Contents
Images
Upload your image
DSS Images Other Images
Related articles
Late-Time Radio Observations of 68 Type Ibc Supernovae: Strong Constraints on Off-Axis Gamma-Ray Bursts
We present late-time radio observations of 68 local Type Ibc supernovae,including six events with broad optical absorption lines(``hypernovae''). None of these objects exhibit radio emissionattributable to off-axis gamma-ray burst jets spreading into our line ofsight. Comparison with our afterglow models reveals the followingconclusions. (1) Less than ~10% of Type Ibc supernovae are associatedwith typical gamma-ray bursts initially directed away from our line ofsight; this places an empirical constraint on the GRB beaming factor of<~104, corresponding toan average jet opening angle, θj>~0.8d. (2) Thisholds in particular for the broad-lined supernovae (SNe 1997dq, 1997ef,1998ey, 2002ap, 2002bl, and 2003jd), which have been argued to host GRBjets. Our observations reveal no evidence for typical (or evensubenergetic) GRBs and rule out the scenario in which every broad-linedSN harbors a GRB at the 84% confidence level. Their large photosphericvelocities and asymmetric ejecta (inferred from spectropolarimetry andnebular spectroscopy) appear to be characteristic of the nonrelativisticSN explosion and do not necessarily imply the existence of associatedGRB jets.
| Low-Luminosity Active Galaxies and Their Central Black Holes
Central black hole masses for 117 spiral galaxies representingmorphological stages S0/a through Sc and taken from the largespectroscopic survey of Ho et al. are derived using Ks-banddata from the Two Micron All Sky Survey. Black hole masses are foundusing a calibrated black hole-Ks bulge luminosity relation,while bulge luminosities are measured by means of a two-dimensionalbulge-disk decomposition routine. The black hole masses are correlatedagainst a variety of parameters representing properties of the nucleusand host galaxy. Nuclear properties such as line width (FWHM [N II]), aswell as emission-line ratios (e.g., [O III]/Hβ, [O I]/Hα, [NII]/Hα, and [S II]/Hα), show a very high degree ofcorrelation with black hole mass. The excellent correlation with linewidth supports the view that the emission-line gas is in virialequilibrium with either the black hole or bulge potential. The very goodemission-line ratio correlations may indicate a change in ionizingcontinuum shape with black hole mass in the sense that more massiveblack holes generate harder spectra. Apart from theinclination-corrected rotational velocity, no excellent correlations arefound between black hole mass and host galaxy properties. Significantdifferences are found between the distributions of black hole masses inearly-, mid-, and late-type spiral galaxies (subsamples A, B, and C) inthe sense that early-type galaxies have preferentially larger centralblack holes, consistent with observations that Seyfert galaxies arefound preferentially in early-type systems. The line width distributionsshow a marked difference among subsamples A, B, and C in the sense thatearlier type galaxies have larger line widths. There are also cleardifferences in line ratios between subsamples A+B and C that likely arerelated to the level of ionization in the gas. Finally, aKs-band Simien & de Vaucouleurs diagram shows excellentagreement with the original B-band relation, although there is a largedispersion at a given morphological stage.
| The stellar populations of low-luminosity active galactic nuclei - III. Spatially resolved spectral properties
In a recently completed survey of the stellar population properties oflow-ionization nuclear emission-line regions (LINERs) and LINER/HIItransition objects (TOs), we have identified a numerous class ofgalactic nuclei which stand out because of their conspicuous108-9 yr populations, traced by high-order Balmer absorptionlines and other stellar indices. These objects are called `young-TOs',because they all have TO-like emission-line ratios. In this paper weextend this previous work, which concentrated on the nuclear properties,by investigating the radial variations of spectral properties inlow-luminosity active galactic nuclei (LLAGNs). Our analysis is based onhigh signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) long-slit spectra in the 3500-5500Å interval for a sample of 47 galaxies. The data probe distancesof typically up to 850 pc from the nucleus with a resolution of ~100 pc(~1 arcsec) and S/N ~ 30. Stellar population gradients are mapped by theradial profiles of absorption-line equivalent widths and continuumcolours along the slit. These variations are further analysed by meansof a decomposition of each spectrum in terms of template galaxiesrepresentative of very young (<=107 yr), intermediate age(108-9 yr) and old (1010 yr) stellar populations.This study reveals that young-TOs also differ from old-TOs andold-LINERs in terms of the spatial distributions of their stellarpopulations and dust. Specifically, our main findings are as follows.(i) Significant stellar population gradients are found almostexclusively in young-TOs. (ii) The intermediate age population ofyoung-TOs, although heavily concentrated in the nucleus, reachesdistances of up to a few hundred pc from the nucleus. Nevertheless, thehalf width at half-maximum of its brightness profile is more typically100 pc or less. (iii) Objects with predominantly old stellar populationspresent spatially homogeneous spectra, be they LINERs or TOs. (iv)Young-TOs have much more dust in their central regions than otherLLAGNs. (v) The B-band luminosities of the central <~1 Gyr populationin young-TOs are within an order of magnitude of MB=-15,implying masses of the order of ~107-108Msolar. This population was 10-100 times more luminous in itsformation epoch, at which time young massive stars would have completelyoutshone any active nucleus, unless the AGN too was brighter in thepast.
| CO in the Bipolar Radio Continuum Galaxy NGC 3367
CO(1-0) emission has been imaged at 2" resolution in the central 10 kpcof the barred spiral galaxy NGC 3367. This galaxy has bipolarsynchrotron lobes out to a radius of 6 kpc, straddling the compactnucleus. The peak molecular emission is in a source of radius 2" (425pc) centered on the galaxy nucleus. The molecular gas mass is~3×108 Msolar in this peak and~5.9×108 Msolar within a radius of 4.5" (950pc). The very large gas masses in the central source imply extinctionssufficiently high to completely obscure optical emission lines (e.g.,broad-line region) associated with the nuclear radio source. Theobserved Balmer lines probably originate in the narrow-line region a fewhundred parsecs from the nucleus. The CO emission in the central regionis elongated northeast-southwest, very similar to the position angle ofthe large-scale synchrotron lobes. This elongation is likely due to thenonaxisymmetric gravitational potential of the stellar bar. We inferthat the northeast radio continuum lobe is on the far side of the galaxyand the southwest lobe is on the near side. The central mass ofmolecular gas is of sufficient mass to power the active galactic nucleusaccretion luminosity for over 108 yr at 3 Msolaryr-1.
| Formation of inner rings in 3D potentials of barred galaxies
In a 3D analytic potential we find the families of periodic orbits thatsupport the formation of inner rings. These are families at highenergies, between the inner radial ultraharmonic 4:1 (iUHR) resonanceand corotation, influenced by the 4:1, 6:1 and 8:1 resonances. The innerrings they support are mainly ovals and polygons with `corners' on thebar minor axis, on its sides, which correspond to morphologies oftenseen in real galaxies like NGC 6782 and IC 4290. We also investigate theconditions under which less probable shapes of rings may be supported byorbits at the region. Such rings include pentagonal features (NGC 3367)and hexagons with cusps on the major axis of the bar and two sidesparallel to it (NGC 7020).
| The Stellar Populations of Low-Luminosity Active Galactic Nuclei. II. Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph Observations
We present a study of the stellar populations of low-luminosity activegalactic nuclei (LLAGNs). Our goal is to search for spectroscopicsignatures of young and intermediate-age stars and to investigate theirrelationship with the ionization mechanism in LLAGNs. The method used isbased on the stellar population synthesis of the optical continuum ofthe innermost (20-100 pc) regions in these galaxies. For this purpose,we have collected high spatial resolution optical (2900-5700 Å)STIS spectra of 28 nearby LLAGNs that are available in the Hubble SpaceTelescope archive. The analysis of these data is compared with a similaranalysis also presented here for 51 ground-based spectra of LLAGNs. Ourmain findings are as follows: (1) No features due to Wolf-Rayet starswere convincingly detected in the STIS spectra. (2) Young starscontribute very little to the optical continuum in the ground-basedaperture. However, the fraction of light provided by these stars ishigher than 10% in most of the weak-[O I] ([OI]/Hα<=0.25) LLAGNSTIS spectra. (3) Intermediate-age stars contribute significantly to theoptical continuum of these nuclei. This population is more frequent inobjects with weak than with strong [O I]. Weak-[O I] LLAGNs that haveyoung stars stand out for their intermediate-age population. (4) Most ofthe strong-[O I] LLAGNs have predominantly old stellar population. A fewof these objects also show a featureless continuum that contributessignificantly to the optical continuum. These results suggest that youngand intermediate-age stars do not play a significant role in theionization of LLAGNs with strong [O I]. However, the ionization inweak-[O I] LLAGNs with young and/or intermediate-age populations couldbe due to stellar processes. A comparison of the properties of theseobjects with Seyfert 2 galaxies that harbor a nuclear starburst suggeststhat weak-[O I] LLAGNs are the lower luminosity counterparts of theSeyfert 2 composite nuclei.Based on observations with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, obtainedat the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by theAssociation of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASAcontract NAS 5-26555. Based on observations made with the Nordic OpticalTelescope (NOT), operated on the island of La Palma jointly by Denmark,Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden, in the Spanish Observatorio delRoque de los Muchachos of the Instituto de Astrofísica deCanarias.
| The Stellar Populations of Low-Luminosity Active Galactic Nuclei. I. Ground-based Observations
We present a spectroscopic study of the stellar populations oflow-luminosity active galactic nuclei (LLAGNs). Our main goal is todetermine whether the stars that live in the innermost (100 pc scale)regions of these galaxies are in some way related to the emission-lineproperties, which would imply a link between the stellar population andthe ionization mechanism. High signal-to-noise ratio, ground-basedlong-slit spectra in the 3500-5500 Å interval were collected for60 galaxies: 51 LINERs and LINER/H II transition objects, two starburstgalaxies, and seven nonactive galaxies. In this paper, the first of aseries, we (1) describe the sample; (2) present the nuclear spectra; (3)characterize the stellar populations of LLAGNs by means of an empiricalcomparison with normal galaxies; (4) measure a set of spectral indices,including several absorption-line equivalent widths and colorsindicative of stellar populations; and (5) correlate the stellar indiceswith emission-line ratios that may distinguish between possibleexcitation sources for the gas. Our main findings are as follows: (1)Few LLAGNs have a detectable young (<~107 yr) starburstcomponent, indicating that very massive stars do not contributesignificantly to the optical continuum. In particular, no features dueto Wolf-Rayet stars were convincingly detected. (2) High-order Balmerabsorption lines of H I (HOBLs), on the other hand, are detected in ~40%of LLAGNs. These features, which are strongest in108-109 yr intermediate-age stellar populations,are accompanied by diluted metal absorption lines and bluer colors thanother objects in the sample. (3) These intermediate-age populations arevery common (~50%) in LLAGNs with relatively weak [O I] emission([OI]/Hα<=0.25) but rare (~10%) in LLAGNs with stronger [O I].This is intriguing since LLAGNs with weak [O I] have been previouslyhypothesized to be ``transition objects'' in which both an AGN and youngstars contribute to the emission-line excitation. Massive stars, ifpresent, are completely outshone by intermediate-age and old stars inthe optical. This happens in at least a couple of objects whereindependent UV spectroscopy detects young starbursts not seen in theoptical. (4) Objects with predominantly old stars span the whole rangeof [O I]/Hα values, but (5) sources with significant young and/orintermediate-age populations are nearly all (~90%) weak-[O I] emitters.These new findings suggest a link between the stellar populations andthe gas ionization mechanism. The strong-[O I] objects are most likelytrue LLAGNs, with stellar processes being insignificant. However, theweak-[O I] objects may comprise two populations, one where theionization is dominated by stellar processes and another where it isgoverned by either an AGN or a more even mixture of stellar and AGNprocesses. Possible stellar sources for the ionization include weakstarbursts, supernova remnants, and evolved poststarburst populations.These scenarios are examined and constrained by means of complementaryobservations and detailed modeling of the stellar populations inforthcoming communications.Based on observations made with the Nordic Optical Telescope, operatedon the island of La Palma jointly by Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway,and Sweden, in the Spanish Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos ofthe Instituto de Astrofísica de Canárias.
| Inner-truncated Disks in Galaxies
We present an analysis of the disk brightness profiles of 218 spiral andlenticular galaxies. At least 28% of disk galaxies exhibit innertruncations in these profiles. There are no significant trends oftruncation incidence with Hubble type, but the incidence among barredsystems is 49%, more than 4 times that for nonbarred galaxies. However,not all barred systems have inner truncations, and not allinner-truncated systems are currently barred. Truncations represent areal dearth of disk stars in the inner regions and are not an artifactof our selection or fitting procedures nor the result of obscuration bydust. Disk surface brightness profiles in the outer regions are wellrepresented by simple exponentials for both truncated and nontruncateddisks. However, truncated and nontruncated systems have systematicallydifferent slopes and central surface brightness parameters for theirdisk brightness distributions. Truncation radii do not appear tocorrelate well with the sizes or brightnesses of the bulges. Thissuggests that the low angular momentum material apparently missing fromthe inner disk was not simply consumed in forming the bulge population.Disk parameters and the statistics of bar orientations in our sampleindicate that the missing stars of the inner disk have not simply beenredistributed azimuthally into bar structures. The sharpness of thebrightness truncations and their locations with respect to othergalactic structures suggest that resonances associated with diskkinematics, or tidal interactions with the mass of bulge stars, might beresponsible for this phenomenon.
| 2-10 keV luminosity of high-mass binaries as a gauge of ongoing star-formation rate
Based on recent work on spectral decomposition of the emission ofstar-forming galaxies, we assess whether the integrated 2-10 keVemission from high-mass X-ray binaries (HMXBs),L2-10HMXB, can be used as a reliable estimator ofongoing star formation rate (SFR). Using a sample of 46 local (z 0.1) star-forming galaxies, and spectral modeling of ASCA, BeppoSAX, andXMM-Newton data, we demonstrate the existence of a linear SFR -L2-10^ HMXB relation which holds over 5 decades in X-rayluminosity and SFR. The total 2-10 keV luminosity is not a precise SFRindicator because at low SFR (i.e., in normal andmoderately-starbursting galaxies) it is substantially affected by theemission of low-mass X-ray binaries, which do not trace the current SFRdue to their long evolution lifetimes, while at very high SFR (i.e., forvery luminous FIR-selected galaxies) it is frequently affected by thepresence of strongly obscured AGNs. The availability of purelySB-powered galaxies - whose 2-10 keV emission is mainly due to HMXBs -allows us to properly calibrate the SFR -L2-10HMXB relation. The SFR -L2-10HMXB relation holds also for distant (z 1) galaxies in the Hubble Deep Field North sample, for which we lackspectral information, but whose SFR can be estimated from deep radiodata. If confirmed by more detailed observations, it may be possible touse the deduced relation to identify distant galaxies that are X-rayoverluminous for their (independently estimated) SFR, and are thereforelikely to hide strongly absorbed AGNs.Appendix A is only available in electronic form athttp://www.edpsciences.org
| Dust masses and star formation in bright IRAS galaxies. Application of a physical model for the interpretation of FIR observations
We address the problem of modeling the far-infrared (FIR) spectrum andderiving the star-formation rate (SFR) and the dust mass of spiralgalaxies. We use the realistic physical model of Popescu et al.(\cite{popescu}) to describe the overall ultra-violet (UV), optical andFIR spectral energy distribution (SED) of a spiral galaxy. The modeltakes into account the 3-dimensional old and young stellar distributionsin the bulge and the disk of a galaxy, together with the dust geometry.The geometrical characteristics of the galaxy and the intrinsic opticaland near-infrared spectra are determined by the galaxy's observed K-bandphotometry. The UV part of the spectrum is assumed to be proportional tothe SFR through the use of population synthesis models. By solving theradiative transfer equation, we are able to determine the absorbedenergy, the dust temperature and the resulting FIR spectrum. The modelhas only three free parameters: SFR, dust mass, and the fraction of theUV radiation which is absorbed locally by dense dust in the HII regions.Using this model, we are able to fit well the FIR spectra of 62 brightIRAS galaxies from the ``SCUBA Local Universe Galaxy Survey" of Dunne etal. (\cite{dunne1}). As a result, we are able to determine, amongothers, their SFR and dust mass. We find that, on average, the SFR (inabsolute units), the star-formation efficiency, the SFR surface densityand the ratio of FIR luminosity over the total intrinsic luminosity, arelarger than the respective values of typical spiral galaxies of the samemorphological type. We also find that the mean gas-to-dust mass ratio isclose to the Galactic value, while the average central face-on opticaldepth of these galaxies in the V band is 2.3. Finally, we find a strongcorrelation between SFR or dust mass and observed FIR quantities liketotal FIR luminosity or FIR luminosity at 100 and 850 μm. Thesecorrelations yield well-defined relations, which can be used todetermine a spiral galaxy's SFR and dust-mass content from FIRobservations.
| Radio emission from AGN detected by the VLA FIRST survey
Using the most recent (April 2003) version of the VLA FIRST survey radiocatalog, we have searched for radio emission from >2800 AGN takenfrom the most recent (2001) version of the Veron-Cetty and Veron AGNcatalog. These AGN lie in the 9033 square degrees of sky alreadycovered by the VLA FIRST survey. Our work has resulted in positivedetection of radio emission from 775 AGN of which 214 are new detectionsat radio wavelengths.Tables 3 and 4 are 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/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/416/35
| Classifications of the Host Galaxies of Supernovae, Set II
Classifications on the DDO system are given for an additional 231 hostgalaxies of supernovae that have been discovered during the course ofthe Lick Observatory Supernova Search with the Katzman Automatic ImagingTelescope (KAIT). This brings the total number of hosts of supernovae(SNe) discovered (or independently rediscovered) by KAIT, which have sofar been classified on a homogeneous system, to 408. The probabilitythat SNe Ia and SNe II have a different distribution of host-galaxyHubble types is found to be 99.7%. A significant difference is alsofound between the distributions of the host galaxies of SNe Ia and ofSNe Ibc (defined here to include SNe Ib, Ib/c, and Ic). However, nosignificant difference is detected between the frequency distributionsof the host galaxies of SNe II and SNe IIn. This suggests that SNe IInare generally not SNe Ia embedded in circumstellar material that aremasquerading as SNe II. Furthermore, no significant difference is foundbetween the distribution of the Hubble types of the hosts of SNe Ibc andof SNe II. Additionally, SNe II-P and SNe II-L are found to occur amongsimilar stellar populations. The ratio of the number of SNe Ia-pec tonormal SNe Ia appears to be higher in early-type galaxies than it is ingalaxies of later morphological types. This suggests that the ancestorsof SNe Ia-pec may differ systematically in age or composition from theprogenitors of normal SNe Ia. Unexpectedly, five SNe of Types Ib/c, II,and IIn (all of which are thought to have massive progenitors) are foundin host galaxies that are nominally classified as types E and S0.However, in each case the galaxy classification is uncertain, or newlyinspected images show evidence suggesting a later classification. Amongthese five objects, NGC 3720, the host galaxy of SN 2002at, wasapparently misidentified in the Carnegie Atlas of Galaxies.
| On the 3D dynamics and morphology of inner rings
We argue that inner rings in barred spiral galaxies are associated withspecific 2D and 3D families of periodic orbits located just beyond theend of the bar. These are families located between the inner radialultraharmonic 4:1 resonance and corotation. They are found in the upperpart of a type-2 gap of the x1 characteristic, and can account for theobserved ring morphologies without any help from families of thex1-tree. Due to the evolution of the stability of all these families,the ring shapes that are favoured are mainly ovals, as well as polygonswith `corners' on the minor axis, on the sides of the bar. On the otherhand, pentagonal rings, or rings of the NGC 7020-type hexagon, should beless probable. The orbits that make the rings belong in their vastmajority to 3D families of periodic orbits and orbits trapped aroundthem.
| A search for extragalactic H2O maser emission towards IRAS galaxies - II. Discovery of an H2O maser in the type 1 Seyfert galaxy NGC 4051
Water vapour maser emission in the 616-523transition towards the narrow-line type 1 Seyfert (NLS1) galaxy NGC 4051has been discovered during an ongoing single-dish extragalactic watermaser survey. The Doppler-shifted maser components appear to bracketmaser components lying near the systemic velocity of the galaxysymmetrically. The tentative result of a Very Large Array (VLA) snapshotobservation is that the masers are confined within 0.1 arcsec (5 pc at adistance D= 9.7 Mpc) of the radio continuum peak seen at 8.4 GHz. Thelow luminosity of the maser (~2 Lsolar) is not typical formasers that coincide with the radio continuum nucleus and appearassociated with active galactic nucleus (AGN) activity. A low-luminositymaser in a type 1 Seyfert nucleus could be explained by a low maser gainresulting from the lower inclination of an obscuring disc around anactive nucleus.
| Supernova 2003aa in NGC 3367
IAUC 8064 available at Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams.
| Supernova 2003aa in NGC 3367
IAUC 8063 available at Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams.
| CO Molecular Gas in Infrared-luminous Galaxies
We present the first statistical survey of the properties of the12CO(1-0) and 12CO(3-2) line emission from thenuclei of a nearly complete subsample of 60 infrared (IR) luminousgalaxies selected from SCUBA Local Universe Galaxy Survey (SLUGS). Thissubsample is flux limited at S60μm>=5.24 Jy with far-IR(FIR) luminosities mostly at LFIR>1010Lsolar. We compare the emission line strengths of12CO(1-0) and (3-2) transitions at a common resolution of~15". The measured 12CO(3-2) to (1-0) line intensity ratiosr31 vary from 0.22 to 1.72, with a mean value of 0.66 for thesources observed, indicating a large spread of the degree of excitationof CO in the sample. These CO data, together with a wide range of dataat different wavelengths obtained from the literature, allow us to studythe relationship between the CO excitation conditions and the physicalproperties of gas/dust and star formation in the central regions ofgalaxies. Our analysis shows that there is a nonlinear relation betweenCO and FIR luminosities, such that their ratioLCO/LFIR decreases linearly with increasingLFIR. This behavior was found to be consistent with theSchmidt law relating star formation rate to molecular gas content, withan index N=1.4+/-0.3. We also find a possible dependence of the degreeof CO gas excitation on the efficiency of star-forming activity. Usingthe large velocity gradient (LVG) approximation to model the observeddata, we investigate the CO-to-H2 conversion factor X for theSLUGS sample. The results show that the mean value of X for the SLUGSsample is lower by a factor of 10 compared to the conventional valuederived for the Galaxy, if we assume the abundance of CO relative toH2, ZCO=10-4. For a subset of 12galaxies with H I maps, we derive a mean total face-on surface densityof H2+HI of about 42 Msolar pc-2 withinabout 2 kpc of the nucleus. This value is intermediate between that ingalaxies like our own and those with strong star formation.
| Companions of Bright Barred Shapley-Ames Galaxies
Companion galaxy environment for a subset of 78 bright and nearby barredgalaxies from the Shapley-Ames Catalog is presented. Among the spiralbarred galaxies, there are Seyfert galaxies, galaxies with circumnuclearstructures, galaxies not associated with any large-scale galaxy cloudstructure, galaxies with peculiar disk morphology (crooked arms), andgalaxies with normal disk morphology; the list includes all Hubbletypes. The companion galaxy list includes the number of companiongalaxies within 20 diameters, their Hubble type, and projectedseparation distance. In addition, the companion environment was searchedfor four known active spiral galaxies, three of them are Seyfertgalaxies, namely, NGC 1068, NGC 1097, and NGC 5548, and one is astarburst galaxy, M82. Among the results obtained, it is noted that theonly spiral barred galaxy classified as Seyfert 1 in our list has nocompanions within a projected distance of 20 diameters; six out of 10Seyfert 2 bar galaxies have no companions within 10 diameters, six outof 10 Seyfert 2 galaxies have one or more companions at projectedseparation distances between 10 and 20 diameters; six out of 12 galaxieswith circumnuclear structures have two or more companions within 20diameters.
| The IRAS Revised Bright Galaxy Sample
IRAS flux densities, redshifts, and infrared luminosities are reportedfor all sources identified in the IRAS Revised Bright Galaxy Sample(RBGS), a complete flux-limited survey of all extragalactic objects withtotal 60 μm flux density greater than 5.24 Jy, covering the entiresky surveyed by IRAS at Galactic latitudes |b|>5°. The RBGS includes629 objects, with median and mean sample redshifts of 0.0082 and 0.0126,respectively, and a maximum redshift of 0.0876. The RBGS supersedes theprevious two-part IRAS Bright Galaxy Samples(BGS1+BGS2), which were compiled before the final(Pass 3) calibration of the IRAS Level 1 Archive in 1990 May. The RBGSalso makes use of more accurate and consistent automated methods tomeasure the flux of objects with extended emission. The RBGS contains 39objects that were not present in the BGS1+BGS2,and 28 objects from the BGS1+BGS2 have beendropped from RBGS because their revised 60 μm flux densities are notgreater than 5.24 Jy. Comparison of revised flux measurements forsources in both surveys shows that most flux differences are in therange ~5%-25%, although some faint sources at 12 and 25 μm differ byas much as a factor of 2. Basic properties of the RBGS sources aresummarized, including estimated total infrared luminosities, as well asupdates to cross identifications with sources from optical galaxycatalogs established using the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database. Inaddition, an atlas of images from the Digitized Sky Survey with overlaysof the IRAS position uncertainty ellipse and annotated scale bars isprovided for ease in visualizing the optical morphology in context withthe angular and metric size of each object. The revised bolometricinfrared luminosity function, φ(Lir), forinfrared-bright galaxies in the local universe remains best fit by adouble power law, φ(L)~Lα, withα=-0.6(+/-0.1) and α=-2.2(+/-0.1) below and above the``characteristic'' infrared luminosityL*ir~1010.5Lsolar,respectively. A companion paper provides IRAS High Resolution (HIRES)processing of over 100 RBGS sources where improved spatial resolutionoften provides better IRAS source positions or allows for deconvolutionof close galaxy pairs.
| A new catalogue of ISM content of normal galaxies
We have compiled a catalogue of the gas content for a sample of 1916galaxies, considered to be a fair representation of ``normality''. Thedefinition of a ``normal'' galaxy adopted in this work implies that wehave purposely excluded from the catalogue galaxies having distortedmorphology (such as interaction bridges, tails or lopsidedness) and/orany signature of peculiar kinematics (such as polar rings,counterrotating disks or other decoupled components). In contrast, wehave included systems hosting active galactic nuclei (AGN) in thecatalogue. This catalogue revises previous compendia on the ISM contentof galaxies published by \citet{bregman} and \citet{casoli}, andcompiles data available in the literature from several small samples ofgalaxies. Masses for warm dust, atomic and molecular gas, as well asX-ray luminosities have been converted to a uniform distance scale takenfrom the Catalogue of Principal Galaxies (PGC). We have used twodifferent normalization factors to explore the variation of the gascontent along the Hubble sequence: the blue luminosity (LB)and the square of linear diameter (D225). Ourcatalogue significantly improves the statistics of previous referencecatalogues and can be used in future studies to define a template ISMcontent for ``normal'' galaxies along the Hubble sequence. The cataloguecan be accessed on-line and is also available at the Centre desDonnées Stellaires (CDS).The catalogue is available in electronic form athttp://dipastro.pd.astro.it/galletta/ismcat and at the CDS via anonymousftp to\ cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or via\http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/405/5
| The 2-10 keV luminosity as a Star Formation Rate indicator
Radio and far infrared luminosities of star-forming galaxies follow atight linear relation. Making use of ASCA and BeppoSAX observations of awell-defined sample of nearby star-forming galaxies, we argue that tightlinear relations hold between the X-ray, radio and far infraredluminosities. The effect of intrinsic absorption is investigated takingNGC 3256 as a test case. It is suggested that the hard X-ray emission isdirectly related to the Star Formation Rate. Star formation processesmay also account for most of the 2-10 keV emission from LLAGNs of lowerX-ray luminosities (for the same FIR and radio luminosity). Deep Chandraobservations of a sample of radio-selected star-forming galaxies in theHubble Deep Field North show that the same relation holds also at high(0.2<~ z<~ 1.3) redshift. The X-ray/radio relations also allow aderivation of X-ray number counts up to very faint fluxes from the radioLog N-Log S a, which is consistent with current limits and models. Thusthe contribution of star-forming galaxies to the X-ray background can beestimated.
| Fabry Perot H alpha Observations of the Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 3367
We report the gross properties of the velocity field of the barredspiral galaxy NGC 3367 based on Fabry Perot Observations of the H alphaemission. The emission is detected up to a radius of 60''.
| The faint end of the galaxy luminosity function
We present and discuss optical measurements of the faint end of thegalaxy luminosity function down to MR=-10 in five differentlocal environments of varying galaxy density and morphological content.The environments we studied, in order of decreasing galaxy density, arethe Virgo Cluster, the NGC 1407 Group, the Coma I Group, the Leo Groupand the NGC 1023 Group. Our results come from a deep wide-angle surveywith the National Astronomical Observatories of Japan Subaru 8-mTelescope on Mauna Kea and are sensitive down to very faintsurface-brightness levels. Galaxies were identified as group or clustermembers on the basis of their surface brightness and morphology. Thefaintest galaxies in our sample have R~ 22.5. There were thousands offainter galaxies but we cannot distinguish cluster members frombackground galaxies at these faint limits so do not attempt to determinea luminosity function fainter than MR=-1010. In all cases,there are far fewer dwarfs than the numbers of low-mass haloesanticipated by cold dark matter theory. The mean logarithmic slope ofthe luminosity function between MR=-1018 andMR=-1010 is α~=-1.2, far shallower than the cold darkmatter mass function slope of α~=-1.8. We would therefore need tobe missing about 90 per cent of the dwarfs at the faint end of oursample in all the environments we study to achieve consistency with CDMtheory. It is unlikely that such large numbers of dwarfs are missedbecause (i) the data are deep enough that we are sensitive to very lowsurface brightness galaxies, and (ii) the seeing is good enough that wecan have some confidence in our ability to distinguish high surfacebrightness dwarfs from background galaxies brighter than R= 22.5. Onecaveat is that we miss compact members taken to be background galaxies,but such objects (like M32) are thought to be rare.
| Bar Galaxies and Their Environments
The prints of the Palomar Sky Survey, luminosity classifications, andradial velocities were used to assign all northern Shapley-Ames galaxiesto either (1) field, (2) group, or (3) cluster environments. Thisinformation for 930 galaxies shows no evidence for a dependence of barfrequency on galaxy environment. This suggests that the formation of abar in a disk galaxy is mainly determined by the properties of theparent galaxy, rather than by the characteristics of its environment.
| VLA High-Resolution 1.4 and 8.4 GHz Mapping of the Barred Galaxy NGC 3367
We report new radio continuum observations with an angular resolution of2.1" at 1.4 GHz (20 cm) and 0.28" at 8.4 GHz (3.6 cm) of the barredgalaxy NGC 3367. In the map at 1.4 GHz, the central nuclear regionconnects to the southwest lobe, with a projected structure at a positionangle (P.A.) of ~230°, forming a jetlike structure. The map at 8.4GHz shows a compact unresolved source (smaller than 65 pc in diameter)associated with emission from the nucleus and several compact sourceslocated within a radius of about 300 pc, forming a circumnuclearstructure. The compact core, jet, and lobes form a small, low-powercounterpart to radio galaxies, with a flow axis that is out of the planeof the galaxy. The flow axis (P.A.~230deg) coincides with theP.A. of the major axis of the galaxy and is thus inclined to therotation axis of the disk. In addition, the flow axis differs by about20° from the major axis of the stellar bar. Assuming that thestellar bar rotates counterclockwise (i.e., assuming trailing spiralarms), this difference in angle is taken as an argument in favor ofhaving the jetlike structure out of the plane of the disk and notassociated with the stellar bar.
| Analysis of the distribution of HII regions in external galaxies. IV. The new galaxy sample. Position and inclination angles
We have compiled a new sample of galaxies with published catalogs of HIIregion coordinates. This sample, together with the former catalog ofGarcía-Gómez & Athanassoula (\cite{gga1}), will formthe basis for subsequent studies of the spiral structure in discgalaxies. In this paper we address the problem of the deprojection ofthe galaxy images. For this purpose we use two deprojection methodsbased on the HII region distribution and compare the results with thevalues found in the literature using other deprojection methods. Takinginto account the results of all the methods, we propose optimum valuesfor the position and inclination angles of all the galaxies in oursample. Tables 2 and 3 are only available in electronic form athttp://www.edpsciences.org
| Supernovae in isolated galaxies, in pairs and in groups of galaxies
In order to investigate the influence of environment on supernova (SN)production, we have performed a statistical investigation of the SNediscovered in isolated galaxies, in pairs and in groups of galaxies. 22SNe in 18 isolated galaxies, 48 SNe in 40 galaxy members of 37 pairs and211 SNe in 170 galaxy members of 116 groups have been selected andstudied. We found that the radial distributions of core-collapse SNe ingalaxies located in different environments are similar, and consistentwith those reported by Bartunov, Makarova & Tsvetkov. SNe discoveredin pairs do not favour a particular direction with respect to thecompanion galaxy. Also, the azimuthal distributions inside the hostmembers of galaxy groups are consistent with being isotropics. The factthat SNe are more frequent in the brighter components of the pairs andgroups is expected from the dependence of the SN rates on the galaxyluminosity. There is an indication that the SN rate is higher in galaxypairs compared with that in groups. This can be related to the enhancedstar formation rate in strongly interacting systems. It is concludedthat, with the possible exception of strongly interacting systems, theparent galaxy environment has no direct influence on SN production.
| High-resolution radio observations of Seyfert galaxies in the extended 12-μm sample - II. The properties of compact radio components
We discuss the properties of compact nuclear radio components in Seyfertgalaxies from the extended 12-μm AGN sample of Rush et al. Our mainresults can be summarized as follows. Type 1 and type 2 Seyferts producecompact radio components which are indistinguishable in strength andaspect, indicating that their central engines are alike, as proposed bythe unification model. Infrared IRAS fluxes are more closely correlatedwith low-resolution radio fluxes than high-resolution radio fluxes,suggesting that they are dominated by kiloparsec-scale, extranuclearemission regions; extranuclear emission may be stronger in type 2Seyferts. Early-type Seyfert galaxies tend to have stronger nuclearradio emission than late-type Seyfert galaxies. V-shaped extendedemission-line regions, indicative of `ionization cones', are usuallyfound in sources with large, collimated radio outflows. Hidden broadlines are most likely to be found in sources with powerful nuclear radiosources. Type 1 and type 2 Seyferts selected by their IRAS 12-μm fluxdensities have well-matched properties.
| Fabry-Pérot Hα Observations of the Barred Spiral NGC 3367
We report the gross properties of the velocity field of the barredspiral galaxy NGC 3367. We obtained the following values: theinclination with respect to the plane of the sky, i=30; the positionangle (P.A.) of the receding semimajor axis, P.A.=51deg andthe systemic velocity, Vsys=3032 km s-1. Largevelocity dispersions are observed of up to 120 km s-1 in thenuclear region and of up to 70 km s-1 near the eastern brightsources just beyond the edge of the stellar bar, where three spiral armsseem to start, and in the western bright sources at about 10 kpc.Deviations from normal circular velocities are observed from the wholedisk but mainly from the semicircle formed by the string of southwesternHα sources. An estimate of the dynamical mass isMdyn=2×1011 Msolar.
| LINER/HII ``Transition'' Nuclei and the Nature of NGC 4569
Motivated by the discovery of young, massive stars in the nuclei of someLINER/H II ``transition'' nuclei such as NGC 4569, we have computedphotoionization models to determine whether some of these objects may bepowered solely by young star clusters rather than by accretion-poweredactive nuclei. The models were calculated with the photoionization codeCLOUDY, using evolving starburst continua generated by the STARBURST99code of C. Leitherer and coworkers. We find that the models are able toreproduce the emission-line spectra of transition nuclei, but only forinstantaneous bursts of solar or higher metallicity, and only for agesof ~3-5 Myr, the period when the extreme-ultraviolet continuum isdominated by emission from Wolf-Rayet stars. For clusters younger than 3Myr or older than 6 Myr, and for models with a constant star formationrate, the softer ionizing continuum results in an emission spectrum moretypical of H II regions. This model predicts that Wolf-Rayet emissionfeatures should appear in the spectra of transition nuclei. While suchfeatures have not generally been detected to date, they could berevealed in observations having higher spatial resolution. Demographicarguments suggest that this starburst model may not apply to themajority of transition nuclei, particularly those in early-type hostgalaxies, but it could account for some members of the transition classin hosts of type Sa and later. The starburst models during theWolf-Rayet-dominated phase can also reproduce the narrow-line spectra ofsome LINERs, but only under conditions of above-solar metallicity andonly if high-density gas is present (ne>~105cm-3). This scenario could be applicable to some ``Type 2''LINERs which do not show any clear signs of nonstellar activity.
|
Submit a new article
Related links
Submit a new link
Member of following groups:
|
Observation and Astrometry data
Catalogs and designations:
|
