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Star Formation Histories of Early-Type Galaxies. I. Higher Order Balmer Lines as Age Indicators
We have obtained blue integrated spectra of 175 nearby early-typegalaxies, covering a wide range in galaxy velocity dispersion andemphasizing those with σ<100 km s-1. Galaxies havebeen observed both in the Virgo Cluster and in lower densityenvironments. The main goals are the evaluation of higher order Balmerlines as age indicators and differences in stellar populations as afunction of mass, environment, and morphology. In this first paper, ouremphasis is on presenting the methods used to characterize the behaviorof the Balmer lines through evolutionary population synthesis models.Lower σ galaxies exhibit a substantially greater intrinsicscatter, in a variety of line-strength indicators, than do higherσ galaxies, with the large intrinsic scatter setting in below aσ of 100 km s-1. Moreover, a greater contrast inscatter is present in the Balmer lines than in the lines of metalfeatures. Evolutionary synthesis modeling of the observed spectralindexes indicates that the strong Balmer lines found primarily among thelow-σ galaxies are caused by young age, rather than by lowmetallicity. Thus we find a trend between the population age and thecentral velocity dispersion, such that low-σ galaxies have youngerluminosity-weighted mean ages. We have repeated this analysis usingseveral different Balmer lines and find consistent results from onespectral indicator to another.
| 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.
| Starbursts versus Truncated Star Formation in Nearby Clusters of Galaxies
We present long-slit spectroscopy, B- and R-bandpass imaging, and 21 cmobservations of a sample of early-type galaxies in nearby clusters,which are known to be either in a star-forming phase or to have had starformation that recently terminated. From the long-slit spectra, obtainedwith the Blanco 4 m telescope, we find that emission lines in thestar-forming cluster galaxies are significantly more centrallyconcentrated than in a sample of field galaxies. The broadband imagingreveals that two currently star-forming early-type galaxies in thePegasus I cluster have blue nuclei, again indicating that recent starformation has been concentrated. In contrast, the two galaxies for whichstar formation has already ended show no central color gradient. ThePegasus I galaxy with the most evident signs of ongoing star formation(NGC 7648), exhibits signatures of a tidal encounter. Neutral hydrogenobservations of that galaxy with the Arecibo radio telescope reveal thepresence of ~4×108 Msolar of H I. Areciboobservations of other current or recent star-forming early-type galaxiesin Pegasus I indicate smaller amounts of gas in one of them, and onlyupper limits in others. These observations indicate that NGC 7648 in thePegasus I cluster owes its present star formation episode to some formof tidal interaction. The same may be true for the other galaxies withcentralized star formation, but we cannot rule out the possibility thattheir outer disks have been removed via ram pressure stripping, followedby rapid quenching of star formation in the central region.
| Radio galaxies and dusty galaxies
Not Available
| The Universality of the Fundamental Plane of E and S0 Galaxies: Spectroscopic Data
We present central velocity dispersion measurements for 325 early-typegalaxies in eight clusters and groups of galaxies, including newobservations for 212 galaxies. The clusters and groups are the A262,A1367, Coma (A1656), A2634, Cancer, and Pegasus Clusters and the NGC 383and NGC 507 Groups. The new measurements were derived frommedium-dispersion spectra that cover 600 Å centered on the Mg I btriplet at lambda ~ 5175 Å. Velocity dispersions were measuredusing the Tonry & Davis cross-correlation method, with a typicalaccuracy of 6%. A detailed comparison with other data sources is made.
| The Universality of the Fundamental Plane of E and S0 Galaxies: Sample Definition and I-Band Photometric Data
As part of a project to compare the fundamental plane and Tully-Fisherdistance scales, we present here I-band CCD photometry for 636early-type galaxies in eight clusters and groups of galaxies. These arethe A262, A1367, Coma (A1656), A2634, Cancer and Pegasus Clusters, andthe NGC 383 and NGC 507 Groups. Sample selection, cluster properties,and cluster membership assignment criteria are discussed. We presentphotometric parameters that are used in the fundamental plane relation,the effective radius r_e, and the effective surface brightness mu_e, asderived from a r^1/4 fit to the observed radial photometric profile ofeach galaxy. A comparison with similar data found in the literature forthe Coma Cluster shows that large systematic uncertainties can beintroduced in the measurement of r_e and mu_e by the particular methodused to derive those parameters. However, the particular combination ofthese two parameters that enters in the fundamental plane relation is aquantity that can be measured with high accuracy.
| 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.
| Photoelectric UBV Photometry of Galaxies in the Clusters Pegasus I, Pegasus II, Abell 262, Abell 1367, and Abell 2197-9
This paper presents photoelectric UBV multiaperture photometry of 144galaxies, 139 of which are associated with six nearby bright clusters.The observations were made at the McDonald Observatory from 1986September to 1987 November and were part of the production of the ThirdReference Catalogue of Bright Galaxies (RC3). The observations were usedto compute total magnitudes and color indices published in RC3. Theobservations can also be used to calibrate CCD images.
| Nuclear dust and outer shells in the elliptical galaxy NGC 7562.
We present a detailed photometric analysis of the nearby cooling flowelliptical galaxy NGC 7562 observed in the Johnson V and Cousins R and Ifilters. We derive surface brightness, color-index, ellipticity, andposition-angle profiles, as well as geometrical parameters whichcharacterise deviations of isophotes from perfect elliptical shapes. Thegalaxy is found to have inner boxy and outer pointy isophotes. We reportthe detection of a dust patch in the nuclear region of the galaxy asrevealed from color-index maps and argue that some of the inner boxinessmay be due to the presence of dust. We examine the residual imageobtained by subtracting a smooth elliptical model galaxy from theoriginal image and report the detection of arc-like brightnessenhancements which appear as shells or ripples in the outer regions ofthe galaxy. This structure could be responsible for the outer pointyisophotes, as the presence of a faint outer disk in the galaxy has beenruled out on kinematic grounds. We briefly discuss the possible originof the dust and shells in the galaxy.
| General study of group membership. II - Determination of nearby groups
We present a whole sky catalog of nearby groups of galaxies taken fromthe Lyon-Meudon Extragalactic Database. From the 78,000 objects in thedatabase, we extracted a sample of 6392 galaxies, complete up to thelimiting apparent magnitude B0 = 14.0. Moreover, in order to considersolely the galaxies of the local universe, all the selected galaxieshave a known recession velocity smaller than 5500 km/s. Two methods wereused in group construction: a Huchra-Geller (1982) derived percolationmethod and a Tully (1980) derived hierarchical method. Each method gaveus one catalog. These were then compared and synthesized to obtain asingle catalog containing the most reliable groups. There are 485 groupsof a least three members in the final catalog.
| The environment and the origin of twisting in early-type galaxies
The effects of random collisions in groups or clusters on thedevelopment of isophotal twisting (IT) in early-type galaxies areinvestigated. The maximum ellipticity and IT in each galaxy is estimatedon the basis of published observational data and correlated with thegalaxy number density. The proportions of S0 and elliptical (E) galaxieswith IT are found to be independent of local environmental density. CCDobservations of six isolated nonhierarchical pairs containing early-typegalaxies, obtained at the Cassegrain focus of the 1.82-m telescope atAsiago Observatory, are then used to study tidal interactions ingalaxies with normal morphology; the data are presented in tables andgraphs and examined in detail. It is shown that mutual tidalperturbations alone cannot explain the IT phenomena: S0 galaxies areless twisted than Es in all density regimes, and the proportion oftwisted Es in E+E pairs is similar to that in the overall sample.
| The Butcher-Oemler effect in a nearby cluster of galaxies?
The integrated spectra of early-type galaxies in the nearby Abell 262,Pegasus I, and Virgo clusters are compared with those of several 'field'galaxies. The spectra of five galaxies in Pegasus I and one galaxy inthe Virgo Cluster show evidence of recent star formation. The averageblue magnitude for the star-forming galaxies is M(B) = -20. Thestar-formation activity in Pegasus I is found to be similar to that ofstarburst and poststarburst galaxies in Butcher-Oemler clusters atredshifts greater than 2.
| Determination of the relative spectrophotometric gradients of galaxies. IV
Relative spectrophotometric gradients of continua are determined for 195galaxies. The spectra have been obtained with the 70-cm meniscustelescope of the Abastumani Astrophysical Observatory using a 2-degpreobjective prism (the reverse linear dispersion was 1200 A/mm inH-gamma). The gradient values were reduced to the AO spectral class andcorrected for light absorption in the Galaxy.
| Individual and orbital masses of double galaxies
A list is given of individual estimates of the masses of 124 componentsof isolated pairs of galaxies from Turner's catalog for which there arepublished data on the velocity dispersions in the central parts of thegalaxies, on the width of the 21-cm radio line profile, and on theamplitude of the rotation curve of the galaxies. From the comparison ofthe orbital estimates of the mass with the sum of the individual massesof the double galaxies it is concluded that the bulk of the mass of thegalaxies is situated within their standard optical diameter A(25). Theconsidered observational data for the Turner galaxy pairs do not containany arguments for the hypothesis of massive halos. Good agreementbetween the orbital and individual estimates of the mass is observed foralmost circular motions of the galaxies in pairs with mean orbitaleccentricity 0.25.
| The statistical distribution of the neutral-hydrogen content of S0 galaxies
The distribution of relative global H I content M(H I)/L(B) has beenderived for galaxies of types S0 and S0/a using a data set derived fromrecent H I observations in the literature. The relative H I content ofthese galaxies is found to show transitional properties betweenelliptical and spiral galaxies. The distribution of M(H I)/L(B) forS0/a's resembles that for spirals, and these galaxies may represent'fossil' spirals, i.e., galaxies whose gas has been severely depleted bystar formation. The distribution for S0's, however, resembles that forellipticals. The form of this distribution strongly suggests an externalorigin for most of the H I in S0 galaxies.
| The structure of the Virgo cluster of galaxies
A new detailed analysis of galaxies in the Virgo area shows that theconventional Virgo cluster comprises two different clouds of galaxies:the Virgo cluster I and the Southern cloud II by the definition proposedhere. Excluding the galaxies in the Southern cloud II, the Virgo clusterI centered at 12 h 27.6 m, +13 deg 07 arcmin (1950), has a mean radialvelocity of 980 + or - 60 km/s and there is no significant velocitydifference between elliptical-lenticular and spiral-irregular galaxiesin the Virgo cluster I. The Southern cloud II is centered at about 12 h25 m, +7 deg 30 arcmin (1950) and all types of galaxies in the cloud arediffusely distributed, while elliptical galaxies in the Virgo cluster Iare concentrated to the center. The mean radial velocity within a radiusof 3.5 deg of the Southern cloud II is +1240 + or - 80 km/s, which issignificantly higher than the mean velocity of the Virgo cluster I.
| The statistical distribution of the neutral-hydrogen content of elliptical galaxies
An examination has been conducted of the form of the distributionfunction for the relative H I content, MH I/LB, of elliptical galaxies,using a data set derived from all recent H I observations of ellipticalsin the literature. The characteristics of this combined data set arepoorly defined, but upon examination it appears to be reassuringly freeof built-in biases and correlations. The data set contains 152 galaxies;23 of these have been detected in the H I line. The detected galaxiesare shown to be more H I rich on average than the galaxies in the wholesample. A method for recovering the intrinsic distribution of MH I/LB,using both detection and upper-limit data, is described, and the dataare shown to be consistent with a shallow power-law differentialdistribution N approximately (MH I/LB) to the -1.5th. This distributionis quite different from that for spirals, where N(MH I/LB) has awell-defined mean value and a small dispersion. This result stronglysuggests that the gas and star contents of ellipticals are decoupled,i.e., the gas has an external origin.
| Binary galaxie. I. A well-defined statistical sample.
Abstract image available at:http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?1976ApJ...208...20T&db_key=AST
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