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Constraining Dark Matter Halo Profiles and Galaxy Formation Models Using Spiral Arm Morphology. I. Method Outline
We investigate the use of spiral arm pitch angles as a probe of diskgalaxy mass profiles. We confirm our previous result that spiral armpitch angles (P) are well correlated with the rate of shear (S) in diskgalaxy rotation curves by using a much larger sample (51 galaxies) thanused previously (17 galaxies). We use this correlation to argue thatimaging data alone can provide a powerful probe of galactic massdistributions out to large look-back times. In contrast to previouswork, we show that observed spiral arm pitch angles are similar whenmeasured in the optical (at 0.4 μm) and the near-infrared (at 2.1μm) with a mean difference of 2.3d+/-2.7d. This is then used tostrengthen the known correlation between P and S using B-band images. Wethen use two example galaxies to demonstrate how an inferred shear ratecoupled with a bulge-disk decomposition model and a Tully-Fisher-derivedvelocity normalization can be used to place constraints on a galaxy'sbaryon fraction and dark matter halo profile. We show that ESO 582-G12,a galaxy with a high shear rate (slightly declining rotation curve) at~10 kpc, favors an adiabatically contracted halo, with high initial NFWconcentration (cvir>16) and a high fraction of halobaryons in the form of stars (~15%-40%). In contrast, IC 2522 has a lowshear rate (rising rotation curve) at ~10 kpc and favorsnonadiabatically contracted models with low NFW concentrations(cvir~=2-8) and a low stellar baryon fraction <10%.
| 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 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 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.
| Machine learning and image analysis for morphological galaxy classification
In this paper we present an experimental study of machine learning andimage analysis for performing automated morphological galaxyclassification. We used a neural network, and a locally weightedregression method, and implemented homogeneous ensembles of classifiers.The ensemble of neural networks was created using the bagging ensemblemethod, and manipulation of input features was used to create theensemble of locally weighed regression. The galaxies used were rotated,centred, and cropped, all in a fully automatic manner. In addition, weused principal component analysis to reduce the dimensionality of thedata, and to extract relevant information in the images. Preliminaryexperimental results using 10-fold cross-validation show that thehomogeneous ensemble of locally weighted regression produces the bestresults, with over 91 per cent accuracy when considering three galaxytypes (E, S and Irr), and over 95 per cent accuracy for two types (E andS).
| Inner-truncated Disks in Galaxies
We present an analysis of the disk brightness profiles of 218 spiral andlenticular galaxies. At least 28% of disk galaxies exhibit innertruncations in these profiles. There are no significant trends oftruncation incidence with Hubble type, but the incidence among barredsystems is 49%, more than 4 times that for nonbarred galaxies. However,not all barred systems have inner truncations, and not allinner-truncated systems are currently barred. Truncations represent areal dearth of disk stars in the inner regions and are not an artifactof our selection or fitting procedures nor the result of obscuration bydust. Disk surface brightness profiles in the outer regions are wellrepresented by simple exponentials for both truncated and nontruncateddisks. However, truncated and nontruncated systems have systematicallydifferent slopes and central surface brightness parameters for theirdisk brightness distributions. Truncation radii do not appear tocorrelate well with the sizes or brightnesses of the bulges. Thissuggests that the low angular momentum material apparently missing fromthe inner disk was not simply consumed in forming the bulge population.Disk parameters and the statistics of bar orientations in our sampleindicate that the missing stars of the inner disk have not simply beenredistributed azimuthally into bar structures. The sharpness of thebrightness truncations and their locations with respect to othergalactic structures suggest that resonances associated with diskkinematics, or tidal interactions with the mass of bulge stars, might beresponsible for this phenomenon.
| 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
| The PDS versus Markarian starburst galaxies: comparing strong and weak IRAS emitter at 12 and 25 μm in the nearby Universe
The characteristics of the starburst galaxies from the Pico dos Diassurvey (PDS) are compared with those of the nearby ultraviolet (UV)bright Markarian starburst galaxies, having the same limit in redshift(vh < 7500 km s-1) and absolute B magnitude(MB < -18). An important difference is found: theMarkarian galaxies are generally undetected at 12 and 25 μm in IRAS.This is consistent with the UV excess shown by these galaxies andsuggests that the youngest star-forming regions dominating thesegalaxies are relatively free of dust.The far-infrared selection criteria for the PDS are shown to introduce astrong bias towards massive (luminous) and large size late-type spiralgalaxies. This is contrary to the Markarian galaxies, which are found tobe remarkably rich in smaller size early-type galaxies. These resultssuggest that only late-type spirals with a large and massive disc arestrong emitters at 12 and 25 μm in IRAS in the nearby Universe.The Markarian and PDS starburst galaxies are shown to share the sameenvironment. This rules out an explanation of the differences observedin terms of external parameters. These differences may be explained byassuming two different levels of evolution, the Markarian being lessevolved than the PDS galaxies. This interpretation is fully consistentwith the disc formation hypothesis proposed by Coziol et al. to explainthe special properties of the Markarian SBNG.
| 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.
| 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.
| 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.
| Local velocity field from sosie galaxies. I. The Peebles' model
Pratton et al. (1997) showed that the velocity field around clusterscould generate an apparent distortion that appears as tangentialstructures or radial filaments. In the present paper we determine theparameters of the Peebles' model (1976) describing infall of galaxiesonto clusters with the aim of testing quantitatively the amplitude ofthis distortion. The distances are determined from the concept of sosiegalaxies (Paturel 1984) using 21 calibrators for which the distanceswere recently calculated from two independent Cepheid calibrations. Weuse both B and I-band magnitudes. The Spaenhauer diagram method is usedto correct for the Malmquist bias. We give the equations for theconstruction of this diagram. We analyze the apparent Hubble constant indifferent regions around Virgo and obtain simultaneously the Local Groupinfall and the unperturbed Hubble constant. We found:[VLG-infall = 208 ± 9 km s-1] [\log H =1.82 ± 0.04 (H ≈ 66 ± 6 km s-1Mpc-1).] The front side and backside infalls can be seenaround Virgo and Fornax. In the direction of Virgo the comparison ismade with the Peebles' model. We obtain: [vinfall} =CVirgo/r0.9 ± 0.2] withCVirgo=2800 for Virgo and CFornax=1350 for Fornax,with the adopted units (km s-1 and Mpc). We obtain thefollowing mean distance moduli: [μVirgo=31.3 ± 0.2(r=18 Mpc )] [μFornax=31.7 ± 0.3 (r=22 Mpc). ] Allthese quantities form an accurate and coherent system. Full Table 2 isonly available in electronic form at the CDS via anonymous ftp tocdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/393/57
| Supernovae in isolated galaxies, in pairs and in groups of galaxies
In order to investigate the influence of environment on supernova (SN)production, we have performed a statistical investigation of the SNediscovered in isolated galaxies, in pairs and in groups of galaxies. 22SNe in 18 isolated galaxies, 48 SNe in 40 galaxy members of 37 pairs and211 SNe in 170 galaxy members of 116 groups have been selected andstudied. We found that the radial distributions of core-collapse SNe ingalaxies located in different environments are similar, and consistentwith those reported by Bartunov, Makarova & Tsvetkov. SNe discoveredin pairs do not favour a particular direction with respect to thecompanion galaxy. Also, the azimuthal distributions inside the hostmembers of galaxy groups are consistent with being isotropics. The factthat SNe are more frequent in the brighter components of the pairs andgroups is expected from the dependence of the SN rates on the galaxyluminosity. There is an indication that the SN rate is higher in galaxypairs compared with that in groups. This can be related to the enhancedstar formation rate in strongly interacting systems. It is concludedthat, with the possible exception of strongly interacting systems, theparent galaxy environment has no direct influence on SN production.
| Supernovae in the nuclear regions of starburst galaxies
The feasibility of using near-infrared observations to discoversupernovae in the nuclear and circumnuclear regions of nearby starburstgalaxies is investigated. We provide updated estimates of the intrinsiccore-collapse supernova rates in these regions. We discuss the problemof extinction, and present new estimates of the extinction towards 33supernova remnants in the starburst galaxy M 82. This is done using Hiand H2 column density measurements. We estimate the molecularto atomic hydrogen mass ratio to be 7.4+/-1.0 in M 82. We have assemblednear-infrared photometric data for a total of 13 core-collapsesupernovae, some unpublished hitherto. This constitutes the largestdatabase of infrared light curves for such events. We show that theinfrared light curves fall into two classes, `ordinary' and `slowlydeclining'. Template JHKL light curves are derived for both classes. Forordinary core-collapse supernovae, the average peak JHKL absolutemagnitudes are -18.4, -18.6, -18.6 and -19.0 respectively. The slowlydeclining core-collapse supernovae are found to be significantly moreluminous than the ordinary events, even at early times, having averagepeak JHKL absolute magnitudes of -19.9, -20.0, -20.0 and -20.4respectively. We investigate the efficiency of a computerized imagesubtraction method in supernova detection. We then carry out a MonteCarlo simulation of a supernova search using K-band images of NGC 5962.The effects of extinction and observing strategy are discussed. Weconclude that a modest observational programme will be able to discovera number of nuclear supernovae.
| Homogenization of the Stellar Population along Late-Type Spiral Galaxies
We present a study of the broadband UBV color profiles for 257 Sbcbarred and nonbarred galaxies, using photoelectric aperture photometrydata from the literature. Using robust statistical methods, we haveestimated the color gradients of the galaxies, as well as the total andbulge mean colors. A comparative photometric study using CCD images wasdone. In our sample, the color gradients are negative (reddish inward)in approximately 59% of the objects, are almost null in 27%, and arepositive in 14%, considering only the face-on galaxies, which representapproximately 51% of the sample. The results do not change, essentially,when we include the edge-on galaxies. As a consequence of this study wehave also found that barred galaxies are overrepresented among theobjects having null or positive gradients, indicating that bars act as amechanism of homogenization of the stellar population. This effect ismore evident in the U-B color index, although it can also be detected inthe B-V color. A correlation between the total and bulge colors wasfound that is a consequence of an underlying correlation between thecolors of bulges and disks found by other authors. Moreover, the meantotal color is the same irrespective of the gradient regime, whilebulges are bluer in galaxies with null or positive gradients, whichindicates an increase of the star formation rate in the central regionsof these objects. We have also made a quantitative evaluation of theamount of extinction in the center of these galaxies. This was doneusing the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) and the Near InfraredCamera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS) Hubble Space Telescope(HST) archival data, as well as CCD B, V, and I images. We show thatalthough the extinction in the V-band can reach values up to 2 mag inthe central region, it is unlikely that dust plays a fundamental role inglobal color gradients. We found no correlation between color and O/Habundance gradients. This result could suggest that the color gradientsare more sensitive to the age rather than to the metallicity of thestellar population. However, the absence of this correlation may becaused by dust extinction. We discuss this result by considering apicture in which bars are a relatively fast, recurrent phenomenon. Theseresults are not compatible with a pure classical monolithic scenario forbulge and disk formation. On the contrary, they favor a scenario inwhich both these components are evolving in a correlated process inwhich stellar bars play a crucial role. Based partly on observationsmade at the Pico dos Dias Observatory (PDO/LNA-CNPq), Brazil.
| 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.
| Spiral patterns with straight arm segments
The phenomenon of `rows', which are straight geometrical segments in thespiral arms of galaxies, is studied. The Whirlpool nebula, Messier 51(NGC 5194) in Canes Venatici, is considered to be an example of a giantgrand design galaxy. Optical photographs, Hα, ultraviolet andfar-ultraviolet images, CO, 21-cm and synchrotron emission maps, and aK_s-band mosaic of M51 are studied. With this observational material,multiple rows can be recognized in the spiral arms of the galaxy. Therows comprise a major part of the arms. The lengths of the rows increasealmost linearly with distance from the centre. They intersect oneanother at an (average) angle ~2π/3. A possible physical explanationof the phenomenon of rows is discussed on the basis of the assumptionthat the formation of straight arm segments might be due to thegas-dynamical effect of stability of flat shock fronts, and the tendencyof a slightly curved shock front to become flat. A quantitativeflattening criterion enables an explanation of the geometricalproperties of the arm patterns found in M51 and also in M101. A brieflist of spirals with rows is given.
| An Infrared Search for Extinguished Supernovae in Starburst Galaxies
IR and radio-band observations of heavily extinguished regions instarburst galaxies suggest a high supernova (SN) rate associated withsuch regions. Optically measured SN rates may therefore underestimatethe total SN rate by factors of up to 10, as a result of the very highextinction (A_B~10-20 mag) to core-collapse SNe in starburst regions.The IR/radio SN rates come from a variety of indirect means, however,which suffer from model dependence and other problems. We describe adirect measurement of the SN rate from a regular patrol of starburstgalaxies done with K'-band imaging to minimize the effects ofextinction. A collection of K'-band measurements of core-collapse SNenear maximum light is presented. Such measurements (excluding 1987A) arenot well reported in the literature. Results of a preliminary K'-bandsearch, using the MIRC camera at the Wyoming Infrared Observatory and animproved search strategy using the new ORCA optics, are described. Amonthly patrol of a sample of IRAS bright (mostly starburst) galaxieswithin 25 Mpc should yield 1-6 SNe yr^-1, corresponding to the range ofestimated SN rates. Our initial MIRC search with low resolution (2.2"pixels) failed to find extinguished SNe in the IRAS galaxies, limitingthe SN rate outside the nucleus (at greater than 15" radius) to lessthan 3.8 far-IR SN rate units (SNe per century per 10^10 L_solarmeasured at 60 and 100 mum, or FIRSRU) at 90% confidence. The MIRCcamera had insufficient resolution to search nuclear starburst regions,where starburst and SN activity is concentrated; therefore, we wereunable to rigorously test the hypothesis of high SN rates in heavilyobscured star-forming regions. We conclude that high-resolution nuclearSN searches in starburst galaxies with small fields are more productivethan low-resolution, large-field searches, even for our sample of large(often several arcminutes) galaxies. With our ORCA high-resolutionoptics, we could limit the total SN rate to less than 1.3 FIRSRU at 90%confidence in 3 years of observations, lower than most estimates.
| Star-forming Complexes in a Sample of Spiral and Irregular Galaxies
Over 300 star-forming complexes in 11 intermediate- and late-type spiraland irregular galaxies have been observed in the B, I, and Hαbands to determine their luminosity functions, ages, sizes, and masses.The total Hα luminosity from complexes compared with the totalgalaxy Hα luminosity ranges from 20% to 70%, but the percentage isnearly constant at 7% in the B band for most galaxies. A comparison ofthe colors and luminosities of the complexes with published clusterevolutionary models suggests that the complexes range in age from a fewtimes 10^6 yr to nearly 10^9 yr; the majority have ages of less than 1to 2x10^7 yr. The complex masses range from 10^4 to 10^7 M_solar. Theluminosity functions for the complexes follow a power law with anexponent of approximately -2 late-type galaxies have slightly shallowerslopes than intermediate-type galaxies. The sizes of the largestcomplexes in each galaxy scale approximately with the square root of thegalaxy luminosity, confirming previous studies. The complexes may have afractal size distribution that is consistent with values predicted bytheoretical turbulence models of the interstellar medium.
| A strong correlation between bar strength and global star forming activity in isolated barred galaxies
I have studied the relation between the global star formation activityand the bar structure in a sample of isolated barred galaxies. The starformation activity was quantified via the ratio between the IRAS fluxesat 25 mu m and 100 mu m. Two parameters were chosen to define the barstructure: the strength of the bar and the relative projected barlength. The strength of the bar was defined by epsilon_ {b}=10(1-b/a),where a and b are the projected semi-major and semi-minor bar axis. Therelative bar length was defined as: 2Lb/D25, whereL_ {b} is one half of the projected total bar length and D25is the diameter of the 25 mag arcsec-2 magnitude isophote inthe B band. We found a strong correlation between the star formationactivity and epsilon_ {b}. The regression line is given bylog(I25/I100)=-1.81+0.093 epsilon_ {b}, with acorrelation coefficient of 0.9. The link is not so evident between therelative projected bar length and the star formation activity. But, itis noted that there is enhanced star formation activity in galaxies withstrong bars and small relative bar lengths,0.1<2Lb/D25<0.22.
| 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.
| The Pico DOS Dias Survey Starburst Galaxies
We discuss the nature of the galaxies found in the Pico dos Dias Survey(PDS) for young stellar objects. The PDS galaxies were selected from theIRAS Point Source catalog. They have flux density of moderate or highquality at 12, 25, and 60 μm and spectral indices in the ranges -3.00<= alpha(25, 12) <= + 0.35 and -2.50 <= alpha(60, 25) <=+0.85. These criteria allowed the detection of 382 galaxies, which are amixture of starburst and Seyfert galaxies. Most of the PDS Seyfertgalaxies are included in the catalog of warm IRAS sources by de Grijp etal. The remaining galaxies constitute a homogeneous sample of luminous[log F (L_B/L_ȯ) = 9.9 +/- 0.4] starburst galaxies, 67% of whichwere not recognized as such before. The starburst nature of the PDSgalaxies is established by comparing their L_IR/L_B ratios and IRAScolors with a sample of emission-line galaxies from the literaturealready classified as starburst galaxies. The starburst galaxies show anexcess of FIR luminosity, and their IRAS colors are significantlydifferent from those of Seyfert galaxies-99% of the starburst galaxiesin our sample have a spectral index alpha(60, 25) < -1.9. As opposedto Seyfert galaxies, very few PDS starbursts are detected in X-rays. Inthe infrared, the starburst galaxies form a continuous sequence withnormal galaxies. But they generally can be distinguished from normalgalaxies by their spectral index alpha(60, 25) > -2.5. This colorcutoff also marks a change in the dominant morphologies of the galaxies:the normal IRAS galaxies are preferentially late-type spirals (Sb andlater), while the starbursts are more numerous among early-type spirals(earlier than Sbc). This preference of starbursts for early-type spiralsis not new, but a trait of the massive starburst nucleus galaxies(Coziol et al.). As in other starburst nucleus galaxy samples, the PDSstarbursts show no preference for barred galaxies. No difference isfound between the starbursts detected in the FIR and those detected onthe basis of UV excess. The PDS starburst galaxies represent the FIRluminous branch of the UV-bright starburst nucleus galaxies, with meanFIR luminosity log (L_IR/L_ȯ) = 10.3 +/- 0.5 and redshifts smallerthan 0.1. They form a complete sample limited in flux in the FIR at 2 x10^-10 ergs cm^-2 s^-1.
| Bulge-Disk Decomposition of 659 Spiral and Lenticular Galaxy Brightness Profiles
We present one of the largest homogeneous sets of spiral and lenticulargalaxy brightness profile decompositions completed to date. The 659galaxies in our sample have been fitted with a de Vaucouleurs law forthe bulge component and an inner-truncated exponential for the diskcomponent. Of the 659 galaxies in the sample, 620 were successfullyfitted with the chosen fitting functions. The fits are generally welldefined, with more than 90% having rms deviations from the observedprofile of less than 0.35 mag. We find no correlations of fittingquality, as measured by these rms residuals, with either morphologicaltype or inclination. Similarly, the estimated errors of the fittedcoefficients show no significant trends with type or inclination. Thesedecompositions form a useful basis for the study of the lightdistributions of spiral and lenticular galaxies. The object base issufficiently large that well-defined samples of galaxies can be selectedfrom it.
| 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.
| Scale height determination of 10 spiral galaxies including NGC 864.
Not Available
| 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.
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