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Massive star formation in the central regions of spiral galaxies
Context: . The morphology of massive star formation in the centralregions of galaxies is an important tracer of the dynamical processesthat govern the evolution of disk, bulge, and nuclear activity. Aims. Wepresent optical imaging of the central regions of a sample of 73 spiralgalaxies in the Hα line and in optical broad bands, and deriveinformation on the morphology of massive star formation. Methods. Weobtained images with the William Herschel Telescope, mostly at a spatialresolution of below one second of arc. For most galaxies, no Hαimaging is available in the literature. We outline the observing anddata reduction procedures, list basic properties, and present the I-bandand continuum-subtracted Hα images. We classify the morphology ofthe nuclear and circumnuclear Hα emission and explore trends withhost galaxy parameters. Results. We confirm that late-type galaxies havea patchy circumnuclear appearance in Hα, and that nuclear ringsoccur primarily in spiral types Sa-Sbc. We identify a number ofpreviously unknown nuclear rings, and confirm that nuclear rings arepredominantly hosted by barred galaxies. Conclusions. Other than instimulating nuclear rings, bars do not influence the relative strengthof the nuclear Hα peak, nor the circumnuclear Hα morphology.Even considering that our selection criteria led to an over-abundance ofgalaxies with close massive companions, we do not find any significantinfluence of the presence or absence of a close companion on therelative strength of the nuclear Hα peak, nor on the Hαmorphology around the nucleus.
| Ages, Metallicities, and α-Element Enhancement for Galaxies in Hickson Compact Groups
Central velocity dispersions and eight line-strength Lick indices havebeen determined from 1.3 Å resolution long-slit spectra of 16elliptical galaxies in Hickson compact groups. These data were used todetermine galaxy properties (ages, metallicities, and α-elementenhancements) and allowed a comparison with the parameters determinedfor a sample of galaxies in lower density environments studied byGonzález. The stellar population parameters were derived bycomparison to single stellar population models of Thomas et al. and to anew set of simple stellar population models for the indicesMg2, Fe5270, and Fe5335 based on synthetic spectra. Thesemodels, based on an updated version of the fitting functions presentedin Barbuy et al., are fully described here. Our main results are (1) thetwo samples have similar mean values for the metallicities and[α/Fe] ratios and (2) the majority of the galaxies in compactgroups seem to be old (median age of 14 Gyr for eight galaxies for whichages could be derived), in agreement with recent work by Proctor et al.These findings support two possible scenarios: compact groups are eitheryoung systems whose members have recently assembled and had not enoughtime to experience any merging yet, or they are old systems that haveavoided merging since their time of formation.
| The Relation between Galaxy Activity and the Dynamics of Compact Groups of Galaxies
Using a sample of 91 galaxies distributed over 27 compact groups (CGs)of galaxies, we define an index that allows us to quantify their levelof activity due to an active galactic nucleus (AGN) or star formation.By combining the mean activity index with the mean morphological type ofthe galaxies in a group, we are able to quantify the evolutionary stateof the groups. We find that they span an evolutionary sequence thatcorrelates with the spatial configuration of the galaxies in the CG. Wedistinguish three main configuration types: A, B, and C. Type A CGs showpredominantly low velocity dispersions and are rich in late-type spiralsthat show active star formation or harbor an AGN. Type B groups haveintermediate velocity dispersions and contain a large fraction ofinteracting or merging galaxies. Type C comprises CGs with high velocitydispersions, which are dominated by elliptical galaxies that show noactivity. We suggest that evolution proceeds A==>B==>C. Mappingthe groups with different evolution levels in a diagram of radius versusvelocity dispersion does not reveal the pattern expected based on theconventional fast merger model for CGs, which predicts a direct relationbetween these two parameters. Instead, we observe a trend contrary toexpectation: the evolutionary state of a group increases with velocitydispersion. This trend seems to be related to the masses of thestructures in which CGs are embedded. In general, the evolutionary stateof a group increases with the mass of the structure. This suggestseither that galaxies evolve more rapidly in massive structures or thatthe formation of CGs embedded in massive structures predated theformation of CGs associated with lower mass systems. Our observationsare consistent with the structure formation predicted by the CDM model(or ΛCDM), only if the formation of galaxies is a biased process.
| Seyfert galaxies in UZC-Compact Groups
We present results concerning the occurrence of Seyfert galaxies in anew automatically selected sample of nearby Compact Groups of galaxies(UZC-CGs). Seventeen Seyferts are found, constituting 3% of theUZC-CG galaxy population. CGs hosting and non-hosting a Seyfert memberexhibit no significant differences, except that a relevant number of Sy2is found in unusual CGs, all presenting large velocity dispersion(σ>400 km s-1), many neighbours and a high number ofellipticals. We also find that the fraction of Seyferts in CGs is 3times as large as that among UZC-single-galaxies, and results from anexcess of Sy2s. CG-Seyferts are not more likely than other CG galaxiesto present major interaction patterns, nor to display a bar. Our resultsindirectly support the minor-merging fueling mechanism.
| Redshift-Distance Survey of Early-Type Galaxies: Spectroscopic Data
We present central velocity dispersions and Mg2 line indicesfor an all-sky sample of ~1178 elliptical and S0 galaxies, of which 984had no previous measures. This sample contains the largest set ofhomogeneous spectroscopic data for a uniform sample of ellipticalgalaxies in the nearby universe. These galaxies were observed as part ofthe ENEAR project, designed to study the peculiar motions and internalproperties of the local early-type galaxies. Using 523 repeatedobservations of 317 galaxies obtained during different runs, the dataare brought to a common zero point. These multiple observations, takenduring the many runs and different instrumental setups employed for thisproject, are used to derive statistical corrections to the data and arefound to be relatively small, typically <~5% of the velocitydispersion and 0.01 mag in the Mg2 line strength. Typicalerrors are about 8% in velocity dispersion and 0.01 mag inMg2, in good agreement with values published elsewhere.
| Redshift-Distance Survey of Early-Type Galaxies: Circular-Aperture Photometry
We present R-band CCD photometry for 1332 early-type galaxies, observedas part of the ENEAR survey of peculiar motions using early-typegalaxies in the nearby universe. Circular apertures are used to tracethe surface brightness profiles, which are then fitted by atwo-component bulge-disk model. From the fits, we obtain the structuralparameters required to estimate galaxy distances using theDn-σ and fundamental plane relations. We find thatabout 12% of the galaxies are well represented by a pure r1/4law, while 87% are best fitted by a two-component model. There are 356repeated observations of 257 galaxies obtained during different runsthat are used to derive statistical corrections and bring the data to acommon system. We also use these repeated observations to estimate ourinternal errors. The accuracy of our measurements are tested by thecomparison of 354 galaxies in common with other authors. Typical errorsin our measurements are 0.011 dex for logDn, 0.064 dex forlogre, 0.086 mag arcsec-2 for<μe>, and 0.09 for mRC,comparable to those estimated by other authors. The photometric datareported here represent one of the largest high-quality and uniformall-sky samples currently available for early-type galaxies in thenearby universe, especially suitable for peculiar motion studies.Based on observations at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO),National Optical Astronomy Observatory, which is operated by theAssociation of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., undercooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation (NSF);European Southern Observatory (ESO); Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory(FLWO); and the MDM Observatory on Kitt Peak.
| Compact groups in the UZC galaxy sample
Applying an automatic neighbour search algorithm to the 3D UZC galaxycatalogue (Falco et al. \cite{Falco}) we have identified 291 compactgroups (CGs) with radial velocity between 1000 and 10 000 kms-1. The sample is analysed to investigate whether Tripletsdisplay kinematical and morphological characteristics similar to higherorder CGs (Multiplets). It is found that Triplets constitute lowvelocity dispersion structures, have a gas-rich galaxy population andare typically retrieved in sparse environments. Conversely Multipletsshow higher velocity dispersion, include few gas-rich members and aregenerally embedded structures. Evidence hence emerges indicating thatTriplets and Multiplets, though sharing a common scale, correspond todifferent galaxy systems. Triplets are typically field structures whilstMultiplets are mainly subclumps (either temporarily projected orcollapsing) within larger structures. Simulations show that selectioneffects can only partially account for differences, but significantcontamination of Triplets by field galaxy interlopers could eventuallyinduce the observed dependences on multiplicity. Tables 1 and 2 are onlyavailable in electronic at the CDS via anonymous ftp tocdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.125.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/391/35
| A catalogue and analysis of X-ray luminosities of early-type galaxies
We present a catalogue of X-ray luminosities for 401 early-typegalaxies, of which 136 are based on newly analysed ROSAT PSPC pointedobservations. The remaining luminosities are taken from the literatureand converted to a common energy band, spectral model and distancescale. Using this sample we fit the LX:LB relationfor early-type galaxies and find a best-fit slope for the catalogue of~2.2. We demonstrate the influence of group-dominant galaxies on the fitand present evidence that the relation is not well modelled by a singlepower-law fit. We also derive estimates of the contribution to galaxyX-ray luminosities from discrete-sources and conclude that they provideLdscr/LB~=29.5ergs-1LBsolar-1. Wecompare this result with luminosities from our catalogue. Lastly, weexamine the influence of environment on galaxy X-ray luminosity and onthe form of the LX:LB relation. We conclude thatalthough environment undoubtedly affects the X-ray properties ofindividual galaxies, particularly those in the centres of groups andclusters, it does not change the nature of whole populations.
| Star-forming Objects in the Tidal Tails of Compact Groups
A search for star-forming objects belonging to tidal tails has beencarried out in a sample of deep Hα images of 16 compact groups ofgalaxies. A total of 36 objects with Hα luminosities greater than1038 ergs s-1 has been detected in five groups.The fraction of the total Hα luminosity of their respective parentgalaxies shown by the tidal objects is always below 5% except for thetidal features of Hickson compact group 95, whose Hα luminosityamounts to 65% of the total luminosity. Out of these 36 objects, ninestar-forming tidal dwarf galaxy candidates finally have been identifiedon the basis of their projected distances to the nuclei of the parentgalaxies and their total Hα luminosities. Overall, the observedproperties of the candidates resemble those previously reported for theso-called tidal dwarf galaxies.
| Compact Groups of Galaxies: Evolution of the Stellar Population
We present a study focusing on the nature of compact groups (CGs)through the study of their elliptical (E) galaxies. Parametersdescribing the internal dynamics and the stellar populations of thegalaxies are compared with their counterparts in other environments. Oursample has 24 bright E galaxies located in the core of Hickson CGs and11 bright `bona fide' Es, located in the field or very loose groups.Their spectra were obtained with the 2.1 m Telescope at KPNO and have a4.1 Å resolution over the wavelength range 3500-7000 Å. Wehave found that, from the dynamical point of view, E galaxies in CGs areessentially similar to those in dense clusters. Moreover, the stellarpopulations of Es in CGs seem to be older and less metal rich than thosein the field, behaviour which has also been observed by Rose et al.(1994).
| The Fundamental Plane of Elliptical Galaxies in Compact Groups
We present a study focusing on the nature of compact groups through thestudy of their elliptical galaxies. We determine velocity dispersions(σ) for 18 bright elliptical galaxies located in the core ofHickson compact groups and a control sample of 12 bright bona fideelliptical galaxies located in the field or very loose groups. Severaltests are carried out to avoid sources of systematic effects in σmeasurements. We use these velocity dispersions to compare the positionsof 11 compact group galaxies in the fundamental plane with those of alarge and homogeneous sample of elliptical galaxies. We find that littleor no significant difference exists, as far as the fundamental plane isconcerned, between elliptical galaxies in compact groups and theircounterparts in other environments.
| 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.
| The Nuclear Activity of Galaxies in the Hickson Compact Groups
In order to investigate the nuclear activity of galaxies residing incompact groups of galaxies, we present results of our opticalspectroscopic program made at Okayama Astrophysical Observatory. We haveperformed optical spectroscopy of 69 galaxies belonging to 31 Hicksoncompact groups (HCGs) of galaxies. Among them, three galaxies havediscordant redshifts and, moreover, spectral quality is too poor toclassify another three galaxies. Therefore, we describe our results forthe remaining 63 galaxies. Our main results are summarized as follows:(1) We have found in our sample 28 active galactic nuclei (AGNs), 16 HII nuclei, and 19 normal galaxies showing no emission line. We used thisHCG sample for statistical analyses. (2) Comparing the frequencydistributions of activity types between the HCGs and the field galaxieswhose data are taken from Ho, Filippenko, & Sargent (382 fieldgalaxies), we find that the frequency of H II nuclei in the HCGs issignificantly less than that in the field. However, this difference maybe due to selection bias to the effect that our HCG sample contains moreearly-type galaxies than the field, because it is known that H II nucleiare rarer in early-type galaxies than in later ones. (3) Applying acorrection to this morphological bias to the HCG sample, we find thatthere is no statistically significant difference in the frequency ofoccurrence of emission-line galaxies between the HCGs and the field.This implies that the dense galaxy environment in the HCGs does notaffect the triggering of either the AGN activity and the nuclearstarburst. We discuss some implications on the nuclear activity in theHCG galaxies.
| An Imaging and Spectroscopic Survey of Galaxies within Prominent Nearby Voids. II. Morphologies, Star Formation, and Faint Companions
We analyze the optical properties of ~300 galaxies within and aroundthree prominent voids of the Center for Astrophysics Redshift Survey. Wedetermine CCD morphologies and Hα equivalent widths from ourimaging and spectroscopic survey. We also describe a redshift survey of250 neighboring galaxies in the imaging survey fields. We assess themorphology-density relation, EW(Hα)-density relation, and theeffects of nearby companions for galaxies in low-density environmentsselected with a smoothed large-scale (5 h-1 Mpc) galaxynumber density n. Both the morphological mix and the Hα line widthdistribution of galaxies at modest underdensities, 0.5R=16.13, demonstrates that the incidence ofa close companion in redshift space is insensitive to global densityover the range we investigate (0.163 σ) fromΔcz>~200 km s-1 at 0.5-1 at n<=0.5n. In the lowest densityenvironments, galaxies with companions clearly (~4 σ) havestronger star formation than comparable galaxies at larger globaldensity (0.5-1 kpc and 1000 km s-1) varies little over theentire density range. These results, combined with the luminosity- andcolor-density relations of this sample (Paper I), suggest that theformation and evolution of field galaxies are insensitive to large-scaleunderdensity down to a threshold of roughly half the mean density. Thedifferences in galaxy properties at the lowest global densities we canexplore (n<=0.5n) may be explained by (1) a relative scarcity of thesmall-scale primordial density enhancements needed to form massiveearly-type/absorption-line galaxies and (2) present-day galaxyencounters that are relatively more effective because of the lowervelocity dispersion on small scales (<~200 h-1 kpc) weobserve in these regions. In the voids, where the luminous galaxiespresumably formed more recently, there should be more gas and dustpresent for active star formation triggered by nearby companions.
| 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.
| An Imaging and Spectroscopic Survey of Galaxies within Prominent Nearby Voids. I. The Sample and Luminosity Distribution
We study the optical properties of a large sample of galaxies inlow-density regions of the nearby universe. We make a 5 h-1Mpc smoothed map of the galaxy density throughout the Center forAstrophysics Redshift Survey (CfA2) to identify galaxies within threeprominent nearby ``voids'' with diameter >~30 h-1 Mpc. Weaugment the CfA2 void galaxy sample with fainter galaxies found in thesame regions from the more recent and deeper Century and Redshiftsurveys . We obtain B and R CCD images and high signal-to-noiselong-slit spectra for the resulting sample of 149 void galaxies, as wellas for an additional 131 galaxies on the periphery of these voids. Herewe describe the photometry for the sample, including B isophotalmagnitudes and B-R colors. For the 149 galaxies that lie in regionsbelow the mean survey density, the luminosity functions in B and R arewell fit by Schechter functions with respective parameters(αB=-0.5+/-0.3, B*=-18.9+/-0.2) and(αR=-0.9+/-0.3, R*=-20.4+/-0.3). The Bluminosity function (LF) is consistent with typical survey LFs (e.g.,the Southern Sky Redshift Survey), and the R LF is consistent with theCentury Survey. The B and R LFs of 131 galaxies in the ``voidperiphery''-regions between the mean density and twice the mean-havesimilar Schechter parameters. The CfA2 LF is inconsistent with bothsamples at the 3.5 σ level. When we narrow our analysis to the 46galaxies in regions below half the mean density, the LF is significantlysteeper: α~-1.4+/-0.5. The typical survey LFs are inconsistentwith this subsample at the ~2 σ level. The B-R color distributionof galaxies in the lowest density regions is also shifted significantly(~3 σ) blueward of the higher density samples. The most luminousred galaxies (R<~-21) are absent from the lowest density regions at the2.5 σ level.
| Molecular Gas in Strongly Interacting Galaxies. I. CO (1-0) Observations
We present observations of the CO (1-0) line in 80 interacting galaxiesas part of a program to study the role of interactions and mergers intriggering starbursts. The sample, which only includes obviouslyinteracting pairs of galaxies, is the largest such sample observed inCO. The observations were carried out at the NRAO 12 m and IRAM 30 mtelescopes. CO emission was detected in 56 galaxies (of which 32 are newdetections), corresponding to a detection rate of 70%. Because mostgalaxies are slightly larger than the telescope beam, correction factorswere applied to include CO emission outside the beam. The correctionfactors were derived by fitting a Gaussian function or an exponential CObrightness distribution to galaxies with multiple pointings and byassuming an exponential model for galaxies with single pointing. Wecompared the global CO fluxes of 10 galaxies observed by us at bothtelescopes. We also compared the measured fluxes for another 10 galaxiesobserved by us with those by other authors using the NRAO 12 m and FCRAO14 m telescopes. These comparisons provide an estimate of the accuracyof our derived global fluxes, which is ~40%. Mapping observations of twoclose pairs of galaxies, UGC 594 (NGC 317) and UGC 11175 (NGC 6621), arealso presented. In subsequent papers we will report the statisticalanalyses of the molecular properties in our sample galaxies and makecomparisons between isolated spirals and interacting galaxies.
| Atlas of H alpha Emission of a Sample of Nearby Hickson Compact Groups of Galaxies
H alpha and adjacent continuum images are presented for a sample ofnearby groups of galaxies extracted from the Atlas of Compact Groups ofGalaxies. Also, more detailed H alpha maps of the most remarkablegalaxies are shown in this paper. A short description of the H alphaemission for each of the galaxies with accordant redshift is presentedtogether with a morphological classification of the accordant galaxiesin the sample. A large fraction of ellipticals and lenticulars weredetected in H alpha . Also, clear signs of interactions were found inseven of the groups, but in only in three of them was H alpha emissiondetected along the tidal features. Candidates of dwarf galaxies werefound at the tips of the tidal tails developed during the interactionsin these three groups.
| Enhanced Hα Emission in Early-Type Galaxies Belonging to Compact Groups
The results of Hα photometry of a sample of early-type galaxiesbelonging to nearby compact groups are presented. Over 75% of thegalaxies in the sample were detected in Hα, a result that we haveinterpreted as proof of the presence of a warm interstellar mediumwithin them. Comparing the Hα luminosities of the galaxies in oursample with those of a sample of early-type galaxies from the field, wehave found that field early-type galaxies are systematically fainter inHα than the compact group ones for a given B absolute magnitude byDeltalog(L_Hα/L_B)~0.5. We suggest that the excess in the Hαemission within the groups is due to photoionization of gas by Lymancontinuum photons emitted by massive stars. Recent massive starformation would be a consequence of the accretion by early-type galaxiesof gas from the outer envelopes of gas-rich galaxies experiencing closepassages across the group.
| 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.
| Observing Hickson galaxy groups.
Not Available
| An image database. II. Catalogue between δ=-30deg and δ=70deg.
A preliminary list of 68.040 galaxies was built from extraction of35.841 digitized images of the Palomar Sky Survey (Paper I). For eachgalaxy, the basic parameters are obtained: coordinates, diameter, axisratio, total magnitude, position angle. On this preliminary list, weapply severe selection rules to get a catalog of 28.000 galaxies, wellidentified and well documented. For each parameter, a comparison is madewith standard measurements. The accuracy of the raw photometricparameters is quite good despite of the simplicity of the method.Without any local correction, the standard error on the total magnitudeis about 0.5 magnitude up to a total magnitude of B_T_=17. Significantsecondary effects are detected concerning the magnitudes: distance toplate center effect and air-mass effect.
| Far infrared properties of Hickson compact groups of galaxies. I. High resolution IRAS maps and fluxes.
The Far Infrared (FIR) properties of galaxies which are members ofcompact groups bear relevant information on the dynamical status and thephysical properties of these structures. All studies published so farhave been undermined by the poor sensitivity and spatial resolution ofthe IRAS-PSC and IRAS Sky Survey data. We used the HIRAS softwareavailable at the IRAS server at the Laboratory for Space Research inGroningen to fully exploit the redundancy of the IRAS data and toapproach the theoretical diffraction limit of IRAS. Among the 97 groupswhich were observed by IRAS, 62 were detected in at least one band,while reliable upper limits were derived for all the others. Among thedetected groups, 49 were fully or partially resolved, i.e. it waspossible to discriminate which member or members emit most of the FIRlight. At 60μm, for instance, 87 individual sources were detected in62 groups. In order to ease the comparison with data obtained at otherwavelengths - and in particular in the X and radio domains - we giveco-added and HIRAS maps for all the detected groups.
| ROSAT observations of compact groups of galaxies
We have systematically analyzed a sample of 13 new and archival ROSATPosition Sensitive Proportional Counter (PSPC) observations of compactgroups of galaxies: 12 Hickson compact groups plus the NCG 2300 group.We find that approximately two-thirds of the groups have extended X-rayemission and, in four of these, the emission is resolved into diffuseemission from gas at a temperature of kT approximately 1 keV in thegroup potential. All but one of the groups with extended emission have aspiral fraction of less than 50%. The baryon fraction of groups withdiffuse emission is 5%-19%, similar to the values in clusters ofgalaxies. However, with a single exception (HCG 62), the gas-to-stellarmass ratio in our groups has a median value near 5%, somewhat greaterthan the values for individual early-type galaxies and two orders ofmagnitude than in clusters of galaxies. The X-ray luminosities ofindividual group galaxies are comparable to those of similar fieldgalaxies, although the LX-LB relation forearly-type galaxies may be flatter in compact groups than in the field.
| Deep Optical Observations of Compact Groups of Galaxies
Compact groups of galaxies appear to be extremely dense, making themlikely sites of intense galaxy interaction, while their smallpopulations make them relatively simple to analyze. In order to searchfor optical interaction tracers such as diffuse light and galaxy tidalfeatures in Hickson compact groups (HCGs), we carried out deepphotometry in three filters on a sample of HCGs with ROSAT observations.Using a modeling procedure to subtract the light of bright early-typegalaxies, we found shell systems and extended envelopes around many, butnot all, of those galaxies. Only one group in our sample, HCG 94, hasdiffuse light in the group potential (with a luminosity of 7 L^*^); theother groups do not contain more than 113 L^*^ in diffuse light. Withthe exception of HCG 94 (which is the most x-ray-luminous HCG), we foundno correlation between the presence of shells or other tidal featuresand the x-ray luminosity of a group. Better predictors of detectablegroup x-ray emission are a low spiral fraction and belonging to a largergalaxy condensation-neither of which are correlated with opticaldisturbances in the group galaxies. No elliptical galaxies that areextremely optically luminous but x-ray faint are found to have shellsand very complex color structures. This is likely due to recent infallof gas-rich material into the galaxies, which would produce both thedisruption of stellar orbits and a significant amount of star formation.
| Morphology of galaxies in compact groups
We present the results of an isophotal analysis of 140 early-typegalaxies and a visual inspection of images of an additional 202 galaxiesin compact groups. This is essentially the entire sample of galaxies inthe subset of 92 Hickson compact groups which have at least threeaccordant members. About 12% of the elliptical galaxies have largercharacteristic radii and shallower surface brightness profiles thangalaxies of the same luminosity in less dense environments. The averageellipticity of elliptical galaxies in compact groups is a slowlyincreasing function of the metric radius, as it is for field andloose-group galaxies. No alignment is found among the major axes of thegalaxies and the major axis of the group. When combined with previouslypublished morphological, kinematic, radio, infrared, and colorinformation on the same galaxies, our data show that 43% of the galaxiesin the compact group sample show morphological and/or kinematicaldistortions indicative of interactions and/or mergers. About 32% of thegroups have three or more galaxies which show some sign of interaction.This is a lower limit, since for the great majority of the galaxies inthe groups, only imaging and low-resolution spectra are available. Forthe subsample of 16 groups for which published detailed kinematical dataare also available, the fraction of groups with three or more galaxiesin interaction is 75%. No correlation is found between the number ofinteracting galaxies in a group and the group velocity dispersion orcrossing time. These observations strongly support the view that compactgroups are systems of physically associated galaxies and not chancealignments of field, loose-group, or cluster galaxies. They also confirmthe importance of compact groups for studies of interactions and galaxyevolution. While the lack of a good control sample makes it difficult tomake quantitative comparisons for some aspects of this study, it isclear that the fraction of galaxies showing evidence of interactions ismuch higher in compact groups than in other environments.
| CO observations of Arp's interacting galaxies
We performed a (C-12)O (J= 1-0) line survey involving fifty fourinteracting galaxies from the Arp's Catalogue of Peculiar Galaxies, andcompared our results with various other data. The far infraredluminosities, as normalized by the CO luminosities, are much greater forinteracting galaxies than for normal galaxies. From correlations withthe interaction class we found that the molecular gas concentration inthe central few kpc is not necessarily enhanced by interaction. However,the efficiency of star formation from the molecular gas increasessignificantly with the interaction class, which results in an apparentincrease in the star-formation rate with the interaction class.
| The Structure and Dynamics of Elliptical Galaxies in Compact Groups
Abstract image available at:http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?1993ApJ...418...72Z&db_key=AST
| An interaction model for the formation of dwarf galaxies and 10 exp 8 solar mass clouds in spiral disks
Ten H I clouds with masses larger than 10 exp 8 solar masses in theinteracting galaxies IC 2163/NGC 2207 are identified. Twenty-eight otherinteracting pairs of galaxies with large knots or star formationstructures in their optical images are also tabulated. It is suggestedthat interactions can lead to the formation of greater than 10 solarmass clouds and young stellar regions in the outer parts of galacticdisks, and that some of these regions may become gravitationally bounddwarf galaxies if they are ejected in tidal arms. It is proposed thatthe key to the origin of clouds of greater than 10 exp 8 solar mass ininteracting systems lies in the high velocity dispersion of theinterstellar gas. Numerical N-body simulations of the interactinggalaxies suggest that the complete detachment of an unbound dwarf galaxyrequires a companion mass comparable to or larger than the galaxy mass.
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