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Warm, Dense Molecular Gas in the ISM of Starbursts, LIRGs, and ULIRGs
The role of star formation in luminous and ultraluminous infraredgalaxies (LIRGs, LIR>=1011 LsolarULIRGs, LIR>=1012 Lsolar) is a hotlydebated issue: while it is clear that starbursts play a large role inpowering the IR luminosity in these galaxies, the relative importance ofpossible enshrouded AGNs is unknown. It is therefore important to betterunderstand the role of star-forming gas in contributing to the infraredluminosity in IR-bright galaxies. The J=3 level of 12CO lies33 K above ground and has a critical density of~1.5×104 cm-3. The 12CO J=3-2line serves as an effective tracer for warm, dense molecular gas heatedby active star formation. Here we report on 12CO J=3-2observations of 17 starburst spiral galaxies, LIRGs, and ULIRGs, whichwe obtained with the Heinrich Hertz Submillimeter Telescope on MountGraham, Arizona. Our main results are as follows. (1) We find a nearlylinear relation between the infrared luminosity and warm, densemolecular gas such that the infrared luminosity increases as the warm,dense molecular gas to the power 0.92; we interpret this to be roughlyconsistent with the recent results of Gao & Solomon. (2) We findLIR/MH2warm,dense ratios ranging from~38 to ~482 Lsolar/Msolar using a modifiedCO-H2 conversion factor of 8.3×1019cm-2 (K km s-1)-1 derived in thispaper.
| EGRET Upper Limits and Stacking Searches of Gamma-Ray Observations of Luminous and Ultraluminous Infrared Galaxies
We present a stacking analysis of EGRET γ-ray observations at thepositions of luminous and ultraluminous infrared galaxies. The latterwere selected from the recently presented HCN survey, which is thoughtto contain the most active star-forming regions of the universe.Different sorting criteria are used, and since there is no positivecollective detection of γ-ray emission from these objects, wedetermined both collective and individual upper limits. The uppermostexcess we find appears in the case of ULIRGs ordered by redshift, at avalue of 1.8 σ.
| HCN Survey of Normal Spiral, Infrared-luminous, and Ultraluminous Galaxies
We report systematic HCN J=1-0 (and CO) observations of a sample of 53infrared (IR) and/or CO-bright and/or luminous galaxies, including sevenultraluminous infrared galaxies, nearly 20 luminous infrared galaxies,and more than a dozen of the nearest normal spiral galaxies. This is thelargest and most sensitive HCN survey of galaxies to date. All galaxiesobserved so far follow the tight correlation between the IR luminosityLIR and the HCN luminosity LHCN initially proposedby Solomon, Downes, & Radford, which is detailed in a companionpaper. We also address here the issue of HCN excitation. There is noparticularly strong correlation between LHCN and the 12 μmluminosity; in fact, of all the four IRAS bands, the 12 μm luminosityhas the weakest correlation with the HCN luminosity. There is also noevidence of stronger HCN emission or a higher ratio of HCN and COluminosities LHCN/LCO for galaxies with excess 12μm emission. This result implies that mid-IR radiative pumping, orpopulating, of the J=1 level of HCN by a mid-IR vibrational transitionis not important compared with the collisional excitation by densemolecular hydrogen. Furthermore, large velocity gradient calculationsjustify the use of HCN J=1-0 emission as a tracer of high-densitymolecular gas (>~3×104/τcm-3) andgive an estimate of the mass of dense molecular gas from HCNobservations. Therefore, LHCN may be used as a measure of thetotal mass of dense molecular gas, and the luminosity ratioLHCN/LCO may indicate the fraction of moleculargas that is dense.
| Theoretical Modeling of the Diffuse Emission of Gamma Rays from Extreme Regions of Star Formation: The Case of ARP 220
Our current understanding of ultraluminous infrared galaxies suggeststhat they are recent galaxy mergers in which much of the gas in theformer spiral disks, particularly that located at distances less than 5kpc from each of the premerger nuclei, has fallen into a common center,triggering a huge starburst phenomenon. This large nuclear concentrationof molecular gas has been detected by many groups, and estimates ofmolecular mass and density have been made. Not surprisingly, theseestimates were found to be orders of magnitude larger than thecorresponding values found in our Galaxy. In this paper, aself-consistent model of the high-energy emission of the superstarburstgalaxy Arp 220 is presented. The model also provides an estimate of theradio emission from each of the components of the central region of thegalaxy (western and eastern extreme starbursts and molecular disk). Thepredicted radio spectrum is found as a result of the synchrotron andfree-free emission and absorption of the primary and secondary steadypopulation of electrons and positrons. The latter is the output ofcharged pion decay and knock-on leptonic production, subject to a fullset of losses in the interstellar medium. The resulting radio spectrumis in agreement with subarcsecond radio observations, which is whatallows us to estimate the magnetic field. In addition, the FIR emissionis modeled with dust emissivity, and the computed FIR photon density isused as a target for inverse Compton process as well as to give anaccount of losses in the γ-ray escape. Bremsstrahlung emission andneutral pion decay are also computed, and the γ-ray spectrum isfinally predicted. Future possible observations with GLAST and theground-based Cerenkov telescopes are discussed.
| Luminous Infrared Galaxies as Plausible Gamma-Ray Sources for the Gamma-Ray Large Area Space Telescope and the Imaging Atmospheric Cerenkov Telescopes
We argue that luminous infrared galaxies may constitute a newlydetectable population of γ-ray sources for the next generation ofground- and space-based high-energy telescopes. In addition, we reportfor the first time upper limits on their fluxes using data obtained withthe EGRET telescope.
| The Star Formation Rate and Dense Molecular Gas in Galaxies
HCN luminosity is a tracer of dense molecular gas,n(H2)>~3×104cm-3, associatedwith star-forming giant molecular cloud (GMC) cores. We present theresults and analysis of our survey of HCN emission from 65 infraredgalaxies, including nine ultraluminous infrared galaxies (ULIGs,LIR>~1012Lsolar), 22 luminousinfrared galaxies (LIGs,1011Lsolar0.06 are LIGs or ULIGs. Normal spiralsall have similar and low dense gas fractionsLHCN/LCO=0.02-0.05. The global star formationefficiency depends on the fraction of the molecular gas in a densephase.
| M/L, Hα Rotation Curves, and H I Measurements for 329 Nearby Cluster and Field Spirals. I. Data
A survey of 329 nearby galaxies (redshift z<0.045) has been conductedto study the distribution of mass and light within spiral galaxies overa range of environments. The 18 observed clusters and groups span arange of richness, density, and X-ray temperature and are supplementedby a set of 30 isolated field galaxies. Optical spectroscopy taken withthe 200 inch (5 m) Hale Telescope provides separately resolved Hαand [N II] major-axis rotation curves for the complete set of galaxies,which are analyzed to yield velocity widths and profile shapes, extents,and gradients. H I line profiles provide an independent velocity widthmeasurement and a measure of H I gas mass and distribution. I-bandimages are used to deconvolve profiles into disk and bulge components,to determine global luminosities and ellipticities, and to checkmorphological classification. These data are combined to form a unifieddata set ideal for the study of the effects of environment upon galaxyevolution.
| The PDS versus Markarian starburst galaxies: comparing strong and weak IRAS emitter at 12 and 25 μm in the nearby Universe
The characteristics of the starburst galaxies from the Pico dos Diassurvey (PDS) are compared with those of the nearby ultraviolet (UV)bright Markarian starburst galaxies, having the same limit in redshift(vh < 7500 km s-1) and absolute B magnitude(MB < -18). An important difference is found: theMarkarian galaxies are generally undetected at 12 and 25 μm in IRAS.This is consistent with the UV excess shown by these galaxies andsuggests that the youngest star-forming regions dominating thesegalaxies are relatively free of dust.The far-infrared selection criteria for the PDS are shown to introduce astrong bias towards massive (luminous) and large size late-type spiralgalaxies. This is contrary to the Markarian galaxies, which are found tobe remarkably rich in smaller size early-type galaxies. These resultssuggest that only late-type spirals with a large and massive disc arestrong emitters at 12 and 25 μm in IRAS in the nearby Universe.The Markarian and PDS starburst galaxies are shown to share the sameenvironment. This rules out an explanation of the differences observedin terms of external parameters. These differences may be explained byassuming two different levels of evolution, the Markarian being lessevolved than the PDS galaxies. This interpretation is fully consistentwith the disc formation hypothesis proposed by Coziol et al. to explainthe special properties of the Markarian SBNG.
| 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.
| The gas content of peculiar galaxies: Counterrotators and polar rings
This paper studies the global ISM content in a sample of 104 accretinggalaxies, including counterrotators and polar rings, which spans theentire Hubble sequence. The molecular, atomic and hot gas content ofaccretors is compared to a newly compiled sample of normal galaxies. Wepresent results of a small survey of the J=1-0 line of 12COwith the 15 m SEST telescope on a sample of 11 accretors (10counterrotators and 1 polar ring). The SEST sample is enlarged withpublished data from 48 galaxies, for which observational evidence ofcounterrotation in the gas and/or the stars has been found. Furthermore,the available data on a sample of 46 polar ring galaxies has beencompiled. In order to explore the existence of an evolutionary pathlinking the two families of accretors, the gas content ofcounterrotators and polar rings is compared. It was found that thenormalized content of cold gas (Mgas/LB) in polarrings is ~ 1 order of magnitude higher than the reference value derivedfor normal galaxies. The inferred gas masses are sufficient to stabilizepolar rings through self-gravity. In contrast, it was found that thecold gas content of counterrotators is close to normal for all galaxytypes. Although counterrotators and polar rings probably share a commonorigin, the gas masses estimated here confirm that light gas ringsaccreted by future counterrotators may have evolved faster than theself-gravitating structures of polar rings. In this scenario, thetransformation of atomic into molecular gas could be enhanced near thetransition region between the prograde and the retrograde disks,especially in late-type accretors characterized by a high content ofprimordial gas. This is tentatively confirmed in this work: the measuredH2/HI ratio seems larger in counterrotators than in normal orpolar ring galaxies for types later than S0s. Based on observationscollected at SEST telescope, European Southern Observatory, La Silla,Chile. Table 1 is only available in electronic form athttp://www.edpsciences.org
| The visible environment of galaxies with counterrotation
In this paper we present a statistical study of the environments of 49galaxies in which there is gas- or stellar-counterrotation. The numberof possible companions in the field (to apparent magnitude 22), theirsize and concentration were considered. All the statistical parameterswere analysed by means of Kolgomorov-Smirnov tests, using a controlsample of 43 galaxies without counterrotation. From our data, nosignificant differences between the counter-rotating and control samplesappear. This is different to Seyfert or radio-loud galaxies which lie inenvironments with a higher density of companions. On the contrary, if aweak tendency exists, for galaxies with gas counterrotation only, it isdiscovered in regions of space where the large scale density of galaxiesis smaller. Our results tend to disprove the hypothesis thatcounterrotation and polar rings derive from a recent interaction with asmall satellite or a galaxy of similar size. To a first approximation,they seem to follow the idea that all galaxies are born through a mergerprocess of smaller objects occurring very early in their life, or thatthey derive from a continuous, non-traumatic infall of gas that formedstars later. Whatever the special machinery is which producescounterrotation or polar rings instead of a co-planar, co-rotatingdistribution of gas and stars, it seems not to be connected to thepresent galaxy density of their environments.
| Circumnuclear structure and kinematics in the active galaxy NGC 6951
A study is presented of the central structure and kinematics of thegalaxy NGC 6951, by means of broad band B{\arcminIJK} images and highresolution high dispersion longslit spectroscopy, together with archivalHST WFPC2 V and NICMOS2 J and H images. We find that there is littleongoing star formation inside the bar dominated region of the galaxy,except for the circumnuclear ring at 5 arcsec radius. There is someevidence that this star formation occurs in two modes, in bursts andcontinuously, along the ring and inwards, towards the nucleus. Theequivalent width of the Ca Ii triplet absorption lines show that, in themetal rich central region, the continuum is dominated by a population ofred supergiants, while red giants dominate outside. The gaseouskinematics along three slit position angles, and the comparison with thestellar kinematics, suggest the existence of a hierarchy of disks withindisks, whose dynamics are decoupled at the two inner Linblad resonances(ILR), that we find to be located at 180 pc and at 1100 pc. This issupported by the structure seen in the high resolution HST images. Thenucleus is spatially resolved in the emission line ratio [N Ii]/Hα, and in the FWHM of the emission lines, within a radius of1.5{\arcsec}, just inside the innermost ILR. Outside the iILR, thestellar CaT velocity profile is resolved into two different components,associated with the bar and the disk. Several results indicate that thisis a dynamically old system: the little ongoing star formation insidethe bar dominated part of the galaxy, the very large relative amount ofmolecular to total mass within the inner 6 arcsec radius, ~ 25%, and thegeometry of the circumnuclear ring that leads the stellar bar at aposition angle greater than 90°. It is thus possible that a nuclearbar has existed in NGC 6951 that drove the gas towards the nucleus, asin the bars within bars scenario, but that this bar has alreadydissolved by the gas accumulated within the circumnuclear region. Wediscuss the possibility that the kinematical component inside the iILRcould be due to a nuclear outflow produced by the combined effects of SNand SN remnants, or to a nuclear disk, as in the disk within diskscenario that we propose for the fueling of the AGN in NGC 6951. Basedon observations made with the 4.2m William Herschel Telescope operatedby the Isaac Newton Group, and the 2.6m Nordic Optical Telescopeoperated jointly by Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden, onthe island of La Palma in the Spanish Observatorio del Roque de losMuchachos of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias. Also basedon observations made with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, obtainedfrom the data archive at the ESA Space Telescope European CoordinatingFacility.
| 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.
| Stars, H II regions, and shocked gas in the bar of NGC 1530
We analyse long slit spectra taken along and perpendicular to the bar ofthe galaxy NGC 1530. Our data show that the H ii regions, around youngmassive stars that form in the shock-compressed gas, share the samekinematics as the molecular gas in the x_2 orbits at the center of thegalaxy. Along the bar, the H ii regions are in the post-shock zone,downstream of the dust lanes that contain molecular gas. Outside of theH ii regions in the bar is faint, diffuse, ionized gas with a lowHα / [NII] and Hα / [SII] line ratio, which confirms thepresence of shocks in the bar and supports a shock origin of the dustlanes. The measured spatial variation of the Hα and [NII] lineintensity is consistent with the distribution of molecular gas along thedust lanes and its high concentration near the first inner Lindbladresonance. From an I-B image, we derive the surface brightness along thebar which we interpret as the stellar distribution. We use these data toestimate the mass in the various structural components of the bar. Themass of the stars and gas in the bar is 4x 10(10) M_sun, or 12% of thetotal mass of the galaxy.
| The Pico DOS Dias Survey Starburst Galaxies
We discuss the nature of the galaxies found in the Pico dos Dias Survey(PDS) for young stellar objects. The PDS galaxies were selected from theIRAS Point Source catalog. They have flux density of moderate or highquality at 12, 25, and 60 μm and spectral indices in the ranges -3.00<= alpha(25, 12) <= + 0.35 and -2.50 <= alpha(60, 25) <=+0.85. These criteria allowed the detection of 382 galaxies, which are amixture of starburst and Seyfert galaxies. Most of the PDS Seyfertgalaxies are included in the catalog of warm IRAS sources by de Grijp etal. The remaining galaxies constitute a homogeneous sample of luminous[log F (L_B/L_ȯ) = 9.9 +/- 0.4] starburst galaxies, 67% of whichwere not recognized as such before. The starburst nature of the PDSgalaxies is established by comparing their L_IR/L_B ratios and IRAScolors with a sample of emission-line galaxies from the literaturealready classified as starburst galaxies. The starburst galaxies show anexcess of FIR luminosity, and their IRAS colors are significantlydifferent from those of Seyfert galaxies-99% of the starburst galaxiesin our sample have a spectral index alpha(60, 25) < -1.9. As opposedto Seyfert galaxies, very few PDS starbursts are detected in X-rays. Inthe infrared, the starburst galaxies form a continuous sequence withnormal galaxies. But they generally can be distinguished from normalgalaxies by their spectral index alpha(60, 25) > -2.5. This colorcutoff also marks a change in the dominant morphologies of the galaxies:the normal IRAS galaxies are preferentially late-type spirals (Sb andlater), while the starbursts are more numerous among early-type spirals(earlier than Sbc). This preference of starbursts for early-type spiralsis not new, but a trait of the massive starburst nucleus galaxies(Coziol et al.). As in other starburst nucleus galaxy samples, the PDSstarbursts show no preference for barred galaxies. No difference isfound between the starbursts detected in the FIR and those detected onthe basis of UV excess. The PDS starburst galaxies represent the FIRluminous branch of the UV-bright starburst nucleus galaxies, with meanFIR luminosity log (L_IR/L_ȯ) = 10.3 +/- 0.5 and redshifts smallerthan 0.1. They form a complete sample limited in flux in the FIR at 2 x10^-10 ergs cm^-2 s^-1.
| Kinematics of the local universe. VII. New 21-cm line measurements of 2112 galaxies
This paper presents 2112 new 21-cm neutral hydrogen line measurementscarried out with the meridian transit Nan\c cay radiotelescope. Amongthese data we give also 213 new radial velocities which complement thoselisted in three previous papers of this series. These new measurements,together with the HI data collected in LEDA, put to 6 700 the number ofgalaxies with 21-cm line width, radial velocity, and apparent diameterin the so-called KLUN sample. Figure 5 and Appendices A and B forcorresponding comments are available in electronic form at thehttp://www.edpsciences.com
| 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
| Bright galaxies from WENSS. I. The minisurvey
A search for bright galaxies associated with radio sources from theWENSS minisurvey has been carried out. A galaxy counterpart was foundfor 402 of almost 10,000 radio sources. Of these a radio and opticallycomplete sample, with a flux density limit at 325 MHz of 30 mJy and alimiting red magnitude of 16, can be constructed, which contains 119galaxies. This paper is the first step of a more general study, in whichwe aim to derive a bright galaxy sample from the entire WENSS survey(which is now available in the public domain) and thus to constructpractically definitive local radio luminosity functions of ellipticaland spiral galaxies. We briefly describe the WENSS minisurvey, and thesteps that are needed for the optical identification of its radiosources. Due to the large numbers of sources involved (over 200,000)completely automated procedures are obviously needed and we discussthese in some detail. It is shown that with modern utilities projects asdescribed here have become quite feasible. Some results (e.g. apreliminary determination of the local radio luminosity function) arepresented. Table 1 is only available in electronic form at the CDS viaanonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/Abstract.html
| A 1.425 GHz Atlas of the IRAS Bright Galaxy Sample, Part II
Galaxies with δ >= -45^deg^ and |b| >= 10^deg^ in the IRASBright Galaxy Sample, Part II, were observed at 1.425 GHz by the VeryLarge Array in its B, CnB, C, DnC, and D configurations. An atlas ofradio contour maps and a table listing the principal radio sourceparameters (position, flux density, angular size) are given. This atlasof 187 galaxies supplements the 1.49 GHz atlas of 313 galaxies in therevised Bright Galaxy Sample, Part I. Together, they are complete forextragalactic sources stronger than S = 5.24Jy at λ = 60 micronsin the area |b| > 10^deg^, δ > -45^deg^. To the extent thatthe far-infrared and radio brightness distributions overlap, these radiomaps provide the most accurate positions and high-resolution images ofthe brightest extragalactic far-infrared sources.
| The analysis of the barred galaxy NGC 6701.
We present broad band and Hα photometry as well as long slitspectroscopy at four different position angles for the barred Sa galaxyNGC 6701. The images show a very prominent diamond-shaped bar lyingalmost along the disc minor axis. The bar is especially bright along themost external regions of its major axis. The signature of star formingprocesses can be seen in those regions by their bluer colors and alsofrom the Hα image. Two distinct dust lanes trace the inner sidesof these bright features. The spectroscopic results point to thepresence of shocks along the dust lanes, in agreement with somenumerical simulations of barred galaxies. In fact, the properties of NGC6701 resemble those found in simulations quite well. The kinematicalanalysis of NGC 6701 shows a perturbed rotation curve. This galaxy showsmany of the signs supposed to be consequences of interaction. We reportthe redshift of a nearby, small galaxy, which turns out to be a physicalcompanion to NGC 6701. The redshift difference is only 145 km/s and theprojected distance is 73kpc (with H_0_=75km/s/Mpc). The peculiarities inNGC 6701 could thus be produced by the interaction with this smallcompanion.
| The FCRAO Extragalactic CO Survey. I. The Data
Emission from the CO molecule at λ = 2.6 mm has been observed at1412 positions in 300 galaxies using the 14 m telescope of the FiveCollege Radio Astronomy Observatory (HPBW = 45"); these data comprisethe FCRAO Extragalactic CO Survey. In this paper we describe the galaxysample, present the data, and determine global CO fluxes and radialdistributions for the galaxies in the Survey. Future papers will dealwith the data analysis, both with regard to the global properties ofgalaxies and the radial distributions within them. CO emission wasdetected in 236 of the 300 Survey galaxies for an overall detection rateof 79%; among the 52 Sc galaxies in the Survey, the detection rate wasas high as 96%. most of the 193 galaxies observed in multiple positionsexhibit CO distributions which peak at the center. However, a smallnumber (10-primarily Sb galaxies) exhibit CO rings at 45" resolution,and a similar number (18-primarily Sc galaxies) have CO distributionswhich peak on one side of the center. We derive CO isophotal diametersfor 151 galaxies and find the mean ratio of CO to optical isophotaldiameters to be 0.5. We also find a trend along the Hubble sequence suchthat the mean ratio of CO to optical isophotal diameters is smallestamong the early-type spirals (SO/a, Sa, and Sab) and the mean ratioincreases for Sb, Sbc, and Sc galaxies, finally decreasing among thelater types. Comparison of the global fluxes we derive for the Surveygalaxies with independent measurements from the literature indicatesthat the global fluxes we derive are accurate to ~40%.
| Optical Spectroscopy of Luminous Infrared Galaxies. II. Analysis of the Nuclear and Long-Slit Data
A spectroscopic survey of a sample of 200 luminous IRAS galaxies (LIGs:L_ir_^7^ > 3 x 10^10^ L_sun_; H_0_ = 75 km s^-1^ Mpc^-1^) was carriedout using the Palomar 5 meter and University of Hawaii 2.2 m telescopes.Kim et al. (1995) described the data-taking and data-reductionprocedures and presented line and continuum measurements extracted fromthe nucleus of these objects. In this paper, the nuclear data arecombined with circumnuclear measurements on 23 of these galaxies toinvestigate the properties of the line-emitting gas and underlyingstellar population in and out of the nucleus. The nuclear spectra ofthese galaxies were classified as H II region-like" or "AGN-like" usinga large number of line-ratio diagnostics corrected for the underlyingstellar absorption features. This correction is an important source oferrors in some previous studies. The emission-line spectra of many AGNswere found to-be of relatively low ionization level and were thereforeclassified as LINER. We confirm that both the fraction of LIGs with AGNspectra and the fraction of Seyferts among the AGN increase withinfrared luminosity, reaching values of 62% and 54% at the highestobserved luminosities, respectively. The fraction of LINERs, on theother hand, is relatively constant at ~27%. The source of the ionizationof the emission-line gas often is a function of the distance from thenucleus. Based on the emission-line ratios and the strengths of thestellar absorption features, circumnuclear starburst activity is acommon feature of LIGs, regardless of their nuclear spectral types. Theemission-line, absorption-line, continuum, radio, and IRAS properties ofthe LINERs suggest that most of the LINER emission in theseinfrared-selected galaxies is produced through shock ionization ratherthan photoionization by a genuine active nucleus. The nuclear region ofSeyfert LIGs is found to be slightly less reddened than that of theLINERs and H II galaxies. The dust distribution generally isconcentrated toward the nucleus, in agreement with the often peakydistribution of the molecular gas observed in these galaxies. Inverteddust profiles in which the nucleus appears less dusty than thecircumnuclear region are observed in only three LIGs, all of which haveAGN emission-line characteristics (one Seyfert 2 galaxy and two LINERs).Low nuclear dust content appears to favor the detection of activenuclei. This may be due to selection effects or may reflect realphysical differences between these classes of objects: galaxies withSeyfert emission lines may be at a more advanced stage of dustdestruction/expulsion than H II LIGs. Complex optical depth effects mayalso explain these results without invoking a smaller amount of dust inthe nucleus. The Hβ and Mg I b absorption features are stronger inthe nuclei of AGNs (especially among the LINERs) than in H II LIGs,suggesting that AGN LIGs are at a more advanced stage of stellarevolution than H II LIGs. Further support for this scenario comes fromthe fact that AGNs are found more frequently in advanced mergers than HII galaxies (only two Seyfert galaxies are detected in systems withwell-separated nuclei). However, this last result may be a luminosityeffect rather than an effect related to the dominant nuclear source ofionization. Moreover, the absorption-line data may simply reflect thefact that galaxies with powerful H II regions show evidence for youngstars while galaxies with AGNs do not. The radial variations of theHβ and Mg I b absorption features indicate the presence of a strongsource of featureless continuum in the nucleus of nearly all LIGs,regardless of their nuclear spectral types. Contamination by thecircumnuclear starburst prevents us from determining the extent of thiscontinuum source. The [O III] profiles of both Seyfert and LINER LIGswere found to be broader on average than those of H II objects. Nearly20% of the LIGs in our sample have line widths larger than 600 km s^-1^.We find that most of the galaxies in which we could determine the radialvariations of the [O III] line width present broader profiles in thecircumnuclear region than at the nucleus. When combined with publisheddata on a few other well-studied LIGs, these results suggest thatlarge-scale nuclear winds are common in these objects and are anefficient way of getting rid of the obscuring material in the nuclearregion. The spatially extended LINER emission observed in many of theseobjects is probably due to shock ionization resulting from theinteraction of the wind-accelerated gas with the ambient material of thehost galaxy.
| Optical Spectroscopy of Luminous Infrared Galaxies. I. Nuclear Data
A spectroscopic survey of a large sample of luminous infrared galaxies[log (L_ir_/L_sun_)^7^ ~ 10.5-12.5; H_0_ = 75 km s^-1^ Mpc^-1^] has beencarried out using the Palomar 5 m telescope,, and the University ofHawaii 2.2 m telescope. Long-slit spectra covering 375o-8000 A at aresolution of ~10 A were obtained of 200 IRAS galaxies, including 114objects from the IRAS Bright Galaxy Survey, and 86 objects with fainterinfrared fluxes selected on the basis of their "warm" far-infrared(S_60_/S_100_) colors. The methods of observation and data reduction arediscussed. An atlas of the spectra extracted from the nuclear region ofthese objects is presented along with a large number of parametersdescribing the properties of the emission lines, the stellar absorptionlines, and the continuum emission that were measured from the spectra.An analysis of these data is presented in a companion paper (Veilleux etal. 1995) along with a discussion of the spatial variations of theseparameters in a subsample of twenty-three objects.
| The IRAS Bright Galaxy Survey - Part II: Extension to Southern Declinations (delta ~< -30), and Low Galactic Latitudes (f<|b|
Complete IRAS Observations and redshifts are reported for all sourcesidentified in the IRAS Bright Galaxy Survey-Part II (hereafter referredto as BGS_2_). Source positions, radial velocities, optical magnitudes,and total flux densities, peak flux densities, and spatial extents at12, 25, and 100 ,microns are reported for 288 sources having 60 micronflux densities > 5.24 Jy, the completeness limit of the originalBright Galaxy Survey [Soifer et al., AJ, 98,766(1989)], hereafterreferred to as BGS_1_. These new data represent the extension of theIRAS Bright Galaxy Survey to southern declinations,δ<~-30^deg^, and low Galactic latitudes,5^deg^<|b|<30^deg^. Although the sky coverage of the BGS_2_ (~19935 deg^2^) is 37% larger than the sky coverage of the BGS_1_, thenumber of sources is 8% smaller due primarily to large scale structurein the local distribution of galaxies. Otherwise, the sources in theBGS_2_ show similar relationships between number counts and flux densityas observed for the 313 sources in the BGS_1_. The BGS_2_ along with theearlier BGS, represents the best sample currently available for definingthe infrared properties of galaxies in the local (z <~ 0.1) Universe.
| The CO and HI emission of spiral and lenticular galaxies in the Fornax cluster.
We present a ^12^CO(1-0) and HI survey of the spirals and lenticulars inthe nearby southern cluster of galaxies Fornax. We have not found anyevidence for a strong HI deficiency in this cluster, which shows weakX-ray emission. However, three lenticular galaxies located near thecluster centre, NGC 1380, NGC 1386 and NGC 1387, present some HIdeficiency with an HI content respectively 50, 25 and 16 times timeslower than expected. On the other hand, the CO emission of Fornaxgalaxies is weak in general and we have clear detections of only 11galaxies out of 21 observed. We have found that on the average, lessthan 10 percent of the gas in these galaxies is in the molecular phase,if the CO to H_2_ conversion factor has the same value as in our galaxy.We have compared these results with those of other extragalactic surveysand found that such low H_2_ contents are characteristic of samples thatare not selected on a far-infrared criterion. In particular the nearbygalaxies surveyed by Sage (1993a, b) also have a low CO emission,although to a lesser level. The low molecular gas content of Fornaxgalaxies is consistent with their low star formation activity suggestedby their low far-infrared and nonthermal radiocontinuum emissions. Wehave made optical spectroscopical observations of the two CO-poorHI-rich spirals NGC 1350 and 1425 and have found that those galaxieshave weak Hα emission. We have also mapped the CO(1-0) and (2-1)emission of the interacting spiral NGC 1532. The CO distribution showstwo maxima at 7kpc radius, compatible with the presence of a molecularring. As most of Fornax spirals NGC 1532 is very poor in molecular gassince it contains about 30 times less H_2_ than HI.
| A volume-limited sample of IRAS galaxies to 4000 km/s, 3: CCD photometry from Palomar and Tololo observatories
An all-sky, quasi-volume-limited sample of 251 spiral galaxies within4000 km/s has been extracted from the redshift survey of InfraredAstronomy Satellite (IRAS) galaxies by Strauss (1992). Distance modulifor these objects estimated via the Tully-Fisher (TF) method allow thepeculiar velocity field and the cosmological density parameter to beconstrained within this volume. The TF relation we exploit relatesdeprojected neutral hydrogen line width to near-infrared luminosity.Herein we present I and V band photometry for 159 members of this sampleobtained with charge coupled device (CCD) cameras at Palomar and Tololoobservatories. Image processing and photometric calibration proceduresare described. Twenty seven objects with multiple calibratedobservations suggest that isophotal I band magnitudes are reproduced toequal to or less than 0.05 mag precision at sigmaI = 23.5 magarcsec-2, and that systematic run-to-run offsets are limitedto equal to or less than 0.05 I mag.
| Hydroxyl in galaxies. I - Surveys with the NRAO 300 FT telescope
Results are presented of a search for 1667- and 1665-MHz mainline OHtransitions for 321 galaxies, which were observed during four separatesessions at the NRAO 300-ft telescope in the period 1984-1987. Threedetections of OH megamasers are reported, as well as detections of threenew OH absorption sources. The observational sample contains sourcesfrom a variety of catalogs and represents different criteria. Theresults for the whole sample confirm that FIR luminosity and colorcriteria used for these surveys are indeed optimized for findingmegamasers. The results also confirm that detecting distant highluminosity OH megamasers is considerably more successful than findingnearby weak masers.
| Molecular gas in luminous infrared galaxies
Radio observations of 60 bright IRAS galaxies with redshifts of1500-25,000 km/sec are reported. Data obtained in the 1-0 line of COusing the 12-m NRAO radio telescope during 1985-1988 are presented inextensive tables, graphs, and line profiles and analyzed along withsimilar data on 29 less distant IRAS bright galaxies (Tinney et al.,1990). The galaxies are found to have H2 masses of (1-60) x 10 to the9th solar mass and a mean ratio of H2 to warm dust of 540 + or - 290,corresponding to a total gas/dust ratio of 900-1100. The discrepancybetween this value and that for the Galaxy (about 150) is tentativelyattributed to the presence of undetected cold dust or errors ininterpreting the IR data. The mechanisms which might be responsible forthe high ratios of IR luminosity to H2 mass (2-220 solar luminosity persolar mass) are discussed.
| A volume-limited sample of IRAS galaxies to 4000 km/s. I - Neutral hydrogen observations from Jodrell Bank
A volume-limited catalog is constructed of normal spiral galaxies withinthe redshift interval 0-4000 km/s and brighter than 1.9 Jy at 60 micronsto study relationships between fundamental galaxy properties and to mapto the peculiar velocity field. Observations of 57 galazies are reportedfrom this sample at Jodrell Bank, 42 of which resulted in detections,and study relationships between far-IR and neutral hydrogen properties.Gas and dynamical or halo mass are well correlated with each other andmoderately so with far IR luminosity. A decrease in dynamical mass withincreasing far-color temperature suggests that less massive, later-typesystems enjoy higher specific star-formation rates.
| An 18-cm OH and 21-cm H I survey of luminous far-infrared galaxies. II - H I properties
As a part of the present 18-cm OH and 21-cm H I survey of luminousfar-infrared galaxies, the paper provides H I data obtained at Nancayfor 88 IRAS galaxies, with FIR luminosity above 10 to the 10th solarluminosity. Among them, 64 are measured here for the first time. Whenrestricting to radial velocities smaller than 11,000 km/s, the detectionrate is equal to 85 percent, independent of the distance. These galaxiesappear as giant ones in dimension, total mass and total blue luminosity.All these parameters increase with increasing FIR luminosity. ExtremeFIR luminosity is thus related to gigantism, which could be the resultof mergers. These galaxies are also deficient in their relative H Icontent, in the sense that their global relative H I content issignificantly smaller than in classical galaxies of the Hubble sequence.
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