the Local Groupinfall and the unperturbed Hubble constant. We found:[VLG-infall = 208 ± 9 km s-1] [\log H =1.82 ± 0.04 (H ≈ 66 ± 6 km s-1Mpc-1).] The front side and backside infalls can be seenaround Virgo and Fornax. In the direction of Virgo the comparison ismade with the Peebles' model. We obtain: [vinfall} =CVirgo/r0.9 ± 0.2] withCVirgo=2800 for Virgo and CFornax=1350 for Fornax,with the adopted units (km s-1 and Mpc). We obtain thefollowing mean distance moduli: [μVirgo=31.3 ± 0.2(r=18 Mpc )] [μFornax=31.7 ± 0.3 (r=22 Mpc). ] Allthese quantities form an accurate and coherent system. Full Table 2 isonly available 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/393/57
| The formation of galaxy bulges: Spectrophotometric constraints
We have measured Mg2, Fe 5270 and Fe 5335 spectrophotometricindices (LICK system) in the bulge of 89 galaxies, mostly spirals fromthe Héraudeau (\cite{her96}) sample. The indices are reduced to anull velocity dispersion and normalized to an aperture of 0.2h-1 kpc. The mean errors are 0.009 mag on Mg2, and0.3 Å on the iron indices. These measurements almost double theamount of similar data already available on spiral galaxies. Our dataconfirm the existence of the relation between Mg2, andsigma0, the central stellar velocity dispersion; we find aneven tighter relation between Mg2, andVmrot, the maximum rotational velocity of thegalaxy, deduced from HI observations. For the most massive bulges, thesecorrelations may be interpreted as a mass-metallicity relation. However,the presence of young stellar populations, traced by the detection of[OIII] lambda 5007 Å, emission, provides clear evidence that ageeffects do play a role. Since the contribution of the young populationis anti-correlated to the mass of the galaxy, it continues theMg2, vs. sigma0 , relation toward thelow-sigma0, region and globally increases its slope. We alsopresent evidence for a new positive correlation between Fe indices andsigma0, and for a significant correlation between theline-strength indices and the total or disk luminosity. We propose tomodel the whole sequence of bulges within the folowing framework: bulgesare composed of a primary population formed prior to the disk, duringthe initial collapse, and of a secondary population formed during itsevolution. The whole family of bulges can be classified into threeclasses: (A) the bulges dominated by young populations are generallysmall, have ionized gas, low velocity dispersion and low line strengths;(B) the bulges dominated by the primary population lie along themass-metallicity sequence defined for elliptical galaxies; and (C) thebulges where the secondary population is significant are lessMg-over-abundant than (B)-type bulges and deviate from theMg2, vs. sigma0, relation of elliptical galaxies.Based on observations collected at the Observatoire de Haute-Provence.Table 3 is presented in electronic form only at the CDS. Tables 1 and 2are also available form at the CDS, Strasbourg, via anonymous ftp tocdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/366/68
| A ROSAT High Resolution Imager survey of bright nearby galaxies
We use the extensive public archive of ROSAT High Resolution Imager(HRI) observations to carry out a statistical investigation of the X-rayproperties of nearby galaxies. Specifically we focus on the sample of486 bright (BT<=12.5) northern galaxies studied by Ho,Filippenko and Sargent (HFS) in the context of their exploration of theoptical spectroscopic properties of nearby galactic nuclei. Over 20percent of HFS galaxies are encompassed in ROSAT HRI fields of reasonable(>=10ks) exposure. The X-ray sources detected within the opticalextent of each galaxy are categorized as either nuclear or non-nuclear,depending on whether the source is positioned within or outside a25-arcsec radius circle centred on the optical nucleus. A nuclear X-raysource is detected in over 70per cent of the galaxies harbouring eithera Seyfert or LINER nucleus, compared with a detection rate of only~40per cent in less active systems. The correlation of the Hαluminosity with nuclear X-ray luminosity previously observed in QSOs andbright Seyfert 1 galaxies appears to extend down into the regime ofultra-low luminosity(LX~1038-1040ergs-1) activegalactic nuclei (AGN). The inferred accretion rates for this sample oflow-luminosity AGN are significantly sub-Eddington. In total, 142non-nuclear sources were detected. In combination with published datafor M31, this leads to a luminosity distribution (normalized to anoptical blue luminosity of 1010Lsolar) for thediscrete X-ray source population in spiral galaxies of the formdN/dL38 = (1.0 ± 0.2)L-1.838where L38 is the X-ray luminosity in units of1038ergs-1. The implied LXLBratio is ~1.1×1039ergs-1(1010Lsolar)-1. The nature ofthe substantial number of `superluminous' non-nuclear objects detectedin the survey is discussed.
| The Canarias Database of Nearby Type II Supernovae
Our aim is to present an atlas containing 35 low-resolution spectra thatcorrespond to 19 Type II supernovae. These spectra cover differentphases of postmaximum supernova evolution, ranging from ~2 weeks to>~1 yr after maximum brightness. The Canarias Database of Nearby TypeII Supernovae contains spectra obtained from two different programs: thefirst, the ``Supernova Monitoring Project,'' was carried out from 1990April to 1992 July; the second takes advantage of the ORM Service Timefacility and is currently active. In this paper we present the firstresults, mainly compiled from the Supernova Monitoring Project. Based onobservations made with the 2.5 m Isaac Newton Telescope and the 4.2 mWilliam Herschel Telescope operated on La Palma by the Isaac NewtonGroups of Telescopes at Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos of theInstituto de Astrofísica de Canarias.
| The QDOT all-sky IRAS galaxy redshift survey
We describe the construction of the QDOT survey, which is publiclyavailable from an anonymous FTP account. The catalogue consists ofinfrared properties and redshifts of an all-sky sample of 2387 IRASgalaxies brighter than the IRAS PSC 60-μm completeness limit(S_60>0.6Jy), sparsely sampled at a rate of one-in-six. At |b|>10deg, after removing a small number of Galactic sources, the redshiftcompleteness is better than 98per cent (2086/2127). New redshifts for1401 IRAS sources were obtained to complete the catalogue; themeasurement and reduction of these are described, and the new redshiftstabulated here. We also tabulate all sources at |b|>10 deg with noredshift so far, and sources with conflicting alternative redshiftseither from our own work, or from published velocities. A list of 95ultraluminous galaxies (i.e. with L_60μm>10^12 L_solar) is alsoprovided. Of these, ~20per cent are AGN of some kind; the broad-lineobjects typically show strong Feii emission. Since the publication ofthe first QDOT papers, there have been several hundred velocity changes:some velocities are new, some QDOT velocities have been replaced by moreaccurate values, and some errors have been corrected. We also present anew analysis of the accuracy and linearity of IRAS 60-μm fluxes. Wefind that the flux uncertainties are well described by a combination of0.05-Jy fixed size uncertainty and 8per cent fractional uncertainty.This is not enough to cause the large Malmquist-type errors in the rateof evolution postulated by Fisher et al. We do, however, find marginalevidence for non-linearity in the PSC 60-μm flux scale, in the sensethat faint sources may have fluxes overestimated by about 5per centcompared with bright sources. We update some of the previous scientificanalyses to assess the changes. The main new results are as follows. (1)The luminosity function is very well determined overall but is uncertainby a factor of several at the very highest luminosities(L_60μm>5x10^12L_solar), as this is where the remainingunidentified objects are almost certainly concentrated. (2) Thebest-fitting rate of evolution is somewhat lower than our previousestimate; expressed as pure density evolution with density varying as(1+z)^p, we find p=5.6+/-2.3. Making a rough correction for the possible(but very uncertain) non-linearity of fluxes, we find p=4.5+/-2.3. (3)The dipole amplitude decreases a little, and the implied value of thedensity parameter, assuming that IRAS galaxies trace the mass, isΩ=0.9(+0.45, -0.25). (4) Finally, the estimate of density varianceon large scales changes negligibly, still indicating a significantdiscrepancy from the predictions of simple cold dark matter cosmogonies.
| Arcsecond Positions of UGC Galaxies
We present accurate B1950 and J2000 positions for all confirmed galaxiesin the Uppsala General Catalog (UGC). The positions were measuredvisually from Digitized Sky Survey images with rms uncertaintiesσ<=[(1.2")2+(θ/100)2]1/2,where θ is the major-axis diameter. We compared each galaxymeasured with the original UGC description to ensure high reliability.The full position list is available in the electronic version only.
| An Infrared Search for Extinguished Supernovae in Starburst Galaxies
IR and radio-band observations of heavily extinguished regions instarburst galaxies suggest a high supernova (SN) rate associated withsuch regions. Optically measured SN rates may therefore underestimatethe total SN rate by factors of up to 10, as a result of the very highextinction (A_B~10-20 mag) to core-collapse SNe in starburst regions.The IR/radio SN rates come from a variety of indirect means, however,which suffer from model dependence and other problems. We describe adirect measurement of the SN rate from a regular patrol of starburstgalaxies done with K'-band imaging to minimize the effects ofextinction. A collection of K'-band measurements of core-collapse SNenear maximum light is presented. Such measurements (excluding 1987A) arenot well reported in the literature. Results of a preliminary K'-bandsearch, using the MIRC camera at the Wyoming Infrared Observatory and animproved search strategy using the new ORCA optics, are described. Amonthly patrol of a sample of IRAS bright (mostly starburst) galaxieswithin 25 Mpc should yield 1-6 SNe yr^-1, corresponding to the range ofestimated SN rates. Our initial MIRC search with low resolution (2.2"pixels) failed to find extinguished SNe in the IRAS galaxies, limitingthe SN rate outside the nucleus (at greater than 15" radius) to lessthan 3.8 far-IR SN rate units (SNe per century per 10^10 L_solarmeasured at 60 and 100 mum, or FIRSRU) at 90% confidence. The MIRCcamera had insufficient resolution to search nuclear starburst regions,where starburst and SN activity is concentrated; therefore, we wereunable to rigorously test the hypothesis of high SN rates in heavilyobscured star-forming regions. We conclude that high-resolution nuclearSN searches in starburst galaxies with small fields are more productivethan low-resolution, large-field searches, even for our sample of large(often several arcminutes) galaxies. With our ORCA high-resolutionoptics, we could limit the total SN rate to less than 1.3 FIRSRU at 90%confidence in 3 years of observations, lower than most estimates.
| Stellar kinematic data for the central region of spiral galaxies. II.
We present a second dataset of absorption spectroscopy on the innerregion of spiral galaxies. We have determined the central velocitydispersion for 42 Sa-Sc objects and, for 32 of them, stellar rotationcurves and velocity-dispersion profiles. Some of these profiles arelimited to the bulge, some others do reach a region dominated by theluminosity of the disk. These data are intended to provide basicmaterial for the study of the mass distribution and dynamical status inthe central regions of spiral galaxies. Although no elaboratebulge-and-disk photometric decomposition is performed, we estimate theeffects of limited resolution and contamination by disk light on thecentral velocity dispersion of the bulge. All the material presented inthis paper, in particular the spectra, is available on-line. Based onobservations collected at the Observatoire de Haute-Provence. Tables 2and 3 are presented in electronic form only; Tables 1 through 3 areavailable from the CDS, Strasbourg, via anonymous ftp tocdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/Abstract.html
| 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.
| 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
| Infrared and optical spectroscopy of Type IA supernovae in the nebular phase
We present near-infrared (NIR) spectra for Type Ia supernovae at epochsof 13 to 338d after maximum blue light. Some contemporary opticalspectra are also shown. All the NIR spectra exhibit considerablestructure throughout the J, H and K bands. In particular, they exhibit aflux `deficit' in the J band which persists as late as 175d. This isresponsible for the well-known red J-H colour. To identify the emissionfeatures and test the ^56Ni hypothesis for the explosion and subsequentlight curve, we compare the NIR and optical nebular-phase data with asimple non-LTE nebular spectral model. We find that many of the spectralfeatures are due to iron-group elements, and that the J-band deficit isdue to a lack of emission lines from species that dominate the rest ofthe IR/optical spectrum. Nevertheless, some emission is unaccounted for,possibly due to inaccuracies in the cobalt atomic data. For somesupernovae, blueshifts of 1000-3000 km s^-1 are seen in infrared andoptical features at 3 months. We suggest that this is due to clumping inthe ejecta. The evolution of the cobalt/iron mass ratio indicates that^56Co-decay dominates the abundances of these elements. The absolutemasses of iron-group elements which we derive support the basicthermonuclear explosion scenario for Type Ia supernovae. A core-collapseorigin is less consistent with our data.
| A Search for ``Dwarf'' Seyfert Nuclei. III. Spectroscopic Parameters and Properties of the Host Galaxies
We have completed an optical spectroscopic survey of the nuclear regions(r <~ 200 pc) of a large sample of nearby galaxies. Although the mainobjectives of the survey are to search for low-luminosity activegalactic nuclei and to quantify their luminosity function, the databasecan be used for a variety of other purposes. This paper presentsmeasurements of the spectroscopic parameters for the 418 emission-linenuclei, along with a compilation of the global properties of all 486galaxies in the survey. Stellar absorption generally poses a seriousobstacle to obtaining accurate measurement of emission lines in nearbygalactic nuclei. We describe a procedure for removing the starlight fromthe observed spectra in an efficient and objective manner. The mainparameters of the emission lines (intensity ratios, fluxes, profilewidths, and equivalent widths) are measured and tabulated, as areseveral stellar absorption-line and continuum indices useful forstudying the stellar population. Using standard nebular diagnostics, wedetermine the probable ionization mechanisms of the emission-lineobjects. The resulting spectral classifications provide extensiveinformation on the demographics of emission-line nuclei in the nearbyregions of the universe. This new catalog contains over 200 objectsshowing spectroscopic evidence for recent star formation and an equallylarge number of active galactic nuclei, including 46 that show broad Halpha emission. These samples will serve as the basis of future studiesof nuclear activity in nearby 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.
| Galaxies with a UV excess in which supernovae have been observed.
Not Available
| 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
| The statistics analysis of recent supernovae.
Not Available
| Deep r-Band Photometry for Northern Spiral Galaxies
We present r-band surface photometry for 349 northern Sb-Sc UGCgalaxies, from a total of 627 CCD images. For each galaxy, we presentsurface brightness profiles, isophotal and total magnitudes, isophotalradii, and structural parameters from exponential fits to the disk. Onehundred ninety-five galaxies have been observed more than once. Allnights with a photometric transformation scatter greater than 0.022 magwere rejected. Sky errors are investigated carefully and yield profilesthat are reliable down to 26 r mag arcsec^-2^, Deep isophotal magnitudesare as accurate as +/-0.019, and extrapolated magnitudes are internallyconsistent to within 0.020. We compare visual (UGC) and CCD isophotaldiameters and show that axial ratio must be included as a thirdparameter. Comparison with the r-band CCD photometry of Kent andWillick, and accounting for sky errors, suggest typical errors for totalmagnitudes of +/-0.08. Our data are also shown to be zero-pointed on thesame Gunn r system as that of Kent and Willick. Ellipticity measurementsagree very well except for progressively face-on galaxies where spiralstructure is more conspicuous. The ellipticity internal error is lessthan 0.02, or about 3^deg^ for inclinations. Our internal extinctioncorrection implies that disks are semitransparent in their outer parts.We caution that comparison of central surface brightnesses and scalelengths is complicated by the subjective nature of their measurement;extreme care must be applied when using such quantities. We measure anapparent Freeman law of (μ_0,c_) = 20.08 +/- 0.55 r mag arcsec^-2^.This magnitude-limited sample was originally derived for studies oflarge-scale motions in the local universe. The deep CCD photometry isalso ideally suited for matching spectroscopic studies, mass modeling,galaxy structural analysis, etc.
| Constraining the Ages of Supernova Progenitors. I. Supernovae and Spiral Arms
We present the first results of a three-part study of supernova (SN)ages using positional age indicators in spiral galaxies. We havemeasured the positions of 90 Spectroscopically identified Type Ia andType II SNs (SNs Ia and SNs II) relative to spiral arms in their hostgalaxies, making a special effort to reduce inhomogeneity in the processof arm tracing for different galaxies. We find that SNs II are moretightly concentrated to the arms than SNs Ia, but both kinds of SNsoccur closer to arms than a random disk population. However, whencompared with the distribution of V and I light relative to the arms,the SNs Ia are no more tightly concentrated than the general stellarpopulation. This indicates that SNs Ia occur in a population old enoughto have diffused away from their formation regions.
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