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Magnetic Fields in Starburst Galaxies and the Origin of the FIR-Radio Correlation We estimate minimum energy magnetic fields (Bmin) for asample of galaxies with measured gas surface densities, spanning morethan four orders of magnitude in surface density, from normal spirals toluminous starbursts. We show that the ratio of the minimum energymagnetic pressure to the total pressure in the ISM decreasessubstantially with increasing surface density. For the ultraluminousinfrared galaxy Arp 220, this ratio is ~10-4. Therefore, ifthe minimum energy estimate is applicable, magnetic fields in starburstsare dynamically weak compared to gravity, in contrast to normalstar-forming spiral galaxies. We argue, however, that rapid cooling ofrelativistic electrons in starbursts invalidates the minimum energyestimate. We assess a number of independent constraints on the magneticfield strength in starburst galaxies. In particular, we argue that theexistence of the FIR-radio correlation implies that the synchrotroncooling timescale for cosmic-ray electrons is much shorter than theirescape time from the galactic disk; this in turn implies that the truemagnetic field in starbursts is significantly larger thanBmin. The strongest argument against such large fields isthat one might expect starbursts to have steep radio spectra indicativeof strong synchrotron cooling, which is not observed. However, we showthat ionization and bremsstrahlung losses can flatten the nonthermalspectra of starburst galaxies even in the presence of rapid cooling,providing much better agreement with observed spectra. We furtherdemonstrate that ionization and bremsstrahlung losses are likely to beimportant in shaping the radio spectra of most starbursts at GHzfrequencies, thereby preserving the linearity of the FIR-radiocorrelation. We thus conclude that magnetic fields in starbursts aresignificantly larger than Bmin. We highlight severalobservations that can test this conclusion.
| Low-Luminosity Active Galaxies and Their Central Black Holes Central black hole masses for 117 spiral galaxies representingmorphological stages S0/a through Sc and taken from the largespectroscopic survey of Ho et al. are derived using Ks-banddata from the Two Micron All Sky Survey. Black hole masses are foundusing a calibrated black hole-Ks bulge luminosity relation,while bulge luminosities are measured by means of a two-dimensionalbulge-disk decomposition routine. The black hole masses are correlatedagainst a variety of parameters representing properties of the nucleusand host galaxy. Nuclear properties such as line width (FWHM [N II]), aswell as emission-line ratios (e.g., [O III]/Hβ, [O I]/Hα, [NII]/Hα, and [S II]/Hα), show a very high degree ofcorrelation with black hole mass. The excellent correlation with linewidth supports the view that the emission-line gas is in virialequilibrium with either the black hole or bulge potential. The very goodemission-line ratio correlations may indicate a change in ionizingcontinuum shape with black hole mass in the sense that more massiveblack holes generate harder spectra. Apart from theinclination-corrected rotational velocity, no excellent correlations arefound between black hole mass and host galaxy properties. Significantdifferences are found between the distributions of black hole masses inearly-, mid-, and late-type spiral galaxies (subsamples A, B, and C) inthe sense that early-type galaxies have preferentially larger centralblack holes, consistent with observations that Seyfert galaxies arefound preferentially in early-type systems. The line width distributionsshow a marked difference among subsamples A, B, and C in the sense thatearlier type galaxies have larger line widths. There are also cleardifferences in line ratios between subsamples A+B and C that likely arerelated to the level of ionization in the gas. Finally, aKs-band Simien & de Vaucouleurs diagram shows excellentagreement with the original B-band relation, although there is a largedispersion at a given morphological stage.
| On the X-ray, optical emission line and black hole mass properties of local Seyfert galaxies We investigate the relation between X-ray nuclear emission, opticalemission line luminosities and black hole masses for a sample of 47Seyfert galaxies. The sample, which has been selected from the Palomaroptical spectroscopic survey of nearby galaxies (Ho et al. 1997a, ApJS,112, 315), covers a wide range of nuclear powers, from L2-10keV ~ 1043 erg/s down to very low luminosities(L2-10 keV ~ 1038 erg/s). Best available data fromChandra, XMM-Newton and, in a few cases, ASCA observations have beenconsidered. Thanks to the good spatial resolution available from theseobservations and a proper modeling of the various spectral components,it has been possible to obtain accurate nuclear X-ray luminosities notcontaminated by off-nuclear sources and/or diffuse emission. X-rayluminosities have then been corrected taking into account the likelycandidate Compton thick sources, which are a high fraction (>30%)among type 2 Seyferts in our sample. The main result of this study isthat we confirm strong linear correlations between 2-10 keV,[OIII]λ5007, Hα luminosities which show the same slope asquasars and luminous Seyfert galaxies, independent of the level ofnuclear activity displayed. Moreover, despite the wide range ofEddington ratios (L/L_Edd) tested here (six orders of magnitude, from0.1 down to ~10-7), no correlation is found between the X-rayor optical emission line luminosities and the black hole mass. Ourresults suggest that Seyfert nuclei in our sample are consistent withbeing a scaled-down version of more luminous AGN.
| A radio census of nuclear activity in nearby galaxies In order to determine the incidence of black hole accretion-drivennuclear activity in nearby galaxies, as manifested by their radioemission, we have carried out a high-resolution Multi-ElementRadio-Linked Interferometer Network (MERLIN) survey of LINERs andcomposite LINER/Hii galaxies from a complete magnitude-limited sample ofbright nearby galaxies (Palomar sample) with unknown arcsecond-scaleradio properties. There are fifteen radio detections, of which three arenew subarcsecond-scale radio core detections, all being candidate AGN.The detected galaxies supplement the already known low-luminosity AGN -low-luminosity Seyferts, LINERs and composite LINER/Hii galaxies - inthe Palomar sample. Combining all radio-detected Seyferts, LINERs andcomposite LINER/Hii galaxies (LTS sources), we obtain an overall radiodetection rate of 54% (22% of all bright nearby galaxies) and weestimate that at least ~50% (~20% of all bright nearby galaxies) aretrue AGN. The radio powers of the LTS galaxies allow the construction ofa local radio luminosity function. By comparing the luminosity functionwith those of selected moderate-redshift AGN, selected from the 2dF/NVSSsurvey, we find that LTS sources naturally extend the RLF of powerfulAGN down to powers of about 10 times that of Sgr A*.
| GHASP: an Hα kinematic survey of spiral and irregular galaxies - IV. 44 new velocity fields. Extension, shape and asymmetry of Hα rotation curves We present Fabry-Perot observations obtained in the frame of the GHASPsurvey (Gassendi HAlpha survey of SPirals). We have derived the Hαmap, the velocity field and the rotation curve for a new set of 44galaxies. The data presented in this paper are combined with the datapublished in the three previous papers providing a total number of 85 ofthe 96 galaxies observed up to now. This sample of kinematical data hasbeen divided into two groups: isolated (ISO) and softly interacting(SOFT) galaxies. In this paper, the extension of the Hα discs, theshape of the rotation curves, the kinematical asymmetry and theTully-Fisher relation have been investigated for both ISO and SOFTgalaxies. The Hα extension is roughly proportional toR25 for ISO as well as for SOFT galaxies. The smallestextensions of the ionized disc are found for ISO galaxies. The innerslope of the rotation curves is found to be correlated with the centralconcentration of light more clearly than with the type or thekinematical asymmetry, for ISO as well as for SOFT galaxies. The outerslope of the rotation curves increases with the type and with thekinematical asymmetry for ISO galaxies but shows no special trend forSOFT galaxies. No decreasing rotation curve is found for SOFT galaxies.The asymmetry of the rotation curves is correlated with themorphological type, the luminosity, the (B-V) colour and the maximalrotational velocity of galaxies. Our results show that the brightest,the most massive and the reddest galaxies, which are fast rotators, arethe least asymmetric, meaning that they are the most efficient withwhich to average the mass distribution on the whole disc. Asymmetry inthe rotation curves seems to be linked with local star formation,betraying disturbances of the gravitational potential. The Tully-Fisherrelation has a smaller slope for ISO than for SOFT galaxies.
| BHαBAR: big Hα kinematical sample of barred spiral galaxies - I. Fabry-Perot observations of 21 galaxies We present the Hα gas kinematics of 21 representative barredspiral galaxies belonging to the BHαBAR sample. The galaxies wereobserved with FaNTOmM, a Fabry-Perot integral-field spectrometer, onthree different telescopes. The three-dimensional data cubes wereprocessed through a robust pipeline with the aim of providing the mosthomogeneous and accurate data set possible useful for further analysis.The data cubes were spatially binned to a constant signal-to-noiseratio, typically around 7. Maps of the monochromatic Hα emissionline and of the velocity field were generated and the kinematicalparameters were derived for the whole sample using tilted-ring models.The photometrical and kinematical parameters (position angle of themajor axis, inclination, systemic velocity and kinematical centre) arein relative good agreement, except perhaps for the later-type spirals.
| Probing the Dust Obscuration in Seyfert Galaxies using Infrared Spectroscopy. II. Implication for the Unification of Seyfert Galaxies We report near-IR spectroscopic observations of 11 Seyfert galaxies (sixSeyfert 1s, one Seyfert 1.9, and four Seyfert 2s) and additionalgalaxies (four LINERs, two H II, and one type 2 transition) forcomparison, obtained using the Gemini twin-channel near-IR camera on theShane 3 m telescope at Lick Observatory. With the unique design of theGemini camera, full J and K spectra were taken simultaneously throughthe same slit. This produced accurate line ratios of hydrogenrecombination lines over a large wavelength baseline. For the Seyfert 1s(<=1.5), the line ratios of Paβ/Brγ are not onlycomparable in both broad- and narrow-line regions but also consistentwith case B recombination, indicating little or no reddening in bothnarrow- and broad-line regions. Seyfert 2 (>1.5) galaxies, however,show substantial reddening toward the narrow-line regions. We compareoptical reddening data from the literature and find significant supportfor the dichotomy between Seyfert 1s and Seyfert 2s, at least inlow-luminosity objects. Two different scenarios are explored to explainthe observed difference in reddening: a difference in reddening due toan extended dusty torus under active galactic nucleus unification, and adifference due to a different grain size distribution between the twoSeyfert types. We also discuss a similar potential difference found inthe strength of the 9.7 μm silicate line, along with a possiblecorrelation between the narrow-line reddening and the strength of thesilicate absorption line. We also analyzed CO band head absorptionfeatures longward of 2.3 μm to look for nonstellar contamination andevidence of recent star formation activity. The CO band head in Seyfert1s shows heavy contamination from nonstellar radiation, which iscorrelated with an H-K nuclear color excess. We confirm that the COspectroscopic indices in both Seyfert types do not show evidence ofrecent star formation. Taking the nonstellar contamination into account,there is little evidence from the CO index for a difference in starformation rates in the nuclei of Seyfert 1s and Seyfert 2s in ourlow-luminosity sample.
| On the alignment between binary spiral galaxies We show some significance against the null hypothesis of randominteractions of binary spiral galaxies, and in favour of the alternativethat more interactions than expected occur for axes either nearlyparallel (spins being parallel or anti-parallel) or nearly orthogonal.We discuss this in the context of similar prior studies, using adifferent statistical focus in such a way that we are able toincorporate additional data.
| GHASP: an Hα kinematic survey of spiral and irregular galaxies - III. 15 new velocity fields and study of 46 rotation curves We present Fabry-Pérot observations obtained in the frame of theGHASP survey (Gassendi Hα survey of SPirals). We have derived theHα maps, the velocity fields and the rotation curves for a set of15 galaxies. The data presented in this paper are combined with the datapublished in our two previous papers in order to make a preliminaryanalysis of the rotation curves obtained for 46 galaxies. We check theconsistency of our data with the Tully-Fisher relationship and concludethat our Hα rotation curves reach the maximum velocity in most ofthe cases, even with solid-body rotating galaxies. We find that ourrotation curves, on average, almost reach the isophotal radiusR25. We confirm the trend, already mentioned by Rubin,Waterman & Kenney and Márquez et al., that the maximumextension of the Hα rotation curves increases with the type of thespiral galaxy, up to t~ 7-8 and we find that it decreases for magellanicand irregular galaxies. We also confirm the trend seen by Márquezet al. that later types tend to have lower values of the internal slopeof the rotation curve, in agreement with Rubin et al.
| 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.
| The ISOPHOT 170 μm Serendipity Survey II. The catalog of optically identified galaxies% The ISOPHOT Serendipity Sky Survey strip-scanning measurements covering≈15% of the far-infrared (FIR) sky at 170 μm were searched forcompact sources associated with optically identified galaxies. CompactSerendipity Survey sources with a high signal-to-noise ratio in at leasttwo ISOPHOT C200 detector pixels were selected that have a positionalassociation with a galaxy identification in the NED and/or Simbaddatabases and a galaxy counterpart visible on the Digitized Sky Surveyplates. A catalog with 170 μm fluxes for more than 1900 galaxies hasbeen established, 200 of which were measured several times. The faintest170 μm fluxes reach values just below 0.5 Jy, while the brightest,already somewhat extended galaxies have fluxes up to ≈600 Jy. For thevast majority of listed galaxies, the 170 μm fluxes were measured forthe first time. While most of the galaxies are spirals, about 70 of thesources are classified as ellipticals or lenticulars. This is the onlycurrently available large-scale galaxy catalog containing a sufficientnumber of sources with 170 μm fluxes to allow further statisticalstudies of various FIR properties.Based on observations with ISO, an ESA project with instruments fundedby ESA Member States (especially the PI countries: France, Germany, TheNetherlands and the UK) and with the participation of ISAS and NASA.Members of the Consortium on the ISOPHOT Serendipity Survey (CISS) areMPIA Heidelberg, ESA ISO SOC Villafranca, AIP Potsdam, IPAC Pasadena,Imperial College London.Full Table 4 and Table 6 are only available in electronic form at theCDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/422/39
| Minor-axis velocity gradients in disk galaxies We present the ionized-gas kinematics and photometry of a sample of 4spiral galaxies which are characterized by a zero-velocity plateau alongthe major axis and a velocity gradient along the minor axis,respectively. By combining these new kinematical data with thoseavailable in the literature for the ionized-gas component of the S0s andspirals listed in the Revised Shapley-Ames Catalog of Bright Galaxies werealized that about 50% of unbarred galaxies show a remarkable gasvelocity gradient along the optical minor axis. This fraction rises toabout 60% if we include unbarred galaxies with an irregular velocityprofile along the minor axis. This phenomenon is observed all along theHubble sequence of disk galaxies, and it is particularly frequent inearly-type spirals. Since minor-axis velocity gradients are unexpectedif the gas is moving onto circular orbits in a disk coplanar to thestellar one, we conclude that non-circular and off-plane gas motions arenot rare in the inner regions of disk galaxies.Based on observations carried out at the European Southern Observatoryin La Silla (Chile) (ESO 69.B-0706 and 70.B-0338), with the MultipleMirror Telescope which is a joint facility of the SmithsonianInstitution and the University of Arizona, and with the ItalianTelescopio Nazionale Galileo (AOT-5, 3-18) at the Observatorio del Roquede los Muchachos in La Palma (Spain).Table 1 is only available in electronic form athttp://www.edpsciences.org. Table 5 is only available in electronic format the CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) orvia http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/416/507
| Circumnuclear Dust in Nearby Active and Inactive Galaxies. II. Bars, Nuclear Spirals, and the Fueling of Active Galactic Nuclei We present a detailed study of the relation between circumnuclear dustmorphology, host-galaxy properties, and nuclear activity in nearbygalaxies. We use our sample of 123 nearby galaxies withvisible-near-infrared color maps from the Hubble Space Telescope tocreate well-matched, ``paired'' samples of 28 active and 28 inactivegalaxies, as well as 19 barred and 19 unbarred galaxies, that have thesame host-galaxy properties. Comparison of the barred and unbarredgalaxies shows that grand-design nuclear dust spirals are found only ingalaxies with a large-scale bar. These nuclear dust spirals, which arepresent in approximately one-third of all barred galaxies, also appearto be connected to the dust lanes along the leading edges of thelarge-scale bars. Grand-design nuclear spirals are more common thaninner rings, which are present in only a small minority of the barredgalaxies. Tightly wound nuclear dust spirals, in contrast, show a strongtendency to avoid galaxies with large-scale bars. Comparison of theactive galactic nuclei (AGNs)and inactive samples shows that nucleardust spirals, which may trace shocks and angular momentum dissipation inthe interstellar medium, occur with comparable frequency in both activeand inactive galaxies. The only difference between the active andinactive galaxies is that several inactive galaxies appear to completelylack dust structure in their circumnuclear region, while none of theAGNs lack this structure. The comparable frequency of nuclear spirals inactive and inactive galaxies, combined with previous work that finds nosignificant difference in the frequency of bars or interactions betweenwell-matched active and inactive galaxies, suggests that no universalfueling mechanism for low-luminosity AGNs operates at spatial scalesgreater than a ~100 pc radius from the galactic nuclei. The similaritiesof the circumnuclear environments of active and inactive galaxiessuggest that the lifetime of nuclear activity is less than thecharacteristic inflow time from these spatial scales. Anorder-of-magnitude estimate of this inflow time is the dynamicaltimescale. This sets an upper limit of several million years to thelifetime of an individual episode of nuclear activity.Based on observations 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 NAS5-26555.
| 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.
| Structure and stellar population of ringed barred galaxy NGC 2336 Tables 2 and 5 are only available in electronic form athttp://www.edpsciences.org
| Do bulges of early- and late-type spirals have different morphology? We study HST/NICMOS H-band images of bulges of two equal-sized samplesof early- (TRC3 <= 3) and late-type spiral (mainly Sbc-Sc)galaxies matched in outer disk axis ratio. We find that bulges oflate-type spirals are more elongated than their counterparts inearly-type spirals. Using a KS-test we find that the two distributionsare different at the 98.4% confidence level. We conclude that the twodata sets are different, i.e. late-type galaxies have a broaderellipticity distribution and contain more elongated features in theinner regions. We discuss the possibility that these would correspond tobars at a later evolutionary stage, i.e. secularly evolved bars.Consequent implications are raised, and we discuss relevant questionsregarding the formation and structure of bulges. Are bulges ofearly-type and late-type spirals different? Are their formationscenarios different? Can we talk about bulges in the same way fordifferent types of galaxies?
| 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
| GHASP: A 3-D Survey of Spiral and Irregular Galaxies at Hα Not Available
| 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.
| Magnetic fields in barred galaxies. I. The atlas The total and polarized radio continuum emission of 20 barred galaxieswas observed with the Very Large Array (VLA) at lambda 3, 6, 18 and 22cm and with the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) at lambda 6 cmand 13 cm. Maps at 30\arcsec angular resolution are presented here.Polarized emission (and therefore a large-scale regular magnetic field)was detected in 17 galaxies. Most galaxies of our sample are similar tonon-barred galaxies with respect to the radio/far-infrared fluxcorrelation and equipartition strength of the total magnetic field.Galaxies with highly elongated bars are not always radio-bright. Wediscuss the correlation of radio properties with the aspect ratio of thebar and other measures of the bar strength. We introduce a new measureof the bar strength, Lambda , related to the quadrupole moment of thebar's gravitational potential. The radio surface brightness I of thebarred galaxies in our sample is correlated with Lambda , I~Lambda0.4+/-0.1, and thus is highest in galaxies with a long barwhere the velocity field is distorted by the bar over a large fractionof the disc. In these galaxies, the pattern of the regular field issignificantly different from that in non-barred galaxies. In particular,field enhancements occur upstream of the dust lanes where the fieldlines are oriented at large angles to the bar's major axis. Polarizedradio emission seems to be a good indicator of large-scalenon-axisymmetric motions. Tables 3, 4 and Figs. 8-10, 13, 15, 16, 18 and22 are only available in electronic form at http://www.edpsciences.org
| Supernovae in isolated galaxies, in pairs and in groups of galaxies In order to investigate the influence of environment on supernova (SN)production, we have performed a statistical investigation of the SNediscovered in isolated galaxies, in pairs and in groups of galaxies. 22SNe in 18 isolated galaxies, 48 SNe in 40 galaxy members of 37 pairs and211 SNe in 170 galaxy members of 116 groups have been selected andstudied. We found that the radial distributions of core-collapse SNe ingalaxies located in different environments are similar, and consistentwith those reported by Bartunov, Makarova & Tsvetkov. SNe discoveredin pairs do not favour a particular direction with respect to thecompanion galaxy. Also, the azimuthal distributions inside the hostmembers of galaxy groups are consistent with being isotropics. The factthat SNe are more frequent in the brighter components of the pairs andgroups is expected from the dependence of the SN rates on the galaxyluminosity. There is an indication that the SN rate is higher in galaxypairs compared with that in groups. This can be related to the enhancedstar formation rate in strongly interacting systems. It is concludedthat, with the possible exception of strongly interacting systems, theparent galaxy environment has no direct influence on SN production.
| The Multitude of Unresolved Continuum Sources at 1.6 Microns in Hubble Space Telescope Images of Seyfert Galaxies We examine 112 Seyfert galaxies observed by the Hubble Space Telescopeat 1.6 μm. We find that ~50% of the Seyfert 2.0 galaxies which arepart of the Revised Shapely-Ames (RSA) Catalog or the CfA redshiftsample contain unresolved continuum sources at 1.6 μm. All but acouple of the Seyfert 1.0-1.9 galaxies display unresolved continuumsources. The unresolved sources have fluxes of order 1 mJy,near-infrared luminosities of order 1041 ergs s-1,and absolute magnitudes MH~-16. Comparison non-Seyfertgalaxies from the RSA Catalog display significantly fewer (~20%),somewhat lower luminosity nuclear sources, which could be due to compactstar clusters. We find that the luminosities of the unresolved Seyfert1.0-1.9 sources at 1.6 μm are correlated with [O III] λ5007and hard X-ray luminosities, implying that these sources are nonstellar.Assuming a spectral energy distribution similar to that of a Seyfert 2galaxy, we estimate that a few percent of local spiral galaxies containblack holes emitting as Seyferts at a moderate fraction,~10-1-10-4, of their Eddington luminosities. Wefind no strong correlation between 1.6 μm fluxes and hard X-ray or [OIII] λ5007 fluxes for the pure Seyfert 2.0 galaxies. Thesegalaxies also tend to have lower 1.6 μm luminosities compared to theSeyfert 1.0-1.9 galaxies of similar [O III] luminosity. Either largeextinctions (AV~20-40) are present toward theircontinuum-emitting regions or some fraction of the unresolved sources at1.6 μm are compact star clusters. With increasing Seyfert type thefraction of unresolved sources detected at 1.6 μm and the ratio of1.6 μm to [O III] fluxes tend to decrease. These trends areconsistent with the unification model for Seyfert 1 and 2 galaxies.
| Mass Distribution and Kinematics of the Barred Galaxy NGC 2336 For the barred galaxy NGC 2336, stationary models are constructed whichreproduce in a consistent manner the observed NIR surface brightnessdistribution and the observed HII kinematics in those regions affectedby the bar. This procedure can answer the question whether the observedkinematics of the galaxy agree with the model predictions derived fromthe observed distribution of visible matter (assuming that plausiblecorrections for the presence of dark matter can be applied). It turnsout that the parameter values from the morphological decomposition andthose needed to fit the HII rotation curves of NGC 2336 best are inexcellent agreement.
| The Frequency of Active and Quiescent Galaxies with Companions: Implications for the Feeding of the Nucleus We analyze the idea that nuclear activity, either active galactic nuclei(AGNs) or star formation, can be triggered by interactions by studyingthe percentage of active, H II, and quiescent galaxies with companions.Our sample was selected from the Palomar survey and avoids selectionbiases faced by previous studies. This sample was split into fivedifferent groups, Seyfert galaxies, LINERs, transition galaxies, H IIgalaxies, and absorption-line galaxies. The comparison between the localgalaxy density distributions of the different groups showed that in mostcases there is no statistically significant difference among galaxies ofdifferent activity types, with the exception that absorption-linegalaxies are seen in higher density environments, since most of them arein the Virgo Cluster. The comparison of the percentage of galaxies withnearby companions showed that there is a higher percentage of LINERs,transition galaxies, and absorption-line galaxies with companions thanSeyfert and H II galaxies. However, we find that when we consider onlygalaxies of similar morphological types (elliptical or spiral), there isno difference in the percentage of galaxies with companions amongdifferent activity types, indicating that the former result was due tothe morphology-density effect. In addition, only small differences arefound when we consider galaxies with similar Hα luminosities. Thecomparison between H II galaxies of different Hα luminositiesshows that there is a significantly higher percentage of galaxies withcompanions among H II galaxies with L(Hα)>1039 ergss-1 than among those with L(Hα)<=1039ergs s-1, indicating that interactions increase the amount ofcircumnuclear star formation, in agreement with previous results. Thefact that we find that galaxies of different activity types have thesame percentage of companions suggests that interactions betweengalaxies is not a necessary condition to trigger the nuclear activity inAGNs. We compare our results with previous ones and discuss theirimplications.
| Homogenization of the Stellar Population along Late-Type Spiral Galaxies We present a study of the broadband UBV color profiles for 257 Sbcbarred and nonbarred galaxies, using photoelectric aperture photometrydata from the literature. Using robust statistical methods, we haveestimated the color gradients of the galaxies, as well as the total andbulge mean colors. A comparative photometric study using CCD images wasdone. In our sample, the color gradients are negative (reddish inward)in approximately 59% of the objects, are almost null in 27%, and arepositive in 14%, considering only the face-on galaxies, which representapproximately 51% of the sample. The results do not change, essentially,when we include the edge-on galaxies. As a consequence of this study wehave also found that barred galaxies are overrepresented among theobjects having null or positive gradients, indicating that bars act as amechanism of homogenization of the stellar population. This effect ismore evident in the U-B color index, although it can also be detected inthe B-V color. A correlation between the total and bulge colors wasfound that is a consequence of an underlying correlation between thecolors of bulges and disks found by other authors. Moreover, the meantotal color is the same irrespective of the gradient regime, whilebulges are bluer in galaxies with null or positive gradients, whichindicates an increase of the star formation rate in the central regionsof these objects. We have also made a quantitative evaluation of theamount of extinction in the center of these galaxies. This was doneusing the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) and the Near InfraredCamera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS) Hubble Space Telescope(HST) archival data, as well as CCD B, V, and I images. We show thatalthough the extinction in the V-band can reach values up to 2 mag inthe central region, it is unlikely that dust plays a fundamental role inglobal color gradients. We found no correlation between color and O/Habundance gradients. This result could suggest that the color gradientsare more sensitive to the age rather than to the metallicity of thestellar population. However, the absence of this correlation may becaused by dust extinction. We discuss this result by considering apicture in which bars are a relatively fast, recurrent phenomenon. Theseresults are not compatible with a pure classical monolithic scenario forbulge and disk formation. On the contrary, they favor a scenario inwhich both these components are evolving in a correlated process inwhich stellar bars play a crucial role. Based partly on observationsmade at the Pico dos Dias Observatory (PDO/LNA-CNPq), Brazil.
| Nearby Optical Galaxies: Selection of the Sample and Identification of Groups In this paper we describe the Nearby Optical Galaxy (NOG) sample, whichis a complete, distance-limited (cz<=6000 km s-1) andmagnitude-limited (B<=14) sample of ~7000 optical galaxies. Thesample covers 2/3 (8.27 sr) of the sky (|b|>20deg) andappears to have a good completeness in redshift (97%). We select thesample on the basis of homogenized corrected total blue magnitudes inorder to minimize systematic effects in galaxy sampling. We identify thegroups in this sample by means of both the hierarchical and thepercolation ``friends-of-friends'' methods. The resulting catalogs ofloose groups appear to be similar and are among the largest catalogs ofgroups currently available. Most of the NOG galaxies (~60%) are found tobe members of galaxy pairs (~580 pairs for a total of ~15% of objects)or groups with at least three members (~500 groups for a total of ~45%of objects). About 40% of galaxies are left ungrouped (field galaxies).We illustrate the main features of the NOG galaxy distribution. Comparedto previous optical and IRAS galaxy samples, the NOG provides a densersampling of the galaxy distribution in the nearby universe. Given itslarge sky coverage, the identification of groups, and its high-densitysampling, the NOG is suited to the analysis of the galaxy density fieldof the nearby universe, especially on small scales.
| Mass distribution and kinematics of the barred galaxies NGC 3992 and NGC 7479 We present morphological and kinematical models for theintermediate-type barred galaxies NGC 3992 and NGC 7479. Two-dimensionalmodels of the observed NIR surface brightness distributions with threecomponents (bulge, bar, disk) are used for the construction ofcorresponding models of the stellar mass distribution. The resultingpotentials are implemented numerically in a code for the computation ofcollisionless closed orbits for Halpha clouds. These gasclouds serve as test particles in the potential and are used for theexamination of the phase space and the construction of artificial gasrotation curves. The artificial rotation curves are confronted withobserved Halpha rotation curves. The model parameters ofbulge, disk, and bar are adjusted by iteratively computing andevaluating a large number of different models, until an optimal fit tothe observations was obtained. The effects of changing single parametervalues and possible error sources are discussed. Special emphasis is puton the role of bar asymmetries in the case of NGC 7479 and the barpattern speed in both objects. Final models are presented whichreproduce the overall morphological structure (bulge, bar, disk) of NGC3992 and NGC 7479 as well as the Halpha rotation curves withmost of their details in a consistent manner. The parameters needed foran optimal representation of the Halpha rotation curves andthose derived morphologically are in very good agreement. It is shownthat our modelling technique is able to explain the Halphavelocity fields of both galaxies especially in the regions dominated bythe bar component.
| 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.
| On the Influence of the Environment on the Star Formation Rates of a Sample of Galaxies in Nearby Compact Groups We present the results of a study of the star formation rates (SFRs) ofa sample of disk galaxies in nearby compact groups compared with theSFRs of a sample of field galaxies. For this purpose, Hαluminosities and equivalent widths were derived for the galaxies of oursample. A direct comparison of the equivalent widths and Hαluminosities, normalized to the B luminosities and estimated area of thegalaxies of both samples, yields the result that the median values ofthese quantities are almost identical for both samples, although thedistributions for the compact-group sample are broader around the meanvalue than was found in the field galaxy sample. This result can beexplained by assuming that although interactions between galaxies incompact groups can alter the SFRs, the median value of the normalizedSFRs is preserved, being almost indistinguishable from the correspondingvalue for field galaxies. Measuring the global L_Hα/L_B of thegroups, including early-type galaxies, we find that most of the groupsthat show the highest level of L_Hα/L_B with respect to a set ofsynthetic groups built out of field galaxies show tidal features in atleast one of their members. Finally, we have explored the relationshipbetween the ratio L_Hα/L_B and several relevant dynamicalparameters of the groups: velocity dispersion, crossing time, radius,and the mass-to-luminosity ratio, finding no clear correlation. Thissuggests that the exact dynamical state of a group does not control theSFR of the group as a whole. Our results are compatible with a scenariofor compact groups of galaxies in which the dark matter of the group isarranged in a common halo, therefore preventing a fast collapse of thegalaxies.
| The Mass-to-Light Ratio of Binary Galaxies We report on the mass-to-light ratio determination based on a newlyselected binary galaxy sample, which includes a large number of pairswhose separations exceed a few hundred kpc. The probabilitydistributions of the projected separation and the velocity differencehave been calculated considering the contamination of optical pairs, andthe mass-to-light (M/L) ratio has been determined based on the maximumlikelihood method. The best estimate of the M/L in the B band for 57pairs is found to be 28-36 depending on the orbital parameters and thedistribution of optical pairs (solar unit: H_0=50 km s^-1 Mpc^-1). Thebest estimate of the M/L for 30 pure spiral pairs is found to be 12-16.These results are relatively smaller than those obtained in previousstudies but are consistent with each other within the errors. Althoughthe number of pairs with large separation is significantly increasedcompared with previous samples, the M/L does not show any tendency ofincrease but is found to be almost independent of the separation ofpairs beyond 100 kpc. The constancy of the M/L beyond 100 kpc mayindicate that the typical halo size of spiral galaxies is less than ~100kpc.
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