Contents
Images
Upload your image
DSS Images Other Images
Related articles
HI content in galaxies in loose groups
Gas deficiency in cluster spirals is well known and ram-pressurestripping is considered the main gas removal mechanism. In some compactgroups too gas deficiency is reported. However, gas deficiency in loosegroups is not yet well established. Lower dispersion of the membervelocities and the lower density of the intragroup medium in small loosegroups favour tidal stripping as the main gas removal process in them.Recent releases of data from the HI Parkes All-Sky Survey (HIPASS) andcatalogues of nearby loose groups with associated diffuse X-ray emissionhave allowed us to test this notion. In this paper, we address thefollowing questions: (i) do galaxies in groups with diffuse X-rayemission statistically have lower gas content compared to the ones ingroups without diffuse X-ray emission? (ii) does HI deficiency vary withthe X-ray luminosity, LX, of the loose group in a systematicway? We find that (i) galaxies in groups with diffuse X-ray emission, onaverage, are HI deficient, and have lost more gas compared to those ingroups without X-ray emission; the latter are found not to havesignificant HI deficiency; (ii) no systematic dependence of the HIdeficiency with LX is found. Ram-pressure-assisted tidalstripping and evaporation by thermal conduction are the two possiblemechanisms to account for this excess gas loss.
| The SCUBA Local Universe Galaxy Survey - III. Dust along the Hubble sequence
We present new results from the Submillimetre Common-User BolometerArray (SCUBA) Local Universe Galaxy Survey (SLUGS), the first largesystematic submillimetre (submm) survey of the local Universe. Since ourinitial survey of a sample of 104 IRAS-selected galaxies we have nowcompleted a survey of a sample of 81 optically selected galaxies,observed with the SCUBA camera on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope.Since SCUBA is sensitive to the 90 per cent of dust too cold to radiatesignificantly in the IRAS bands our new sample represents the firstunbiased SCUBA survey of dust in galaxies along the whole length of theHubble sequence.We find little change in the properties of dust in galaxies along theHubble sequence, except a marginally significant trend for early-typegalaxies to be less-luminous submm sources than late types. Wenevertheless detected six out of 11 elliptical galaxies, although someof the emission may possibly be synchrotron rather than dust emission.As in our earlier work on IRAS galaxies we find that the IRAS and submmfluxes are well fitted by a two-component dust model with dustemissivity index β= 2. The major difference from our earlier workis that we find the ratio of the mass of cold dust to the mass of warmdust is much higher for our optically selected galaxies and can reachvalues of ~1000. Comparison of the results for the IRAS and opticallyselected samples shows that there is a population of galaxies containinga large proportion of cold dust that is unrepresented in the IRASsample.We derive local submm luminosity and dust mass functions, both directlyfrom our optically selected SLUGS sample, and by extrapolation from theIRAS Point Source Catalogue Redshift Survey (PSCz) survey using themethod of Serjeant and Harrison (by extrapolating the spectral energydistributions of the IRAS PSCz survey galaxies out to 850μm we probea wider range of luminosities than probed directly by the SLUGSsamples), and find excellent agreement between the two. We find them tobe well fitted by Schechter functions except at the highestluminosities. We find that as a consequence of the omission of coldgalaxies from the IRAS sample the luminosity function presented in ourearlier work is too low by a factor of 2, reducing the amount of cosmicevolution required between the low-z and high-z Universe.
| Ultraluminous X-Ray Sources in Nearby Galaxies from ROSAT High Resolution Imager Observations I. Data Analysis
X-ray observations have revealed in other galaxies a class ofextranuclear X-ray point sources with X-ray luminosities of1039-1041 ergs s-1, exceeding theEddington luminosity for stellar mass X-ray binaries. Theseultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) may be powered by intermediate-massblack holes of a few thousand Msolar or stellar mass blackholes with special radiation processes. In this paper, we present asurvey of ULXs in 313 nearby galaxies withD25>1' within 40 Mpc with 467 ROSAT HighResolution Imager (HRI) archival observations. The HRI observations arereduced with uniform procedures, refined by simulations that help definethe point source detection algorithm employed in this survey. A sampleof 562 extragalactic X-ray point sources withLX=1038-1043 ergs s-1 isextracted from 173 survey galaxies, including 106 ULX candidates withinthe D25 isophotes of 63 galaxies and 110 ULX candidatesbetween 1D25 and 2D25 of 64 galaxies, from which aclean sample of 109 ULXs is constructed to minimize the contaminationfrom foreground or background objects. The strong connection betweenULXs and star formation is confirmed based on the striking preference ofULXs to occur in late-type galaxies, especially in star-forming regionssuch as spiral arms. ULXs are variable on timescales over days to yearsand exhibit a variety of long term variability patterns. Theidentifications of ULXs in the clean sample show some ULXs identified assupernovae (remnants), H II regions/nebulae, or young massive stars instar-forming regions, and a few other ULXs identified as old globularclusters. In a subsequent paper, the statistic properties of the surveywill be studied to calculate the occurrence frequencies and luminosityfunctions for ULXs in different types of galaxies to shed light on thenature of these enigmatic sources.
| Optimization of Starburst99 for Intermediate-Age and Old Stellar Populations
We have incorporated the latest release of the Padova models into theevolutionary synthesis code Starburst99. The Padova tracks were extendedto include the full asymptotic giant branch (AGB) evolution until thefinal thermal pulse over the mass range 0.9-5 Msolar. Withthis addition, Starburst99 accounts for all stellar phases thatcontribute to the integrated light of a stellar population witharbitrary age from the extreme-ultraviolet to the near-infrared. AGBstars are important for ages between 0.1 and 2 Gyr, with theircontribution increasing at longer wavelengths. We investigatesimilarities and differences between the model predictions by the Genevaand the Padova tracks. The differences are particularly pronounced atages >1 Gyr, when incompleteness sets in for the Geneva models. Wealso perform detailed comparisons with the predictions of other majorsynthesis codes and find excellent agreement. Our synthesized opticalcolors are compared to observations of old, intermediate-age, and youngpopulations. Excellent agreement is found for the old globular clustersystem of NGC 5128 and for old and intermediate-age clusters in NGC4038/4039. In contrast, the models fail for red supergiant-dominatedpopulations with subsolar abundances. This failure can be traced back toincorrect red supergiant parameters in the stellar evolutionary tracks.Our models and the synthesis code are publicly available as version 5.0of Starburst99 at http://www.stsci.edu/science/starburst99.
| A Chandra Snapshot Survey of Infrared-bright LINERs: A Possible Link Between Star Formation, Active Galactic Nucleus Fueling, and Mass Accretion
We present results from a high-resolution X-ray imaging study of nearbyLINERs observed by ACIS on board Chandra. This study complements andextends previous X-ray studies of LINERs, focusing on the underexploredpopulation of nearby dust-enshrouded infrared-bright LINERs. The sampleconsists of 15 IR-bright LINERs (LFIR/LB>3),with distances that range from 11 to 26 Mpc. Combining our sample withprevious Chandra studies, we find that ~51% (28/55) of the LINERsdisplay compact hard X-ray cores. The nuclear 2-10 keV luminosities ofthe galaxies in this expanded sample range from ~2×1038to ~2×1044 ergs s-1. We find that the mostextreme IR-faint LINERs are exclusively active galactic nuclei (AGNs).The fraction of LINERs containing AGNs appears to decrease with IRbrightness and increase again at the highest values ofLFIR/LB. We find that of the 24 LINERs showingcompact nuclear hard X-ray cores in the expanded sample that wereobserved at Hα wavelengths, only eight actually show evidence of abroad line. Similarly, of the 14 LINERs showing compact nuclear hardX-ray cores with corresponding radio observations, only eight display acompact flat spectrum radio core. These findings emphasize the need forhigh-resolution X-ray imaging observations in the study of IR-brightLINERs. Finally, we find an intriguing trend in the Eddington ratioversus LFIR and LFIR/LB for theAGN-LINERs in the expanded sample that extends over 7 orders ofmagnitude in L/LEdd. This correlation may imply a linkbetween black hole growth, as measured by the Eddington ratio, and thestar formation rate, as measured by the far-IR luminosity andIR-brightness ratio. If the far-IR luminosity is an indicator of themolecular gas content in our sample of LINERs, our results may furtherindicate that the mass accretion rate scales with the host galaxy's fuelsupply. We discuss the potential implications of our results in theframework of black hole growth and AGN fueling in low-luminosity AGNs.
| X-ray obscuration and obscured AGN in the local universe
We discuss the X-ray properties of 49 local (z<0.035) Seyfert 2galaxies with HST/WFC2 high-resolution optical coverage. It includes theresults of 26 still unpublished Chandra and XMM-Newton observations,which yield 25 (22) new X-ray detections in the 0.5-2 keV (2-10 keV)energy band. Our sample covers a range in the 2-10 keV observed flux,F2-10, from 3 × 10-11 to 6 ×10-15 erg cm-2 s-1. The percentage ofobjects that are likely obscured by Compton-thick matter (columndensity, NH ≥ σt-1 ≃1.6 × 1024 cm-2) is ≃50%, and reaches≃80% for log (F2-10) < 12.3. Hence, Kαfluorescent iron lines with large Equivalent Width ({EW} > 0.6 keV)are common in our sample (6 new detections at a confidence level≥2σ). They are explained as due to reflection off theilluminated side of optically thick material. We confirm a correlationbetween the presence of a 100-pc scale nuclear dust in the WFC2 imagesand Compton-thin obscuration. We interpret this correlation as due tothe large covering fraction of gas associated with the dust lanes. TheX-ray spectra of highly obscured AGN invariably present a prominent softexcess emission above the extrapolation of the hard X-ray component.This soft component can account for a very large fraction of the overallX-ray energy budget. As this component is generally unobscured - andtherefore likely produced in extended gas structures - it may lead to asevere underestimation of the nuclear obscuration in z 1 absorbedAGN, if standard X-ray colors are used to classify them. As a by-productof our study, we report the discovery of a soft X-ray, luminous(≃7 × 1040 erg s-1) halo embedding theinteracting galaxy pair Mkn 266.
| The host galaxy/AGN connection in nearby early-type galaxies. Sample selection and hosts brightness profiles
This is the first of a series of three papers exploring the connectionbetween the multiwavelength properties of AGNs in nearby early-typegalaxies and the characteristics of their hosts. We selected twosamples, both with high resolution 5 GHz VLA observations available andproviding measurements down to 1 mJy level, reaching radio-luminositiesas low as 1019 W Hz-1. We focus on the 116radio-detected galaxies as to boost the fraction of AGN with respect toa purely optically selected sample. Here we present the analysis of theoptical brightness profiles based on archival HST images, available for65 objects. We separate early-type galaxies on the basis of the slope oftheir nuclear brightness profiles, into core and power-law galaxiesfollowing the Nuker's scheme, rather than on the traditionalmorphological classification (i.e. into E and S0 galaxies). Our sampleof AGN candidates is indistinguishable, when their brightness profilesare concerned, from galaxies of similar optical luminosity but hostingweaker (or no) radio-sources. We confirm previous findings thatrelatively bright radio-sources (Lr > 1021.5 WHz-1) are uniquely associated to core galaxies. However,below this threshold in radio-luminosity core and power-law galaxiescoexist and they do not show any apparent difference in theirradio-properties. Not surprisingly, since our sample is deliberatelybiased to favour the inclusion of active galaxies, we found a higherfraction of optically nucleated galaxies. Addressing the multiwavelengthproperties of these nuclei will be the aim of the two forthcomingpapers.
| Starbursts in barred spiral galaxies. VI. HI observations and the K-band Tully-Fisher relation
This paper reports a study of the effect of a bar on the neutralhydrogen (HI) content of starburst and Seyfert galaxies. We also makecomparisons with a sample of ``normal'' galaxies and investigate howwell starburst and Seyfert galaxies follow the fundamental scalingTully-Fisher (TF) relation defined for normal galaxies. 111 Markarian(Mrk) IRAS galaxies were observed with the Nançay radiotelescope,and HI data were obtained for 80 galaxies, of which 64 are newdetections. We determined the (20 and 50%) linewidths, the maximumvelocity of rotation and total HI flux for each galaxy. Thesemeasurements are complemented by data from the literature to form asample of Mrk IRAS (74% starburst, 23% Seyfert and 3% unknown) galaxiescontaining 105 unbarred and 113 barred ones. Barred galaxies have lowertotal and bias-corrected HI masses than unbarred galaxies, and this istrue for both Mrk IRAS and normal galaxies. This robust result suggeststhat bars funnel the HI gas toward the center of the galaxy where itbecomes molecular before forming new stars. The Mrk IRAS galaxies havehigher bias-corrected HI masses than normal galaxies. They also showsignificant departures from the TF relation, both in the B and K bands.The most deviant points from the TF relation tend to have a strongfar-infrared luminosity and a low oxygen abundance. These resultssuggest that a fraction of our Mrk IRAS galaxies are still in theprocess of formation, and that their neutral HI gas, partly of externalorigin, has not yet reached a stationary state.Based on observations obtained at the large radiotelescope ofObservatoire de Nançay, operated by Observatoire de Paris.Tables 5 and 6 are only (and Table 4 also) available in electronic format the CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) orvia http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/416/515
| A High Resolution Imaging Survey of CO, HCN and HCO+ Lines towards Nearby Seyfert Galaxies
We have conducted a high resolution imaging survey of mm-wave molecularlines, i.e., CO(1-0), HCN(1-0), and HCO+(1-d$0) towards nearby Seyfertgalaxies using the Nobeyama Millimeter Array and the RAINBOWinterferometer. Some of Seyfert galaxies show extremely high HCN/CO andHCN/HCO+ line ratios, which are not observed in nuclear starburstgalaxies. These molecular line ratios can be a new diagnostic tool toinvestigate the ``AGN - starburst connection'' in active galaxies.
| Redshift-Distance Survey of Early-Type Galaxies: Spectroscopic Data
We present central velocity dispersions and Mg2 line indicesfor an all-sky sample of ~1178 elliptical and S0 galaxies, of which 984had no previous measures. This sample contains the largest set ofhomogeneous spectroscopic data for a uniform sample of ellipticalgalaxies in the nearby universe. These galaxies were observed as part ofthe ENEAR project, designed to study the peculiar motions and internalproperties of the local early-type galaxies. Using 523 repeatedobservations of 317 galaxies obtained during different runs, the dataare brought to a common zero point. These multiple observations, takenduring the many runs and different instrumental setups employed for thisproject, are used to derive statistical corrections to the data and arefound to be relatively small, typically <~5% of the velocitydispersion and 0.01 mag in the Mg2 line strength. Typicalerrors are about 8% in velocity dispersion and 0.01 mag inMg2, in good agreement with values published elsewhere.
| 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.
| Redshift-Distance Survey of Early-Type Galaxies: Circular-Aperture Photometry
We present R-band CCD photometry for 1332 early-type galaxies, observedas part of the ENEAR survey of peculiar motions using early-typegalaxies in the nearby universe. Circular apertures are used to tracethe surface brightness profiles, which are then fitted by atwo-component bulge-disk model. From the fits, we obtain the structuralparameters required to estimate galaxy distances using theDn-σ and fundamental plane relations. We find thatabout 12% of the galaxies are well represented by a pure r1/4law, while 87% are best fitted by a two-component model. There are 356repeated observations of 257 galaxies obtained during different runsthat are used to derive statistical corrections and bring the data to acommon system. We also use these repeated observations to estimate ourinternal errors. The accuracy of our measurements are tested by thecomparison of 354 galaxies in common with other authors. Typical errorsin our measurements are 0.011 dex for logDn, 0.064 dex forlogre, 0.086 mag arcsec-2 for<μe>, and 0.09 for mRC,comparable to those estimated by other authors. The photometric datareported here represent one of the largest high-quality and uniformall-sky samples currently available for early-type galaxies in thenearby universe, especially suitable for peculiar motion studies.Based on observations at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO),National Optical Astronomy Observatory, which is operated by theAssociation of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., undercooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation (NSF);European Southern Observatory (ESO); Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory(FLWO); and the MDM Observatory on Kitt Peak.
| 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
| Diffuse and Gravitationally Stable Molecular Gas in the Post-Starburst Galaxy NGC 5195
The Nobeyama Millimeter Array (NMA) has been used to make aperturesynthesis CO(1 - 0) observations of the post-starburst galaxy NGC 5195.CO(1 - 0) and HCN(1 - 0) observations of NGC 5195 using the Nobeyama 45m telescope are also presented. High-resolution (1".9 × 1".8 or 86pc × 81 pc or D = 9.3 Mpc) NMA maps show a strong concentration ofCO emission toward the central a few × 100 pc region of NGC 5195,despite the fact that the current massive star formation is suppressedthere. The face-on gas surface density, Σgas, withinthe r < 2'' or 90pc region reaches 3.7 × 103pc-2 if a Galactic NH2/ICOconversion factor is applied. The extent of the central CO peak is about5'', or 230pc, and is elongated along the E-W direction with two-armedspiral-like structures, which are typical for barred disk galaxies. TheHCN-to-CO integrated intensity rat io on the brightness temperaturescale, RHCN/CO, is about 0.02 within the central r < 400pc region. This RHCN/CO is smaller than those in starburstregions by a factor of 5 - 15. These molecular-gas properties wouldexplain why NGC 5195 is in a post-starburst phase; most of the densemolecular cores (i.e., the very sites of massive star formation) havebeen consumed away by a past starburst event, and therefore a burst ofmassive star formation can no longer last, although a large amount oflow density gas still exists. We find a steep rise of the rotationvelocity toward the center of NGC 5195. As a consequence, the criticalgas surface density for a local gravitational instability of the gasdisk becomes very high Σcrit 6.9 × 103Modot pc-2), suggesting that the molecular gas in the centralregion of NGC 5195 is gravitationally stable! ! , in contrast to that ofstarburst galaxies. We propose that dense molecular gas can not beformed from remaining diffuse molecular gas because the molecular gas inthe center of NGC 5195 is too stable to form dense cores viagravitational instabilities of diffuse molecular gas. The deduced veryhigh threshold density seems to be due to a high mass concentration inNGC 5195. The known trends on the occurrence and luminosity of nuclearstar formation in early-type galaxies can be understood naturally if thehigh threshold density is characteristic for early-type galaxies.
| Extended dust emission in NGC 7465
We present SCUBA 850-μm, JCMT CO(J =2->1), B -band imaging and VLAHi observations of the NGC 7465/4/3 group of galaxies. The 850-μmemission associated with NGC 7465 extends to at least ~2R 25and is well correlated with the Hi. We investigate a range of possiblemechanisms by which dust beyond R 25 may be heated to givethe observed extended submillimetre emission. By modelling the dustheating by stars in two extreme geometries, we fail to find anyreasonable star formation scenario that is consistent with both the850-μm and optical data. Furthermore, we do not detect any CO(J=2->1) emission coincident with the extended dust and atomic gas aswould be expected if significant star formation were occurring. We showthat shock-heating of dust via cloud-cloud collisions in the strippedinterstellar medium of NGC 7465 could be sufficient to explain theextended 850-μm emission and lack of optical emission in the strippedgas, and suggest that cloud-cloud collisions may be an important dustheating mechanism in gas-rich systems.
| The distribution of atomic gas and dust in nearby galaxies - I. Presentation of matched-resolution VLA H I and SCUBA 850-μm maps
We present matched-resolution VLA HI and SCUBA 850-μm maps of 20IRAS-bright galaxies. Of the galaxies observed, two were not detected inHI and two were detected in absorption. The HI distributions of thegalaxies have a range of morphologies. Some of the systems appear HIdeficient in the central regions which could be due to a high conversionrate of HI into molecules or HI absorption. In contrast to the HI, the850-μm emission has a smooth distribution which is concentratedtowards the optical centre of each galaxy. We also find evidence for850-μm emission extending to the periphery of the optical disc insome of the galaxies. Finally, we note that the relative lack of850-μm emission when compared with HI does not necessarily mean thatthe atomic gas and dust do not have similar mass distributions.
| The UZC-SSRS2 Group Catalog
We apply a friends-of-friends algorithm to the combined Updated ZwickyCatalog and Southern Sky Redshift Survey to construct a catalog of 1168groups of galaxies; 411 of these groups have five or more members withinthe redshift survey. The group catalog covers 4.69 sr, and all groupsexceed the number density contrast threshold, δρ/ρ=80. Wedemonstrate that the groups catalog is homogeneous across the twounderlying redshift surveys; the catalog of groups and their membersthus provides a basis for other statistical studies of the large-scaledistribution of groups and their physical properties. The medianphysical properties of the groups are similar to those for groupsderived from independent surveys, including the ESO Key Programme andthe Las Campanas Redshift Survey. We include tables of groups and theirmembers.
| Near-Infrared photometry in J, H and Kn bands for polar ring galaxies. II. Global properties
We discuss the properties of the host galaxy and ring lightdistributions in the optical and near infrared bands for a sample ofPolar Ring Galaxies (PRGs), presented in Paper I (Iodice et al.\cite{paperI}). The goal of this work is to test different formationscenarios for PRGs, proposed by different authors in the last decades,by comparing their predictions with these new data. The strategy istwofold: i) the integrated colors of the main components in thesesystems are compared with those of standard morphological galaxy types,to investigate whether differences in colors are caused by dustabsorption or difference in stellar populations. We then derived anestimate of the stellar population ages in PRGs, which can be used toset constrains on the dynamical modeling and the time evolution of thesesystems; ii) we analyse the structural parameters of the host galaxy inorder to understand whether this component is a standard early-typesystem as its morphology suggests, and the light distribution in thepolar ring to measure its radial extension. These observational resultsindicate that the global properties of PRGs are better explained bydissipative merging of disks with un-equal masses as proposed by Bekki(1998), rather than the accretion-or stripping-of gas by a pre-existingearly-type galaxy.
| A catalogue and analysis of X-ray luminosities of early-type galaxies
We present a catalogue of X-ray luminosities for 401 early-typegalaxies, of which 136 are based on newly analysed ROSAT PSPC pointedobservations. The remaining luminosities are taken from the literatureand converted to a common energy band, spectral model and distancescale. Using this sample we fit the LX:LB relationfor early-type galaxies and find a best-fit slope for the catalogue of~2.2. We demonstrate the influence of group-dominant galaxies on the fitand present evidence that the relation is not well modelled by a singlepower-law fit. We also derive estimates of the contribution to galaxyX-ray luminosities from discrete-sources and conclude that they provideLdscr/LB~=29.5ergs-1LBsolar-1. Wecompare this result with luminosities from our catalogue. Lastly, weexamine the influence of environment on galaxy X-ray luminosity and onthe form of the LX:LB relation. We conclude thatalthough environment undoubtedly affects the X-ray properties ofindividual galaxies, particularly those in the centres of groups andclusters, it does not change the nature of whole populations.
| Jet Directions in Seyfert Galaxies: B and I Imaging Data
We present the results of broadband B and I imaging observations for asample of 88 Seyfert galaxies (29 Seyfert 1s and 59 Seyfert 2s),selected from a mostly isotropic property, the flux at 60 μm. We alsopresent the B and I imaging results for an additional sample of 20Seyfert galaxies (7 Seyfert 1s and 13 Seyfert 2s), selected from theliterature and known to have extended radio emission. The I-band imagesare fitted with ellipses to determine the position angle and ellipticityof the host galaxy major axis. This information will be used in a futurepaper, combined with information from radio observations, to study theorientation of radio jets relative to the planes of their host galaxies.Here we present surface brightness profiles and magnitudes in the B andI bands, as well as mean ellipticities and major axis position angles.
| Hubble Space Telescope WFPC2 Imaging of a Sample of Early-Type Seyfert Galaxies
We have defined a complete sample comprising all 14 Seyfert galaxies inearly-type (E, S0, Sa) host galaxies with apparent magnitudemv<14.5 mag and recessional velocity cz<3000 kms-1. This paper presents Hubble Space Telescope (HST) imagingobservations of 12 of them, the other two having been observedpreviously with HST. The observations are of the [O III] λ5007and [N II] λλ6548, 6583+Hα emission lines and theiradjacent continua (centered near 5500 and 8000 Å). We find thatall the galaxies in our sample display prominent nuclear dust features.In some objects, the dust strongly influences the morphology of thestarlight and ionized gas. Despite the restriction to early-typegalaxies, five (possibly six) galaxies of the 14 have a significant (ifnot dominant) part of their [N II]+Hα emission originating in H IIregions. This result supports the notion that the Seyfert phenomenontends to be associated with ongoing star formation. Based onobservations with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope obtained at theSpace Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Associationof Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS5-26555.
| 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.
| Jet Directions in Seyfert Galaxies
Here we present the study of the relative angle between the accretiondisk (or radio jet) and the galaxy disk for a sample of Seyfert galaxiesselected from a mostly isotropic property, the 60 μm flux, and warminfrared colors. We used VLA A-array 3.6 cm continuum data andground-based optical imaging, homogeneously observed and reduced tominimize selection effects. For parts of the analysis we enlarged thesample by including galaxies serendipitously selected from theliterature. For each galaxy we have a pair of points (i, δ), whichare the inclination of the galaxy relative to the line of sight and theangle between the jet projected into the plane of the sky and the hostgalaxy major axis, respectively. For some galaxies we also hadinformation about which side of the minor axis is closer to Earth. Thisdata is combined with a statistical technique, developed by us, todetermine the distribution of β angles in three dimensions, theangle between the jet and the host galaxy plane axis. We found from aninitial analysis of the data of the 60 μm sample, where Seyfert 1 and2 galaxies were not differentiated, that the observed distribution of iand δ values can be well represented either by a homogeneoussinβ distribution in the range0deg<=β<=90deg or in0deg<=β<=65deg, but not by anequatorial ring. A more general model, which tested β-distributionsin the range β1<=β<=β2, fordifferent ranges of β1 and β2 values,required β2 to be larger than 65° and gavepreference for β1 smaller than 40°-50°. Animportant result from our analysis was obtained when we determinedwhether the jet was projected against the near or the far side of thegalaxy and differentiated between Seyfert 1 and Seyfert 2 galaxies,which showed that the model could not represent Seyfert 1 galaxiesadequately. We found that the inclusion of viewing angle restrictionsfor Seyfert 1 galaxies, namely, that a galaxy can be recognized as aSeyfert 1 only if the angle between the jet and the line of sight(|φ|) is smaller than a given angle φc and that thegalaxy inclination i is smaller than an angle ic, gave riseto statistically acceptable models. This indication that there is adifference in viewing angle to the central engine between Seyfert 1galaxies and Seyfert 2 galaxies is a direct and independent confirmationof the underlying concepts of the unified model. We discuss possibleexplanations for the misalignment between the accretion disk and thehost galaxy disk: warping of the accretion disk by self-irradiationinstability, by the Bardeen-Petterson effect, or by a misalignedgravitational potential of a nuclear star cluster surrounding the blackhole, as well as feeding of the accretion disk by a misaligned inflow ofgas from minor mergers, capture of individual stars or gas from thenuclear star cluster, and the capture of individual molecular cloudsfrom the host galaxy.
| The FIR-radio correlation of Wolf-Rayet galaxies and the role of star formation in LINERs
We find that a preliminary classification of LINERs' energetics may bemade in terms of the FIR-radio correlation of Wolf-Rayet galaxies. TheAGN- or starburst-supported LINERs can be distinguished by theirFIR-to-radio ratio, Qequiv L(1.4GHz)/ L(60mum )> or <0.01. It isinteresting to note that almost all the LINERs with inner rings might bestarburst-supported, indicating reduced AGN activities compared withthose of the AGN-supported ones. We also find that a shock-heating phasefor the warm dust component might be important for some starbursts atthe burst age of >= 107 yr, with Q<0.001.
| Stellar population synthesis for blue compact galaxies.
Not Available
| The role of star formation in liners.
Not Available
| 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.
| Radio Structures of Seyfert Galaxies. VIII. A Distance- and Magnitude-Limited Sample of Early-Type Galaxies
The VLA has been used at 3.6 and 20 cm to image a sample of about 50early-type Seyfert galaxies with recessional velocities less than 7000km s^-1 and total visual magnitude less than 14.5. Emission-line ([OIII] and Hα+[N II]) and continuum (green and red) imaging of thissample has been presented in a previous paper. In this paper, we presentthe radio results, discuss statistical relationships between the radioand other properties, and investigate these relationships within thecontext of unified models of Seyferts. The mean radio luminosities ofearly-type Seyfert 1's (i.e., Seyfert 1.0's, 1.2's, and 1.5's) and 2.0'sare found to be similar (consistent with the unified scheme), and theradio luminosity is independent of morphological type within thissample. The fraction of resolved radio sources is larger in the Seyfert2.0's (93%) than in the Seyfert 1's (64%). However, the mean radioextents of Seyfert 2.0's and 1's are not significantly different,although this result is limited by the small number of resolved Seyfert1's. The nuclear radio structures of Seyfert 2.0's in the early-typesample tend to be aligned with the [O III] and Hα+[N II]structures, even though the radio extents are smaller than the [O III]and Hα+[N II] extents by a factor of ~2 to more than 5. Thisalignment, previously known for individual Seyferts with ``linear''radio sources, is here shown to be characteristic of early-type Seyfertgalaxies as a class. Seyfert 2.0's in the early-type sample also show asignificant alignment between the emission-line ([O III] and Hα+[NII]) axes and the major axis of the host galaxy. These alignments areconsistent with a picture in which the ionized gas represents ambientgas predominantly coplanar with the galaxy stellar disk. This ambientgas is ionized by nuclear radiation that may escape preferentially alongand around the radio axis, and is compressed in shocks driven by theradio ejecta. We use this alignment to constrain the product of thevelocity of the radio ejecta and the period of any large-angleprecession of the inner accretion disk and jet: V_ejectaxP>=2 kpc. Aninvestigation of a larger sample of Seyferts reveals the unexpectedresult that the Seyfert 1's with the largest radio extent (>=1.5 kpc)are all of type Seyfert 1.2. It appears that classification as this typeof intermediate Seyfert depends on some factor other than the relativeorientation of the nuclear-obscuring torus to the line of sight. Amongall the other Seyferts, the distribution of radio extent with Seyfertintermediate type is consistent with the expectations of the unifiedscheme.
| The Distribution of Absorbing Column Densities among Seyfert 2 Galaxies
We use hard X-ray data for an ``optimal'' sample of Seyfert 2 galaxiesto derive the distribution of the gaseous absorbing column densitiesamong obscured active nuclei in the local universe. Of all Seyfert 2galaxies in the sample, 75% are heavily obscured (N_H>10^23 cm^-2),and about half are Compton thick (N_H>10^24 cm^-2). Intermediate type1.8-1.9 Seyfert galaxies are characterized by an average N_H much lowerthan ``strict'' Seyfert 2 galaxies. No correlation is found between N_Hand the intrinsic luminosity of the nuclear source. This N_Hdistribution has important consequences for the synthesis of the cosmicX-ray background. In addition, the large fraction of Compton-thickobjects implies that most of the obscuring gas is located within aradius of a few 10 pc from the nucleus.
| The Relative Orientation of Nuclear Accretion and Galaxy Stellar Disks in Seyfert Galaxies
We use the difference (delta) between the position angles of the nuclearradio emission and the host galaxy major axis to investigate thedistribution of the angle (beta) between the axes of the nuclearaccretion disk and the host galaxy disk in Seyfert galaxies. We providea critical appraisal of the quality of all measurements, and find thatthe data are limited by observational uncertainties and biases, such asthe well known deficiency of Seyfert galaxies of high inclination. Thereis weak evidence that the distribution of delta for Seyfert 2 galaxiesmay be different (at the 90% confidence level) from a uniformdistribution, while the Seyfert 1 delta distribution is notsignificantly different from a uniform distribution or from the Seyfert2 delta distribution. The cause of the possible nonuniformity in thedistribution of delta for Seyfert 2 galaxies is discussed. Seyfertnuclei in late-type spiral galaxies may favor large values of delta (atthe ~96% confidence level), while those in early-type galaxies show amore or less random distribution of delta. This may imply that thenuclear accretion disk in noninteracting late-type spirals tends toalign with the stellar disk, while that in early-type galaxies is morerandomly oriented, perhaps as a result of accretion following a galaxymerger. We point out that biases in the distribution of inclinationtranslate to biased estimates of beta in the context of the unifiedscheme. When this effect is taken into account, the distributions ofbeta for all Seyferts together, and of Seyfert 1s and 2s separately,agree with the hypothesis that the radio jets are randomly oriented withrespect to the galaxy disk. The data are consistent with theexpectations of the unified scheme, but do not demand it.
|
Submit a new article
Related links
Submit a new link
Member of following groups:
|
Observation and Astrometry data
Catalogs and designations:
|
