Star Formation Histories of Early-Type Galaxies. I. Higher Order Balmer Lines as Age Indicators
We have obtained blue integrated spectra of 175 nearby early-typegalaxies, covering a wide range in galaxy velocity dispersion andemphasizing those with σ<100 km s-1. Galaxies havebeen observed both in the Virgo Cluster and in lower densityenvironments. The main goals are the evaluation of higher order Balmerlines as age indicators and differences in stellar populations as afunction of mass, environment, and morphology. In this first paper, ouremphasis is on presenting the methods used to characterize the behaviorof the Balmer lines through evolutionary population synthesis models.Lower σ galaxies exhibit a substantially greater intrinsicscatter, in a variety of line-strength indicators, than do higherσ galaxies, with the large intrinsic scatter setting in below aσ of 100 km s-1. Moreover, a greater contrast inscatter is present in the Balmer lines than in the lines of metalfeatures. Evolutionary synthesis modeling of the observed spectralindexes indicates that the strong Balmer lines found primarily among thelow-σ galaxies are caused by young age, rather than by lowmetallicity. Thus we find a trend between the population age and thecentral velocity dispersion, such that low-σ galaxies have youngerluminosity-weighted mean ages. We have repeated this analysis usingseveral different Balmer lines and find consistent results from onespectral indicator to another.
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Spectrophotometry of Nearby Field Galaxies: The Data
We have obtained integrated and nuclear spectra as well as U, B, Rsurface photometry for a representative sample of 196 nearby galaxies.These galaxies span the entire Hubble sequence in morphological type, aswell as a wide range of luminosities (MB=-14 to -22). Here wepresent the spectrophotometry for these galaxies. The selection of thesample and the U, B, R surface photometry is described in a companionpaper. Our goals for the project include measuring the current starformation rates and metallicities of these galaxies, and elucidatingtheir star formation histories, as a function of luminosity andmorphology. We thereby extend the work of Kennicutt to lower luminositysystems. We anticipate that our study will be useful as a benchmark forstudies of galaxies at high redshift. We describe the observing, datareduction, and calibration techniques and demonstrate that ourspectrophotometry agrees well with that of Kennicutt. The spectra spanthe range 3550-7250 Å at a resolution (FWHM) of ~6 Å andhave an overall relative spectrophotometric accuracy of ~+/-6%. Wepresent a spectrophotometric atlas of integrated and nuclear rest-framespectra as well as tables of equivalent widths and synthetic colors. Theatlas and tables of measurements will be made available electronically.We study the correlations of galaxy properties determined from thespectra and images. Our findings include: (1) galaxies of a givenmorphological class display a wide range of continuum shapes andemission-line strengths if a broad range of luminosities are considered,(2) emission-line strengths tend to increase and continua tend to getbluer as the luminosity decreases, and (3) the scatter on the generalcorrelation between nuclear and integrated Hα emission-linestrengths is large.
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Surface Photometry of Nearby Field Galaxies: The Data
We have obtained integrated spectra and multifilter photometry for arepresentative sample of ~200 nearby galaxies. These galaxies span theentire Hubble sequence in morphological type, as well as a wide range ofluminosities (MB=-14 to -22) and colors (B-R=0.4-1.8). Herewe describe the sample selection criteria and the U, B, R surfacephotometry for these galaxies. The spectrophotometric results will bepresented in a companion paper. Our goals for the project includemeasuring the current star formation rates and metallicity of thesegalaxies, and elucidating their star formation histories, as a functionof luminosity and morphology. We thereby extend the work of Kennicutt tolower luminosity systems. We anticipate that our study will be useful asa benchmark for studies of galaxies at high redshift. We discuss theobserving, data reduction, and calibration techniques and show that ourphotometry agrees well with previous work in those cases in whichearlier data are available. We present an atlas of images, radialsurface brightness profiles, and color profiles as well as tables ofderived parameters. The atlas and tables of measurements will be madeavailable electronically. We study the correlations of galaxy propertiesdetermined from the galaxy images. Our findings include the following:(1) colors determined within the effective radius correlate better withmorphological type than with MB and (2) 50% of thelow-luminosity galaxies are bluest in their centers.
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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.
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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.
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Galaxy coordinates. II. Accurate equatorial coordinates for 17298 galaxies
Using images of the Digitized Sky Survey we measured coodinates for17298 galaxies having poorly defined coordinates. As a control, wemeasured with the same method 1522 galaxies having accurate coordinates.The comparison with our own measurements shows that the accuracy of themethod is about 6 arcsec on each axis (RA and DEC).
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Groups of galaxies. III. Some empirical characteristics.
Not Available
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Cluster membership determinations from proper motion surveys
Not Available
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The fundamental plane of early-type galaxies: stellar populations and mass-to-light ratio.
We analyse the residuals to the fundamental plane (FP) of ellipticalgalaxies as a function of stellar-population indicators; these are basedon the line-strength parameter Mg_2_ and on UBVRI broad-band colors, andare partly derived from new observations. The effect of the stellarpopulations accounts for approximately half the observed variation ofthe mass-to-light ratio responsible for the FP tilt. The residual tiltcan be explained by the contribution of two additional effects: thedependence of the rotational support, and possibly that of the spatialstructure, on the luminosity. We conclude to a constancy of thedynamical-to-stellar mass ratio. This probably extends to globularclusters as well, but the dominant factor would be here the luminositydependence of the structure rather than that of the stellar population.This result also implies a constancy of the fraction of dark matter overall the scalelength covered by stellar systems. Our compilation ofinternal stellar kinematics of galaxies is appended.
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A Catalog of Stellar Velocity Dispersions. II. 1994 Update
A catalog of central velocity dispersion measurements is presented,current through 1993 September. The catalog includes 2474 measurementsof 1563 galaxies. A standard set of 86 galaxies is defined, consistingof galaxies with at least three reliable, concordant measurements. It issuggested that future studies observe some of these standard galaxies sothat different studies can be normalized to a consistent system. Allmeasurements are reduced to a normalized system using these standards.
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A revised catalog of CfA1 galaxy groups in the Virgo/Great Attractor flow field
A new identification of groups and clusters in the CfA1 Catalog ofHuchra et al. is presented, using a percolation algorithm to identifydensity enhancements. It is shown that in the resulting catalog,contamination by interlopers is significantly reduced. The Schechterluminosity function is redetermined, including the Malmquist bias.
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General study of group membership. II - Determination of nearby groups
We present a whole sky catalog of nearby groups of galaxies taken fromthe Lyon-Meudon Extragalactic Database. From the 78,000 objects in thedatabase, we extracted a sample of 6392 galaxies, complete up to thelimiting apparent magnitude B0 = 14.0. Moreover, in order to considersolely the galaxies of the local universe, all the selected galaxieshave a known recession velocity smaller than 5500 km/s. Two methods wereused in group construction: a Huchra-Geller (1982) derived percolationmethod and a Tully (1980) derived hierarchical method. Each method gaveus one catalog. These were then compared and synthesized to obtain asingle catalog containing the most reliable groups. There are 485 groupsof a least three members in the final catalog.
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A redshift survey toward a proposed void of galaxies suggested by the distribution of Abell clusters
A program of redshift measurements was carried out in a region of thesky in which a relative under-density of Abell clusters had been used toinfer the presence of a large (diameter about 40/h Mpc) void in thegeneral galaxy distribution. The purpose of this study was toinvestigate whether the large-scale distribution of galaxies is tracedby the distribution of rich clusters. Redshifts are presented for 308galaxies in the Zwicky Catalog in a 234 square degree region centered onR.A. about 2h, Decl. about 12 deg of which 229 have been newly measured.These data reveal a pattern of filamentary structure alternating withvoids of characteristic diameter about 25-30/h Mpc, throughout thevolume sampled. While the redshift data reveal an underdensity in thedistribution of galaxies in the general region suggested by the Abellcluster distribution, they do not support the existence there of a 40/hMpc diameter void.
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Isolated Triplets of Galaxies - a Complete Summary of Radial Velocities and Reduced Data
Not Available
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Cosmology from a galaxy group catalog. I - Binaries
A new, completely objective group-finding algorithm is described andapplied to the CfA redshift catalog. The binary galaxies are isolatedfor analysis. The assumptions underlying the analysis are (1) that lighttraces mass, (2) that our binary galaxy subsets are representative lighttracers, and (3) that the binary orbits are circular. The primary resultof the work is that the resulting bias-free binary catalogs are afunction of the assumed cosmological model. For virtually any inputvalue of Omega(0) in the range 0.01-5.00, there is a reasonablyconsistent interpretation of the CfA survey such that the specifiedvalue of Omega(0) can be derived from the binary sample obtained underthat interpretation. A secondary result is that the higher the inputvalue of Omega(0), the broader the intrinsic distribution in M/L, andhence the less valid the assumption that light traces mass.
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Individual and orbital masses of double galaxies
A list is given of individual estimates of the masses of 124 componentsof isolated pairs of galaxies from Turner's catalog for which there arepublished data on the velocity dispersions in the central parts of thegalaxies, on the width of the 21-cm radio line profile, and on theamplitude of the rotation curve of the galaxies. From the comparison ofthe orbital estimates of the mass with the sum of the individual massesof the double galaxies it is concluded that the bulk of the mass of thegalaxies is situated within their standard optical diameter A(25). Theconsidered observational data for the Turner galaxy pairs do not containany arguments for the hypothesis of massive halos. Good agreementbetween the orbital and individual estimates of the mass is observed foralmost circular motions of the galaxies in pairs with mean orbitaleccentricity 0.25.
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A catalog of stellar velocity dispersions. I - Compilation and standard galaxies
A catalog of central stellar velocity dispersion measurements ispresented, current through June 1984. The catalog includes 1096measurements of 725 galaxies. A set of 51 standard galaxies is definedwhich consists of galaxies with at least three reliable, concordantmeasurements. It is suggested that future studies observed some of thesestandard galaxies in the course of their observations so that differentstudies can be normalized to the same system. Previous studies arecompared with the derived standards to determine relative accuracies andto compute scale factors where necessary.
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A search for environmental effects on the optical properties of galaxies in groups
Environmental density-related modifications of basic optical properties(luminosities, sizes, axial ratios, and colors) of galaxies belonging toGeller and Huchra's (1983) groups have been investigated. Remarkably, itis found that the broad maxima of the distributions of luminosities anddiameters of spirals and the whole corresponding distributions oflenticulars tend to move to lower values as one goes to groups of highcompactness, whereas the luminosity-diameter relationship of spiralstends to become flatter. No color and axial ratio differences betweengalaxies of high- and low-compactness groups have been detected.
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A 21 centimeter line survey of a complete sample of interacting and isolated galaxies
The paper presents 21 cm line observations of a complete sample ofinteracting and isolated galaxies made with the National Radio AstronomyObservatory 91 and 43 m telescopes and the Arecibo 3035 m telescope. The21 cm line data are combined with a homogeneous set of optical data onangular diameters, axial ratios, magnitudes, and colors, and integralproperties are calculated for the galaxies in both samples. In thispaper, the sample selection procedures, the method of observation, thedata reduction, and the observational errors are described. Thedetection percentages are presented for both samples.
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A survey of galaxy redshifts. IV - The data
The complete list of the best available radial velocities for the 2401galaxies in the merged Zwicky-Nilson catalog brighter than 14.5mz and with b (II) above +40 deg or below -30 deg ispresented. Almost 60 percent of the redshifts are from the CfA surveyand are accurate to typically 35 km/s.
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Binary galaxie. I. A well-defined statistical sample.
Abstract image available at:http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?1976ApJ...208...20T&db_key=AST
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Colors and Magnitudes of Some Star Clusters in the Magellanic Clouds
Not Available
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