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Massive star formation in the central regions of spiral galaxies
Context: . The morphology of massive star formation in the centralregions of galaxies is an important tracer of the dynamical processesthat govern the evolution of disk, bulge, and nuclear activity. Aims. Wepresent optical imaging of the central regions of a sample of 73 spiralgalaxies in the Hα line and in optical broad bands, and deriveinformation on the morphology of massive star formation. Methods. Weobtained images with the William Herschel Telescope, mostly at a spatialresolution of below one second of arc. For most galaxies, no Hαimaging is available in the literature. We outline the observing anddata reduction procedures, list basic properties, and present the I-bandand continuum-subtracted Hα images. We classify the morphology ofthe nuclear and circumnuclear Hα emission and explore trends withhost galaxy parameters. Results. We confirm that late-type galaxies havea patchy circumnuclear appearance in Hα, and that nuclear ringsoccur primarily in spiral types Sa-Sbc. We identify a number ofpreviously unknown nuclear rings, and confirm that nuclear rings arepredominantly hosted by barred galaxies. Conclusions. Other than instimulating nuclear rings, bars do not influence the relative strengthof the nuclear Hα peak, nor the circumnuclear Hα morphology.Even considering that our selection criteria led to an over-abundance ofgalaxies with close massive companions, we do not find any significantinfluence of the presence or absence of a close companion on therelative strength of the nuclear Hα peak, nor on the Hαmorphology around the nucleus.
| Classifications of the Host Galaxies of Supernovae, Set III
A homogeneous sample comprising host galaxies of 604 recent supernovae,including 212 objects discovered primarily in 2003 and 2004, has beenclassified on the David Dunlap Observatory system. Most SN 1991bg-likeSNe Ia occur in E and E/Sa galaxies, whereas the majority of SN1991T-like SNe Ia occur in intermediate-type galaxies. This differenceis significant at the 99.9% level. As expected, all types of SNe II arerare in early-type galaxies, whereas normal SNe Ia occur in all Hubbletypes. This difference is significant at the 99.99% level. A smallnumber of SNe II in E galaxies might be due to galaxy classificationerrors or to a small young-population component in these mainly oldobjects. No significant difference is found between the distributionsover the Hubble type of SNe Ibc and SNe II. This confirms that both ofthese types of objects have similar (massive) progenitors. The presentdata show that in order to understand the dependence of supernova typeon host-galaxy population, it is more important to obtain accuratemorphological classifications than it is to increase the size of thedata sample.
| Radio Continuum and Far-infrared Emission from the Galaxies in the Eridanus Group
The Eridanus galaxies follow the well-known radio-FIR correlation. Themajority (70%) of these galaxies have their star formation rates belowthat of the Milky Way. The galaxies that have a significant excess ofradio emission are identified as low luminosity AGNs based on theirradio morphologies obtained from the GMRT observations. There are nopowerful AGNs (L20 cm>1023WHz-1) in the group. The twomost far-infrared and radio luminous galaxies in the group have opticaland HI morphologies suggestive of recent tidal interactions. TheEridanus group also has two far-infrared luminous but radio-deficientgalaxies. It is believed that these galaxies are observed within a fewMyr of the onset of an intense star formation episode after beingquiescent for at least a 100 Myr. The upper end of the radio luminositydistribution of the Eridanus galaxies (L20 cm1022WHz-1) isconsistent with that of the field galaxies, other groups, and late-typegalaxies in nearby clusters.
| The HI Content of the Eridanus Group of Galaxies
The HI content of galaxies in the Eridanus group is studied using theGMRT observations and the HIPASS data. A significant HI deficiency up toa factor of 2-3 is observed in galaxies in the high galaxy densityregions. The HI deficiency in galaxies is observed to be directlycorrelated to the local projected galaxy density, and inverselycorrelated to the lineof-sight radial velocity. Furthermore, galaxieswith larger optical diameters are predominantly in the lower galaxydensity regions. It is suggested that the HI deficiency in Eridanus isdue to tidal interactions. In some galaxies, evidences of tidalinteractions are seen. An important implication is that significantevolution of galaxies can take place in the group environment. In thehierarchical way of formation of clusters via mergers of groups, afraction of the observed HI deficiency in clusters could have originatedin groups. The co-existence of S0s and severely HI deficient galaxies inthe Eridanus group suggests that tidal interaction is likely to be aneffective mechanism for transforming spirals to S0s.
| The Classification of Galaxies: Early History and Ongoing Developments
"You ask what is the use of classification, arrangement,systematization. I answer you; order and simplification are the firststeps toward the mastery of a subject the actual enemy is the unknown."
| The Pattern Speeds of 38 Barred Galaxies
We estimate the pattern speeds of 38 barred galaxies by simulationmodeling. We construct the gravitational potentials of the galaxies fromnear-IR photometry by assuming that the mass-to-light ratio (M/L) isconstant in the H band and a single pattern speed dominates in thestellar disk. We use the response of gaseous and stellar particle disksto a rigidly rotating potential to determine the pattern speed. If ourassumptions are correct, then the pattern speed depends on themorphological type: the average value of the ratio of the corotationresonance radius to the bar radius, ℛ, increases from about 1.1 intype SB0/a to 1.4 in SBb and 1.7 in SBc. Within the error estimates, allthe bars in galaxies of type SBab or earlier are fast rotators, havingℛ<=1.4, whereas late-type galaxies include both fast and slowrotators.
| The Vertical Stellar Kinematics in Face-On Barred Galaxies: Estimating the Ages of Bars
In order to perform a detailed study of the stellar kinematics in thevertical axis of bars, we obtained high signal-to-noise spectra alongthe major and minor axes of the bars in a sample of 14 face-on galaxiesand used them to determine the line-of-sight stellar velocitydistribution, parameterized as a Gauss-Hermite series. With these data,we developed a diagnostic tool that allows one to distinguish betweenrecently formed and evolved bars, as well as to estimate their ages,assuming that bars form in vertically thin disks that are recognizableby low values for the vertical velocity dispersion σz.Through N-body realizations of bar unstable disk galaxies we were alsoable to check the timescales involved in the processes that give bars animportant vertical structure. We show that σz inevolved bars is roughly 100 km s-1, which translates to aheight scale of about 1.4 kpc, giving support to scenarios in whichbulges form through disk material. Furthermore, the bars in ournumerical simulations have values for σz generallysmaller than 50 km s-1, even after evolving for 2 Gyr,suggesting that a slow process is responsible for making bars asvertically thick as we observe. We verify theoretically that theSpitzer-Schwarzschild mechanism is quantitatively able to explain theseobservations if we assume that giant molecular clouds are twice asconcentrated along the bar as in the rest of the disk.
| The Distribution of Bar and Spiral Arm Strengths in Disk Galaxies
The distribution of bar strengths in disk galaxies is a fundamentalproperty of the galaxy population that has only begun to be explored. Wehave applied the bar-spiral separation method of Buta and coworkers toderive the distribution of maximum relative gravitational bar torques,Qb, for 147 spiral galaxies in the statistically well-definedOhio State University Bright Galaxy Survey (OSUBGS) sample. Our goal isto examine the properties of bars as independently as possible of theirassociated spirals. We find that the distribution of bar strengthdeclines smoothly with increasing Qb, with more than 40% ofthe sample having Qb<=0.1. In the context of recurrent barformation, this suggests that strongly barred states are relativelyshort-lived compared to weakly barred or nonbarred states. We do notfind compelling evidence for a bimodal distribution of bar strengths.Instead, the distribution is fairly smooth in the range0.0<=Qb<0.8. Our analysis also provides a first look atspiral strengths Qs in the OSUBGS sample, based on the sametorque indicator. We are able to verify a possible weak correlationbetween Qs and Qb, in the sense that galaxies withthe strongest bars tend to also have strong spirals.
| Bar-induced perturbation strengths of the galaxies in the Ohio State University Bright Galaxy Survey - I
Bar-induced perturbation strengths are calculated for a well-definedmagnitude-limited sample of 180 spiral galaxies, based on the Ohio StateUniversity Bright Galaxy Survey. We use a gravitational torque method,the ratio of the maximal tangential force to the mean axisymmetricradial force, as a quantitative measure of the bar strength. Thegravitational potential is inferred from an H-band light distribution byassuming that the M/L ratio is constant throughout the disc. Galaxiesare deprojected using orientation parameters based on B-band images. Inorder to eliminate artificial stretching of the bulge, two-dimensionalbar-bulge-disc decomposition has been used to derive a reliable bulgemodel. This bulge model is subtracted from an image, the disc isdeprojected assuming it is thin, and then the bulge is added back byassuming that its mass distribution is spherically symmetric. We findthat removing the artificial bulge stretch is important especially forgalaxies having bars inside large bulges. We also find that the massesof the bulges can be significantly overestimated if bars are not takeninto account in the decomposition.Bars are identified using Fourier methods by requiring that the phasesof the main modes (m= 2, m= 4) are maintained nearly constant in the barregion. With such methods, bars are found in 65 per cent of the galaxiesin our sample, most of them being classified as SB-type systems in thenear-infrared by Eskridge and co-workers. We also suggest that as muchas ~70 per cent of the galaxies classified as SAB-types in thenear-infrared might actually be non-barred systems, many of them havingcentral ovals. It is also possible that a small fraction of the SAB-typegalaxies have weak non-classical bars with spiral-like morphologies.
| The ISOPHOT 170 μm Serendipity Survey II. The catalog of optically identified galaxies%
The ISOPHOT Serendipity Sky Survey strip-scanning measurements covering≈15% of the far-infrared (FIR) sky at 170 μm were searched forcompact sources associated with optically identified galaxies. CompactSerendipity Survey sources with a high signal-to-noise ratio in at leasttwo ISOPHOT C200 detector pixels were selected that have a positionalassociation with a galaxy identification in the NED and/or Simbaddatabases and a galaxy counterpart visible on the Digitized Sky Surveyplates. A catalog with 170 μm fluxes for more than 1900 galaxies hasbeen established, 200 of which were measured several times. The faintest170 μm fluxes reach values just below 0.5 Jy, while the brightest,already somewhat extended galaxies have fluxes up to ≈600 Jy. For thevast majority of listed galaxies, the 170 μm fluxes were measured forthe first time. While most of the galaxies are spirals, about 70 of thesources are classified as ellipticals or lenticulars. This is the onlycurrently available large-scale galaxy catalog containing a sufficientnumber of sources with 170 μm fluxes to allow further statisticalstudies of various FIR properties.Based on observations with ISO, an ESA project with instruments fundedby ESA Member States (especially the PI countries: France, Germany, TheNetherlands and the UK) and with the participation of ISAS and NASA.Members of the Consortium on the ISOPHOT Serendipity Survey (CISS) areMPIA Heidelberg, ESA ISO SOC Villafranca, AIP Potsdam, IPAC Pasadena,Imperial College London.Full Table 4 and Table 6 are only available in electronic form at theCDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/422/39
| Deprojecting spiral galaxies using Fourier analysis. Application to the Ohio sample
We use two new methods developed recently (Barberàet al.\cite{bar03}, A&A, 415, 849), as well as information obtained fromthe literature, to calculate the orientation parameters of the spiralgalaxies in the Ohio State University Bright Galaxy Survey. We comparethe results of these methods with data from the literature, and find ingeneral good agreement. We provide a homogeneous set of mean orientationparameters which can be used to approximately deproject the disks of thegalaxies and facilitate a number of statistical studies of galaxyproperties.Table 1 is only available in electronic form at the CDS via anonymousftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/421/595
| Supernova 2003if in NGC 1302
IAUC 8206 available at Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams.
| Supernova 2003if in NGC 1302
IAUC 8206 available at Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams.
| 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
| Bar strengths in spiral galaxies estimated from 2MASS images
Non-axisymmetric forces are presented for a sample of 107 spiralgalaxies, of which 31 are barred (SB) and 53 show nuclear activity. As adata base we use JHK images from the 2 Micron All-sky Survey, and thenon-axisymmetries are characterized by the ratio of the tangential forceto the mean axisymmetric radial force field, following Buta & Block.Bar strengths have an important role in many extragalactic problems andtherefore it is important to verify that the different numerical methodsapplied for calculating the forces give mutually consistent results. Weapply both direct Cartesian integration and a polar grid integrationutilizing a limited number of azimuthal Fourier components of density.We find that the bar strength is independent of the method used toevaluate the gravitational potential. However, because of thedistance-dependent smoothing by Fourier decomposition, the polar methodis more suitable for weak and noisy images. The largest source ofuncertainty in the derived bar strength appears to be the uncertainty inthe vertical scaleheight, which is difficult to measure directly formost galaxies. On the other hand, the derived bar strength is ratherinsensitive to the possible gradient in the vertical scaleheight of thedisc or to the exact model of the vertical density distribution,provided that the same effective vertical dispersion is assumed in allmodels. In comparison with the pioneering study by Buta & Block, thebar strength estimate is improved here by taking into account thedependence of the vertical scaleheight on the Hubble type: we find thatfor thin discs bar strengths are stronger than for thick discs by anamount that may correspond to as much as one bar strength class. Weconfirm the previous result by Buta and co-workers showing that thedispersion in bar strength is large among all the de Vaucouleurs opticalbar classes. In the near-infrared 40 per cent of the galaxies in oursample have bars (showing constant phases in the m= 2 Fourier amplitudesin the bar region), while in the optical band one-third of these barsare obscured by dust. Significant non-axisymmetric forces can also beinduced by the spiral arms, generally in the outer parts of the galacticdiscs, which may have important implications on galaxy evolution.Possible biases of the selected sample are also studied: we find thatthe number of bars identified drops rapidly when the inclination of thegalactic disc is larger than 50°. A similar bias is found in theThird Reference Catalogue of Bright Galaxies, which might be of interestwhen comparing bar frequencies at high and low redshifts.
| 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.
| Arm Structure in Anemic Spiral Galaxies
Anemic galaxies have less prominent star formation than normal galaxiesof the same Hubble type. Previous studies showed they are deficient intotal atomic hydrogen but not in molecular hydrogen. Here we compare thecombined surface densities of H I and H2 at mid-disk radiiwith the Kennicutt threshold for star formation. The anemic galaxies arebelow the threshold, which explains their lack of prominent starformation, but they are not much different than other early-typegalaxies, which also tend to be below threshold. The spiral waveamplitudes of anemic and normal galaxies were also compared, usingimages in B and J passbands from the OSU Bright Spiral Galaxy Survey.Anemic galaxies have normal spiral wave properties too, with the sameamplitudes and radial dependencies as other galaxies of the same armclass. Because of the lack of gas, spiral waves in early-type galaxiesand anemics do not have a continuous supply of stars with low velocitydispersions to maintain a marginally stable disk. As a result, they areeither short lived, evolving toward lenticulars and S0 types in only afew rotations at mid-disk, or they are driven by the asymmetriesassociated with gas removal in the cluster environment.
| The Visibility of Galactic Bars and Spiral Structure at High Redshifts
We investigate the visibility of galactic bars and spiral structure inthe distant universe by artificially redshifting 101 B-band CCD imagesof local spiral galaxies from the Ohio State University Bright SpiralGalaxy Survey. These local galaxy images represent a much fairerstatistical baseline than the galaxy atlas images presented by Frei etal. in 1995, the most commonly used calibration sample for morphologicalwork at high redshifts. Our artificially redshifted images correspond toHubble Space Telescope I814-band observations of the localgalaxy sample seen at z=0.7, with integration times matching those ofboth the very deep northern Hubble Deep Field (HDF) data and the muchshallower HDF flanking field observations. The expected visibility ofgalactic bars is probed in two ways: (1) using traditional visualclassification and (2) by charting the changing shape of the galaxydistribution in ``Hubble space,'' a quantitative two-parameterdescription of galactic structure that maps closely onto Hubble'soriginal tuning fork. Both analyses suggest that over two-thirds ofstrongly barred luminous local spirals (i.e., objects classified as SBin the Third Reference Catalogue) would still be classified as stronglybarred at z=0.7 in the HDF data. Under the same conditions, most weaklybarred spirals (classified SAB in the Third Reference Catalogue) wouldbe classified as regular spirals. The corresponding visibility of spiralstructure is assessed visually, by comparing luminosity classificationsfor the artificially redshifted sample with the corresponding luminosityclassifications from the Revised Shapley-Ames Catalog. We find that forexposure times similar to that of the HDF, spiral structure should bedetectable in most luminous (MB~M*) low-inclination spiralgalaxies at z=0.7 in which it is present. However, obvious spiralstructure is only detectable in ~30% of comparable galaxies in the HDFflanking field data using the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2. Our studyof artificially redshifted local galaxy images suggests that, whenviewed at similar resolution, noise level, and redshift-correctedwavelength, barred spirals are less common at z~0.7 than they are atz=0.0, although more data are needed to definitively rule out thepossibility that cosmic variance is responsible for much of this effect.
| Nearby Optical Galaxies: Selection of the Sample and Identification of Groups
In this paper we describe the Nearby Optical Galaxy (NOG) sample, whichis a complete, distance-limited (cz<=6000 km s-1) andmagnitude-limited (B<=14) sample of ~7000 optical galaxies. Thesample covers 2/3 (8.27 sr) of the sky (|b|>20deg) andappears to have a good completeness in redshift (97%). We select thesample on the basis of homogenized corrected total blue magnitudes inorder to minimize systematic effects in galaxy sampling. We identify thegroups in this sample by means of both the hierarchical and thepercolation ``friends-of-friends'' methods. The resulting catalogs ofloose groups appear to be similar and are among the largest catalogs ofgroups currently available. Most of the NOG galaxies (~60%) are found tobe members of galaxy pairs (~580 pairs for a total of ~15% of objects)or groups with at least three members (~500 groups for a total of ~45%of objects). About 40% of galaxies are left ungrouped (field galaxies).We illustrate the main features of the NOG galaxy distribution. Comparedto previous optical and IRAS galaxy samples, the NOG provides a densersampling of the galaxy distribution in the nearby universe. Given itslarge sky coverage, the identification of groups, and its high-densitysampling, the NOG is suited to the analysis of the galaxy density fieldof the nearby universe, especially on small scales.
| The ISOPHOT 170 μ m serendipity survey. I. Compact sources with galaxy associations
The first set of compact sources observed in the ISOPHOT 170 μmSerendipity Survey is presented. From the slew data with low(I100 μm <= 15 MJy/sr) cirrus background, 115well-observed sources with a high signal-to-noise ratio in all detectorpixels having a galaxy association were extracted. Of the galaxies withknown optical morphologies, the vast majority are classified as spirals,barred spirals, or irregulars. The 170 μm fluxes measured from theSerendipity slews have been put on an absolute flux level by usingcalibration sources observed additionally with the photometric mappingmode of ISOPHOT. For all but a few galaxies, the 170 μm fluxes aredetermined for the first time, which represents a significant increasein the number of galaxies with measured Far-Infrared (FIR) fluxes beyondthe IRAS 100 μm limit. The 170 μm fluxes cover the range 2 <~F170 μm la 100 Jy. Formulae for the integrated FIR fluxesF40-220μm and the total infrared fluxesF1-1000μm incorporating the new 170 μm fluxes areprovided. The large fraction of sources with a high F170μm / F100 μm flux ratio indicates that a cold(TDust la 20 K) dust component is present in many galaxies.The detection of such a cold dust component is crucial for thedetermination of the total dust mass in galaxies, and, in cases with alarge F170 μm / F100 μm flux ratio,increases the dust mass by a significant factor. The typical mass of thecoldest dust component is MDust = 107.5 +/- 0.5Msun , a factor 2-10 larger than that derived from IRASfluxes alone. As a consequence, the majority of the derived gas-to-dustratios are much closer to the canonical value of ~ 160 for the MilkyWay. By relaxing the selection criteria, it is expected that theSerendipity Survey will eventually lead to a catalog of 170 μm fluxesfor ~ 1000 galaxies. Based on observations with ISO, an ESA project withinstruments funded by ESA Member States (especially the PI countries:France, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom) and with theparticipation of ISAS and NASA. Members of the Consortium on the ISOPHOTSerendipity Survey (CISS) are MPIA Heidelberg, ESA ISO SOC Villafranca,AIP Potsdam, IPAC Pasadena, Imperial College London.
| The Durham/UKST Galaxy Redshift Survey - V. The catalogue
We present the radial velocities and blue, optical magnitudes for all ofthe galaxies within the Durham/UKST Galaxy Redshift Survey. Thiscatalogue consists of ~2500 galaxy redshifts to a limiting apparentmagnitude of B_J⋍17 mag, covering a ~1500-deg^2 area around theSouth Galactic Pole. The galaxies in this survey were selected from theEdinburgh/Durham Southern Galaxy Catalogue and were sampled, in order ofapparent magnitude, at a rate of one galaxy in every three. Thespectroscopy was performed at the 1.2-m UK Schmidt Telescope inAustralia using the FLAIR multi-object spectrograph. We show that ourradial velocity measurements made with this instrument have an empiricalaccuracy of +/-150 km s^-1. The observational techniques and datareduction procedures used in the construction of this survey are alsodiscussed. This survey demonstrates that the UKST can be used to make athree-dimensional map of the large-scale galaxy distribution, via aredshift survey to b_J⋍17 mag, over a wide area of the sky.
| A Photometric Method for Quantifying Asymmetries in Disk Galaxies
A photometric method for quantifying deviations from axisymmetry inoptical images of disk galaxies is applied to a sample of 32 face-on andnearly face-on spirals. The method involves comparing the relativefluxes contained within trapezoidal sectors arranged symmetrically aboutthe galaxy center of light, excluding the bulge and/or barred regions.Such a method has several advantages over others, especially whenquantifying asymmetry in flocculent galaxies. Specifically, theaveraging of large regions improves the signal-to-noise in themeasurements; the method is not strongly affected by the presence ofspiral arms; and it identifies the kinds of asymmetry that are likely tobe dynamically important. Application of this ``method of sectors'' toR-band images of 32 disk galaxies indicates that about 30% of spiralsshow deviations from axisymmetry at the 5 sigma level.
| The Southern Sky Redshift Survey
We report redshifts, magnitudes, and morphological classifications for5369 galaxies with m_B <= 15.5 and for 57 galaxies fainter than thislimit, in two regions covering a total of 1.70 sr in the southerncelestial hemisphere. The galaxy catalog is drawn primarily from thelist of nonstellar objects identified in the Hubble Space TelescopeGuide Star Catalog (GSC). The galaxies have positions accurate to ~1"and magnitudes with an rms scatter of ~0.3 mag. We compute magnitudes(m_SSRS2) from the relation between instrumental GSC magnitudes and thephotometry by Lauberts & Valentijn. From a comparison with CCDphotometry, we find that our system is homogeneous across the sky andcorresponds to magnitudes measured at the isophotal level ~26 magarcsec^-2. The precision of the radial velocities is ~40 km s^-1, andthe redshift survey is more than 99% complete to the m_SSRS2 = 15.5 maglimit. This sample is in the direction opposite that of the CfA2; incombination the two surveys provide an important database for studies ofthe properties of galaxies and their large-scale distribution in thenearby universe. Based on observations obtained at Cerro TololoInter-American Observatory, National Optical Astronomy Observatories,operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy,Inc., under cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation;Complejo Astronomico El Leoncito, operated under agreement between theConsejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas de laRepública Argentina and the National Universities of La Plata,Córdoba, and San Juan; the European Southern Observatory, LaSilla, Chile, partially under the bilateral ESO-ObservatórioNacional agreement; Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory;Laboratório Nacional de Astrofísica, Brazil; and the SouthAfrican Astronomical Observatory.
| A catalogue of Mg_2 indices of galaxies and globular clusters
We present a catalogue of published absorption-line Mg_2 indices ofgalaxies and globular clusters. The catalogue is maintained up-to-datein the HYPERCAT database. The measurements are listed together with thereferences to the articles where the data were published. A codeddescription of the observations is provided. The catalogue gathers 3541measurements for 1491 objects (galaxies or globular clusters) from 55datasets. Compiled raw data for 1060 galaxies are zero-point correctedand transformed to a homogeneous system. Tables 1, 3, and 4 areavailable in electronic form only at the CDS, Strasbourg, via anonymousftp 130.79.128.5. Table 2 is available both in text and electronic form.
| Total magnitude, radius, colour indices, colour gradients and photometric type of galaxies
We present a catalogue of aperture photometry of galaxies, in UBVRI,assembled from three different origins: (i) an update of the catalogueof Buta et al. (1995) (ii) published photometric profiles and (iii)aperture photometry performed on CCD images. We explored different setsof growth curves to fit these data: (i) The Sersic law, (ii) The net ofgrowth curves used for the preparation of the RC3 and (iii) A linearinterpolation between the de Vaucouleurs (r(1/4) ) and exponential laws.Finally we adopted the latter solution. Fitting these growth curves, wederive (1) the total magnitude, (2) the effective radius, (3) the colourindices and (4) gradients and (5) the photometric type of 5169 galaxies.The photometric type is defined to statistically match the revisedmorphologic type and parametrizes the shape of the growth curve. It iscoded from -9, for very concentrated galaxies, to +10, for diffusegalaxies. Based in part on observations collected at the Haute-ProvenceObservatory.
| Molecular Gas, Morphology, and Seyfert Galaxy Activity
We probe the cause of the elevated star formation in host galaxies ofSeyfert 2 nuclei compared with Seyfert 1 hosts and with field galaxies.12CO (1--0) observations of a large sample of Seyfert galaxies indicateno significant difference in the total amount of molecular gas as afunction of the Seyfert nuclear type, nor are Seyfert galaxiessignificantly different in this regard from a sample of field galaxiesonce selection effects are accounted for. Therefore, the total amount ofmolecular gas is not responsible for the enhanced star-forming activityin Seyfert 2 hosts. To probe how this gas is being converted moreefficiently into stars in Seyfert 2 hosts than in the other galaxies, weinvestigate the occurrence of bars, interactions, and distortedmorphologies among Seyfert galaxies. We find a significantly higher rateof asymmetric morphologies for Seyfert 2 galaxies with respect toSeyfert 1 galaxies and field galaxies. Relative to field galaxies, theeffect is at a greater than 99.9% confidence level. The presence ofasymmetric morphologies in individual Seyfert galaxies is correlatedwith their tendency to exhibit enhanced star-forming activity. Theseresults suggest that asymmetric morphologies are an important cause forthe link between Seyfert type and star-forming activity: bars anddistortions in Seyfert 2 hosts are likely both to enhance star-formingactivity and to funnel gas into the nuclear region, thus obscuring andpossibly contributing to the feeding of the active nucleus.
| Lopsided Spiral Galaxies and a Limit on the Galaxy Accretion Rate
We present a measurement of lopsidedness for the stellar disks of 60field spiral galaxies in terms of the azimuthal m = 1 Fourier amplitude,A1, of the stellar light. We confirm the previous result (Rix &Zaritsky) that ~30% of field spiral galaxies in a magnitude-limitedsample exhibit significant lopsidedness ( >= 0.2) atlarge radii (R > 1.5 disk scalelengths). We conjecture that thislopsidedness is caused by tidal interactions and calculate an upperlimit on the accretion rate of small galaxies. We exploit thecorrelation between lopsidedness and photometric measures of recent starformation (Zaritsky) to obtain two independent estimates of the lifetimeof these m = 1 distortions. First, we show that lopsided galaxies havean excess of blue luminosity relative to that of symmetric galaxies withthe same H I linewidth, which we attribute to a recent star formationepisode that was triggered by an interaction between the galaxy and acompanion. We use stellar population models (Bruzual & Charlot) toestimate the time since that interaction. Second, we use the N-bodysimulation of an infalling satellite by Walker, Mihos, & Hernquistto estimate how fast tidally induced m = 1 distortions are erasedthrough phase mixing. Both approaches indicate that the observations areconsistent with a hypothesized tidal interaction that occurred about 1Gyr ago for galaxies that are lopsided at the 20% level. By combiningthis lifetime estimate for lopsidedness, the observed frequency of suchdistortions, and a correction to the survey volume that depends on theincrease in luminosity during an interaction, we derive an upper limiton the current companion accretion rate of field spiral galaxies (forcompanion masses ~10% parent galaxy mass) that lies in the range0.07--0.25 Gyr-1. The principal uncertainty in this limit arises fromambiguities in the interpretation of the correlation betweenlopsidedness and MB.
| Near-IR photometry of disk galaxies: Search for nuclear isophotal twist and double bars
We present a near-IR, mainly $H$ band, photometry of 72 nearby (d <40 Mpc) disk galaxies. The main goal of the survey was to search forisophotal twist inside their nuclear regions. As the twist can be due insome cases to projection effects, rather than resulting from a dynamicalphenomenon, we deproject -- under the simplifying assumption of a 2Dgeometry -- all galaxies whose disk position angle and inclination areknown, the latter not exceeding 75 degrees. We show the ellipticity,position angle and surface brightness radial profiles, and discuss how aprojection of 2D and 3D bars can distort the isophotes, give an illusionof a non-existing double bar or mask a real one. We report 15 newdouble-barred galaxies and confirm 2 detected previously. We identify 14additional twists not known before and we also find nuclear triaxialstructures in three SA galaxies. The frequency of Seyferts amonggalaxies with nuclear bars or twists is high. Since these observationsare part of a larger survey, the interpretation of the results will begiven in a future paper, as soon as the number of objects grows enoughto permit meaningful statistics. As a secondary product, we publishstructural parameters (length and axis ratio) of large-scale bars inorder to extend still scarce data on bars in the near-IR.
| The APM Bright Galaxy Catalogue
The APM Bright Galaxy Catalogue lists positions, magnitudes, shapes andmorphological types for 14681 galaxies brighter than b_J magnitude16.44, over a 4180 deg^2 area of the southern sky. Galaxy and stellarimages have been located from glass copy plates of the United KingdomSchmidt Telescope (UKST) IIIaJ sky survey using the automatedphotographic measuring (APM) facility in Cambridge, England. Themajority of stellar images are rejected by the regularity of their imagesurface brightness profiles. Remaining images are inspected by eye onfilm copies of the survey material and classed as stellar, multiplestellar, galaxy, merger or noise. Galaxies are further classified aselliptical, lenticular, spiral, irregular or uncertain. The 180 surveyfields are put on to a uniform photometric system by comparing themagnitudes of galaxies in the overlap regions between neighbouringplates. The magnitude zero-point, photometric uniformity andphotographic saturation are checked with CCD photometry. Finally, thecompleteness and reliability of the catalogue are assessed by usingvarious internal tests and by comparison with several independentlyconstructed galaxy catalogues.
| An image database. II. Catalogue between δ=-30deg and δ=70deg.
A preliminary list of 68.040 galaxies was built from extraction of35.841 digitized images of the Palomar Sky Survey (Paper I). For eachgalaxy, the basic parameters are obtained: coordinates, diameter, axisratio, total magnitude, position angle. On this preliminary list, weapply severe selection rules to get a catalog of 28.000 galaxies, wellidentified and well documented. For each parameter, a comparison is madewith standard measurements. The accuracy of the raw photometricparameters is quite good despite of the simplicity of the method.Without any local correction, the standard error on the total magnitudeis about 0.5 magnitude up to a total magnitude of B_T_=17. Significantsecondary effects are detected concerning the magnitudes: distance toplate center effect and air-mass effect.
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