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Optical Counterparts of Ultraluminous X-Ray Sources Identified from Archival HST WFPC2 Images
We present a systematic analysis of archival HST WFPC2 ``Association''data sets that correlate with the Chandra positions of a set of 44ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) of nearby galaxies. The mainmotivation is to address the nature of ULXs by searching for opticalcounterparts. Sixteen of the ULXs are found in early-type galaxies (RC3Hubble type <3). We have improved the Chandra/HST relative astrometrywhenever possible, resulting in errors circles of 0.3"-1.7" in size.Disparate numbers of potential ULX counterparts are found, and in somecases none are found. The lack of or low number of counterparts in somecases may be due to insufficient depth in the WFPC2 images. Particularlyin late-type galaxies, the HST image in the ULX region was often complexor crowded, requiring source detection to be performed manually. Wetherefore address various scenarios for the nature of the ULX since itis not known which, if any, of the sources found are true counterparts.The optical luminosities of the sources are typically in the range104-106 Lsolar, with (effective) Vmagnitudes typically in the range 22-24. In several cases colorinformation is available, with the colors roughly tending to be more redin early-type galaxies. This suggests that, in general, the (potential)counterparts found in early-type galaxies are likely to be older stellarpopulations and are probably globular clusters. Several early-typegalaxy counterparts have blue colors, which may be due to youngerstellar populations in the host galaxies, however, these could also bebackground sources. In spiral galaxies the sources may also be due tolocalized structure in the disks rather than bound stellar systems.Alternatively, some of the counterparts in late-type galaxies may beisolated supergiant stars. The observed X-ray/optical flux ratio isdiluted by the optical emission of the cluster in cases where the systemis an X-ray binary in a cluster, particularly in the case of a low-massX-ray binaries in an old cluster. If any of the counterparts are boundsystems with ~104-106 stars and are the truecounterparts to the ULX sources, then the X-ray luminosities of the ULXare generally well below the Eddington limit for a black hole with mass~0.1% of the cluster mass. Finally, we find that the optical flux of thecounterparts is consistent with being dominated by emission from anaccretion disk around an intermediate-mass black hole if the black holehappens to have a mass >~102 Msolar and isaccreting at close to the Eddington rate, unless the accretion disk isirradiated (which would result in high optical disk luminosities atlower black hole masses).Based on observations made with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope,obtained from the Data Archive at the Space Telescope Science Institute,which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research inAstronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS 5-26555. This project isassociated with Archival proposal 9545.
| Nature of Nuclear Rings in Unbarred Galaxies: NGC 7742 and NGC 7217
We have studied an unbarred Sb galaxy with a nuclear star-forming ring,NGC 7742, by means of two-dimensional spectroscopy, long-slitspectroscopy, and imaging and have compared the results with theproperties of another galaxy of this type, NGC 7217, which was studiedby us earlier. Both galaxies have many peculiar features in common: eachhas two global exponential stellar disks with different scale lengths,each possesses a circumnuclear inclined gaseous disk with a radius of300 pc, and each has a global counterrotating subsystem, a gaseous onein NGC 7742 and a stellar one in NGC 7217. We suggest that a past minormerger is the probable cause of all these peculiarities, including theappearance of nuclear star-forming rings without global bars; the ringsmight be produced as resonance features by tidally induced ovaldistortions of the global stellar disks.
| 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.
| The evolution of actively star-forming galaxies in the mid-infrared
In this paper we analyze the evolution of actively star-forming galaxiesin the mid-infrared (MIR). This spectral region, characterized bycontinuum emission by hot dust and by the presence of strong emissionfeatures generally ascribed to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH)molecules, is the most strongly affected by the heating processesassociated with star formation and/or active galactic nuclei (AGNs).Following the detailed observational characterization of galaxies in theMIR by the Infrared Space Observatory (ISO), we have updated themodelling of this spectral region in our spectrophotometric modelGRASIL. In the diffuse component we have updated the treatment of PAHsaccording to the model by Li & Draine. As for the dense phase of theinterstellar medium associated with the star-forming regions, themolecular clouds, we strongly decrease the abundance of PAHs as comparedto that in the cirrus, based on the observational evidence of the lackor weakness of PAH bands close to the newly formed stars, possibly dueto the destruction of the molecules in strong ultraviolet fields. Therobustness of the model is checked by fitting near-infrared to radiobroad-band spectra and the corresponding detailed MIR spectra of a largesample of galaxies, at once. With this model, we have analyzed thelarger sample of actively star-forming galaxies by Dale et al. We showthat the observed trends of galaxies in the ISO-IRAS-radio colour-colourplots can be interpreted in terms of the different evolutionary phasesof star formation activity, and the consequent different dominance inthe spectral energy distribution of the diffuse or dense phase of theISM. We find that the observed colours indicate a surprising homogeneityof the starburst phenomenon, allowing only a limited variation of themost important physical parameters, such as the optical depth of themolecular clouds, the time-scale of the escape of young stars from theirfor mation sites, and the gas consumption time-scale. In this paper wedo not attempt to reproduce the far-infrared coolest region in thecolour-colour plots, as we concentrate on models meant to reproduceactive star-forming galaxies, but we discuss possible requirements of amore complex modelling for the coldest objects.
| How large are the bars in barred galaxies?
I present a study of the sizes (semimajor axes) of bars in discgalaxies, combining a detailed R-band study of 65 S0-Sb galaxies withthe B-band measurements of 70 Sb-Sd galaxies from Martin (1995). As hasbeen noted before with smaller samples, bars in early-type (S0-Sb)galaxies are clearly larger than bars in late-type (Sc-Sd) galaxies;this is true both for relative sizes (bar length as fraction ofisophotal radius R25 or exponential disc scalelength h) andabsolute sizes (kpc). S0-Sab bars extend to ~1-10 kpc (mean ~ 3.3 kpc),~0.2-0.8R25 (mean ~ 0.38R25) and ~0.5-2.5h (mean ~1.4h). Late-type bars extend to only ~0.5-3.5 kpc,~0.05-0.35R25 and 0.2-1.5h their mean sizes are ~1.5 kpc, ~0.14R25 and ~0.6h. Sb galaxies resemble earlier-type galaxiesin terms of bar size relative to h; their smallerR25-relative sizes may be a side effect of higher starformation, which increases R25 but not h. Sbc galaxies form atransition between the early- and late-type regimes. For S0-Sbcgalaxies, bar size correlates well with disc size (both R25and h); these correlations are stronger than the known correlation withMB. All correlations appear to be weaker or absent forlate-type galaxies; in particular, there seems to be no correlationbetween bar size and either h or MB for Sc-Sd galaxies.Because bar size scales with disc size and galaxy magnitude for mostHubble types, studies of bar evolution with redshift should selectsamples with similar distributions of disc size or magnitude(extrapolated to present-day values); otherwise, bar frequencies andsizes could be mis-estimated. Because early-type galaxies tend to havelarger bars, resolution-limited studies will preferentially find bars inearly-type galaxies (assuming no significant differential evolution inbar sizes). I show that the bars detected in Hubble Space Telescope(HST) near-infrared(IR) images at z~ 1 by Sheth et al. have absolutesizes consistent with those in bright, nearby S0-Sb galaxies. I alsocompare the sizes of real bars with those produced in simulations anddiscuss some possible implications for scenarios of secular evolutionalong the Hubble sequence. Simulations often produce bars as large as(or larger than) those seen in S0-Sb galaxies, but rarely any as smallas those in Sc-Sd galaxies.
| GHASP: an Hα kinematic survey of spiral and irregular galaxies - IV. 44 new velocity fields. Extension, shape and asymmetry of Hα rotation curves
We present Fabry-Perot observations obtained in the frame of the GHASPsurvey (Gassendi HAlpha survey of SPirals). We have derived the Hαmap, the velocity field and the rotation curve for a new set of 44galaxies. The data presented in this paper are combined with the datapublished in the three previous papers providing a total number of 85 ofthe 96 galaxies observed up to now. This sample of kinematical data hasbeen divided into two groups: isolated (ISO) and softly interacting(SOFT) galaxies. In this paper, the extension of the Hα discs, theshape of the rotation curves, the kinematical asymmetry and theTully-Fisher relation have been investigated for both ISO and SOFTgalaxies. The Hα extension is roughly proportional toR25 for ISO as well as for SOFT galaxies. The smallestextensions of the ionized disc are found for ISO galaxies. The innerslope of the rotation curves is found to be correlated with the centralconcentration of light more clearly than with the type or thekinematical asymmetry, for ISO as well as for SOFT galaxies. The outerslope of the rotation curves increases with the type and with thekinematical asymmetry for ISO galaxies but shows no special trend forSOFT galaxies. No decreasing rotation curve is found for SOFT galaxies.The asymmetry of the rotation curves is correlated with themorphological type, the luminosity, the (B-V) colour and the maximalrotational velocity of galaxies. Our results show that the brightest,the most massive and the reddest galaxies, which are fast rotators, arethe least asymmetric, meaning that they are the most efficient withwhich to average the mass distribution on the whole disc. Asymmetry inthe rotation curves seems to be linked with local star formation,betraying disturbances of the gravitational potential. The Tully-Fisherrelation has a smaller slope for ISO than for SOFT galaxies.
| XMM-Newton observations of the interacting galaxy pairs NGC 7771/0 and NGC 2342/1
We present XMM-Newton X-ray observations of the interacting galaxy pairsNGC 7771/7770 and NGC 2342/2341. In NGC 7771, for the first time we areable to resolve the X-ray emission into a bright central source plus twobright (LX > 1040 erg s-1)ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) located either end of the bar. In thebright central source (LX~ 1041 ergs-1), the soft emission is well-modelled by a two-temperaturethermal plasma with kT= 0.4/0.7 keV. The hard emission is modelled witha flat absorbed power-law (Γ~ 1.7, NH~ 1022cm-2), and this together with a low-significance (1.7σ)~ 300 eV equivalent width emission line at ~6 keV are the firstindications that NGC 7771 may host a low-luminosity AGN. For the barULXs, a power-law fit to X-1 is improved at the 2.5σ level withthe addition of a thermal plasma component (kT~ 0.3 keV), while X-2 isimproved only at the 1.3σ level with the addition of a discblackbody component with Tin~ 0.2 keV. Both sources arevariable on short time-scales implying that their emission is dominatedby single accreting X-ray binaries (XRBs). The three remaining galaxies,NGC 7770, NGC 2342 and NGC 2341, have observed X-ray luminosities of0.2, 1.8 and 0.9 × 1041 erg s-1,respectively (0.3-10 keV). Their integrated spectra are alsowell-modelled by multi-temperature thermal plasma components with kT=0.2-0.7 keV, plus power-law continua with slopes of Γ= 1.8-2.3that are likely to represent the integrated emission of populations ofXRBs as observed in other nearby merger systems. A comparison with otherisolated, interacting and merging systems shows that all four galaxiesfollow the established correlations for starburst galaxies betweenX-ray, far-infrared and radio luminosities, demonstrating that theirX-ray outputs are dominated by their starburst components.
| A Chandra Survey of Nearby Spiral Galaxies. I. Point Source Catalogs
Emission from discrete point sources dominates the X-ray luminosity inspiral galaxies. We present results from a survey of 11 nearby, nearlyface-on spiral galaxies with the Chandra X-ray Observatory. Thesegalaxies span the Hubble sequence for spirals, allowing insights intothe X-ray source population of many diverse systems. In this paper, wepresent source lists for the 11 galaxies along with fluxes,luminosities, X-ray colors, and variability properties. We brieflydiscuss X-ray luminosity functions and how they relate to star formationof the host galaxies. We also discuss source colors and variability andwhat these can tell us about the composition of the X-ray sourcepopulation.
| The Stellar Populations in the Central Parsecs of Galactic Bulges
We present Hubble Space Telescope blue spectra at intermediate spectralresolution for the nuclei of 23 nearby disk galaxies. These objects wereselected to have nebular emission in their nuclei and span a range ofemission-line classifications, as well as Hubble types. In this paper wefocus on the stellar population as revealed by the continuum spectralenergy distribution measured within the central 0.13" (~8 pc) of thesegalaxies. The data were modeled with linear combinations of single-agestellar population synthesis models. The large majority (~80%) of thesurveyed nuclei have spectra whose features are consistent with apredominantly old (>~5×109 yr) stellar population.Approximately 25% of these nuclei show evidence of a component with ageyounger than 1 Gyr, with the incidence of these stars related to thenebular classification. Successful model fits imply an average reddeningcorresponding to AV~0.4 mag and a stellar metallicity of1-2.5 Zsolar. We discuss the implications of these resultsfor understanding the star formation history in the environment ofquiescent and active supermassive black holes. Our findings reinforcethe picture wherein Seyfert nuclei and the majority of low-ionizationnuclear emission-line regions are predominantly accretion-powered andsuggest that much of the central star formation in H II nuclei isactually circumnuclear.Based on observations obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope, which isoperated by AURA, Inc., under NASA contract NAS5-26555.
| Molecular Gas Structure around an Active Galactic Nucleus with Nuclear Starburst: Three-dimensional Non-LTE Calculations of CO Lines
We have performed three-dimensional, non-LTE (non-local thermodynamicequilibrium) radiative transfer calculations for 12CO and13CO lines, applying them to our high-resolution hydrodynamicmodels of the torus around a supermassive black hole in an activegalactic nucleus. The hydrodynamic simulations reveal inhomogeneous andturbulent gas structure on a subparsec scale in a circumnuclearstarburst region. Thick disks interlaced with filaments, clumps, andholes are naturally formed as a result of the interplay among energyfeedback from supernovae, self-gravity of the gas, galactic rotation,and radiative cooling. The intensity maps of the molecular lines for thecircumnuclear disks show a clumpy structure, reflecting the intrinsicinhomogeneity and turbulent motion of the gas disk. The fine structureof the torus could be resolved in nearby active galaxies using theAtacama Large Millimeter Array. We also found that theCO-to-H2 conversion factor (X-factor) is not uniformlydistributed in the central 100 pc region. The X-factor derived for12CO (J=1-0) intensity depends strongly on the intensity,whereas the X for 12CO (J=3-2) is nearly constant over 2orders of magnitude of the intensity. The suggested conversion factorfor the molecular gas mass isXCO(J=3-2)~0.27×1020 cm-2 (K kms-1)-1. The line ratio of high-J transitions of COis not uniformly distributed in the nuclear disk, and the apparent ratiodepends on the beam sizes. Observed12CO(J=4-3)/12CO(J=2-1) can differ from theintrinsic ratio by as much as 20%.
| 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.
| Structure and star formation in disk galaxies. III. Nuclear and circumnuclear Hα emission
From Hα images of a carefully selected sample of 57 relativelylarge, Northern spiral galaxies with low inclination, we study thedistribution of the Hα emission in the circumnuclear and nuclearregions. At a resolution of around 100 parsec, we find that the nuclearHα emission in the sample galaxies is often peaked, andsignificantly more often so among AGN host galaxies. The circumnuclearHα emission, within a radius of two kpc, is often patchy inlate-type, and absent or in the form of a nuclear ring in early-typegalaxies. There is no clear correlation of nuclear or circumnuclearHα morphology with the presence or absence of a bar in the hostgalaxy, except for the nuclear rings which occur in barred hosts. Thepresence or absence of close bright companion galaxies does not affectthe circumnuclear Hα morphology, but their presence does correlatewith a higher fraction of nuclear Hα peaks. Nuclear rings occur inat least 21% (±5%) of spiral galaxies, and occur predominantly ingalaxies also hosting an AGN. Only two of our 12 nuclear rings occur ina galaxy which is neither an AGN nor a starburst host. We confirm thatweaker bars host larger nuclear rings. The implications of these resultson our understanding of the occurrence and morphology of massive starformation, as well as non-stellar activity, in the central regions ofgalaxies are discussed.
| 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 Ultraluminous X-Ray Source Population from the Chandra Archive of Galaxies
One hundred fifty-four discrete non-nuclear ultraluminous X-ray (ULX)sources, with spectroscopically determined intrinsic X-ray luminositiesgreater than 1039 ergs s-1, are identified in 82galaxies observed with Chandra's Advanced CCD Imaging Spectrometer.Source positions, X-ray luminosities, and spectral and timingcharacteristics are tabulated. Statistical comparisons between theseX-ray properties and those of the weaker discrete sources in the samefields (mainly neutron star and stellar-mass black hole binaries) aremade. Sources above ~1038 ergs s-1 display similarspatial, spectral, color, and variability distributions. In particular,there is no compelling evidence in the sample for a new and distinctclass of X-ray object such as the intermediate-mass black holes.Eighty-three percent of ULX candidates have spectra that can bedescribed as absorbed power laws with index <Γ>=1.74 andcolumn density =2.24×1021cm-2, or ~5 times the average Galactic column. About 20% ofthe ULXs have much steeper indices indicative of a soft, and likelythermal, spectrum. The locations of ULXs in their host galaxies arestrongly peaked toward their galaxy centers. The deprojected radialdistribution of the ULX candidates is somewhat steeper than anexponential disk, indistinguishable from that of the weaker sources.About 5%-15% of ULX candidates are variable during the Chandraobservations (which average 39.5 ks). Comparison of the cumulative X-rayluminosity functions of the ULXs to Chandra Deep Field results suggests~25% of the sources may be background objects, including 14% of the ULXcandidates in the sample of spiral galaxies and 44% of those inelliptical galaxies, implying the elliptical galaxy ULX population isseverely compromised by background active galactic nuclei. Correlationswith host galaxy properties confirm the number and total X-rayluminosity of the ULXs are associated with recent star formation andwith galaxy merging and interactions. The preponderance of ULXs instar-forming galaxies as well as their similarities to less-luminoussources suggest they originate in a young but short-lived populationsuch as the high-mass X-ray binaries with a smaller contribution (basedon spectral slope) from recent supernovae. The number of ULXs inelliptical galaxies scales with host galaxy mass and can be explainedmost simply as the high-luminosity end of the low-mass X-ray binarypopulation.
| Classification of Spectra from the Infrared Space Observatory PHT-S Database
We have classified over 1500 infrared spectra obtained with the PHT-Sspectrometer aboard the Infrared Space Observatory according to thesystem developed for the Short Wavelength Spectrometer (SWS) spectra byKraemer et al. The majority of these spectra contribute to subclassesthat are either underrepresented in the SWS spectral database or containsources that are too faint, such as M dwarfs, to have been observed byeither the SWS or the Infrared Astronomical Satellite Low ResolutionSpectrometer. There is strong overall agreement about the chemistry ofobjects observed with both instruments. Discrepancies can usually betraced to the different wavelength ranges and sensitivities of theinstruments. Finally, a large subset of the observations (~=250 spectra)exhibit a featureless, red continuum that is consistent with emissionfrom zodiacal dust and suggest directions for further analysis of thisserendipitous measurement of the zodiacal background.Based on observations with the Infrared Space Observatory (ISO), aEuropean Space Agency (ESA) project with instruments funded by ESAMember States (especially the Principle Investigator countries: France,Germany, Netherlands, and United Kingdom) and with the participation ofthe Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS) and the NationalAeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
| Missing Massive Stars in Starbursts: Stellar Temperature Diagnostics and the Initial Mass Function
Determining the properties of starbursts requires spectral diagnosticsof their ultraviolet radiation fields, to test whether very massivestars are present. We test several such diagnostics, using new models ofline ratio behavior combining CLOUDY, Starburst99, and up-to-datespectral atlases. For six galaxies we obtain new measurements of He I1.7 μm/Br10, a difficult to measure but physically simple (andtherefore reliable) diagnostic. We obtain new measurements of He I 2.06μm/Brγ in five galaxies. We find that He I 2.06 μm/Brγand [O III]/Hβ are generally unreliable diagnostics in starbursts.The heteronuclear and homonuclear mid-infrared line ratios (notably [NeIII] 15.6 μm/[Ne II] 12.8 μm) consistently agree with each otherand with He I 1.7 μm/Br10 this argues that the mid-infrared lineratios are reliable diagnostics of spectral hardness. In a sample of 27starbursts, [Ne III]/[Ne II] is significantly lower than modelpredictions for a Salpeter initial mass function (IMF) extending to 100Msolar. Plausible model alterations strengthen thisconclusion. By contrast, the low-mass and low-metallicity galaxies II Zw40 and NGC 5253 show relatively high neon line ratios, compatible with aSalpeter slope extending to at least ~40-60 Msolar. Onesolution for the low neon line ratios in the high-metallicity starburstswould be that they are deficient in >~40 Msolar starscompared to a Salpeter IMF. An alternative explanation, which we prefer,is that massive stars in high-metallicity starbursts spend much of theirlives embedded within ultracompact H II regions that prevent the near-and mid-infrared nebular lines from forming and escaping. Thishypothesis has important consequences for starburst modeling andinterpretation.
| The Stellar Populations of Low-Luminosity Active Galactic Nuclei. II. Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph Observations
We present a study of the stellar populations of low-luminosity activegalactic nuclei (LLAGNs). Our goal is to search for spectroscopicsignatures of young and intermediate-age stars and to investigate theirrelationship with the ionization mechanism in LLAGNs. The method used isbased on the stellar population synthesis of the optical continuum ofthe innermost (20-100 pc) regions in these galaxies. For this purpose,we have collected high spatial resolution optical (2900-5700 Å)STIS spectra of 28 nearby LLAGNs that are available in the Hubble SpaceTelescope archive. The analysis of these data is compared with a similaranalysis also presented here for 51 ground-based spectra of LLAGNs. Ourmain findings are as follows: (1) No features due to Wolf-Rayet starswere convincingly detected in the STIS spectra. (2) Young starscontribute very little to the optical continuum in the ground-basedaperture. However, the fraction of light provided by these stars ishigher than 10% in most of the weak-[O I] ([OI]/Hα<=0.25) LLAGNSTIS spectra. (3) Intermediate-age stars contribute significantly to theoptical continuum of these nuclei. This population is more frequent inobjects with weak than with strong [O I]. Weak-[O I] LLAGNs that haveyoung stars stand out for their intermediate-age population. (4) Most ofthe strong-[O I] LLAGNs have predominantly old stellar population. A fewof these objects also show a featureless continuum that contributessignificantly to the optical continuum. These results suggest that youngand intermediate-age stars do not play a significant role in theionization of LLAGNs with strong [O I]. However, the ionization inweak-[O I] LLAGNs with young and/or intermediate-age populations couldbe due to stellar processes. A comparison of the properties of theseobjects with Seyfert 2 galaxies that harbor a nuclear starburst suggeststhat weak-[O I] LLAGNs are the lower luminosity counterparts of theSeyfert 2 composite nuclei.Based on observations with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, obtainedat the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by theAssociation of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASAcontract NAS 5-26555. Based on observations made with the Nordic OpticalTelescope (NOT), operated on the island of La Palma jointly by Denmark,Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden, in the Spanish Observatorio delRoque de los Muchachos of the Instituto de Astrofísica deCanarias.
| Molecular Gas in the Lensed Lyman Break Galaxy cB58
We have used the IRAM Plateau de Bure Interferometer to map CO (3-2)emission from the gravitationally lensed Lyman break galaxy MS1512-cB58. This is the first detection of a molecular emission line inany Lyman break system; its integrated intensity implies a totalmolecular gas mass of(6.6+5.8-4.3)×109h-20.7 Msolar, while its width impliesa dynamical mass of(1.0+0.6-0.4)×1010csc2ih-10.7 Msolar (for a flatΩΛ=0.7 cosmology). These estimates are inexcellent concordance with nearly all parameters of the system measuredat other wavelengths and yield a consistent picture of past and futurestar formation with no obvious discrepancies requiring explanation bydifferential lensing. In particular, we find that the age and remaininglifetime of the current episode of star formation are likely to besimilar, the surface densities of star formation and molecular gas massare related by a Schmidt law, and the fraction of baryonic mass alreadyconverted into stars is sufficient to account for the observedenrichment of the interstellar medium to 0.4 Zsolar. Barringsubstantial gas inflow or a major merger, the stars forming in thecurrent episode will have mass and coevality at z=0 similar to those ofa spiral bulge. Assuming that cB58 is a typical Lyman break galaxy apartfrom its magnification, its global parameters suggest that theprescriptions for star formation used in some semianalytic models ofgalaxy evolution require moderate revision, although the generalprediction that gas mass fraction should increase with redshift isvalidated. The length of cB58's star formation episode relative to thetime elapsed over the redshift range 2.5<=z<=3.5 strongly arguesagainst scenarios in which observed LBGs cohabit their halos with alarge number of similar but ``dormant'' systems whose starbursts havefaded or not yet begun. As a useful empirical result, we find that theobserved line/continuum ratio for cB58 is similar to those ofhigh-redshift systems with quite different dust luminosities and nuclearactivity levels. Finally, we report the detection of a second sourceclose to the position of the cD elliptical in the z=0.37 lensingcluster, which may be nonthermal continuum emission from the cD or COline emission from a hitherto unknown background galaxy at z~1.48 or~2.73.Based on observations carried out with the IRAM Plateau de BureInterferometer. IRAM is supported by the INSU/CNRS (France), the MPG(Germany), and the IGN (Spain).
| Star Formation Properties of a Large Sample of Irregular Galaxies
We present the results of Hα imaging of a large sample ofirregular galaxies. Our sample includes 94 galaxies with morphologicalclassifications of Im, 26 blue compact dwarfs (BCDs), and 20 Sm systems.The sample spans a large range in galactic parameters, includingintegrated absolute magnitude (MV of -9 to -19), averagesurface brightness (20-27 mag arcsec-2), current starformation activity (0-1.3 Msolar yr-1kpc-2), and relative gas content(0.02-5Msolar/LB). The Hα images were usedto measure the integrated star formation rates, determine the extents ofstar formation in the disks, and compare azimuthally averaged radialprofiles of current star formation to older starlight. The integratedstar formation rates of Im galaxies normalized to the physical size ofthe galaxy span a range of a factor of 104 with 10% Imgalaxies and one Sm system having no measurable star formation at thepresent time. The BCDs fall, on average, at the high star formation rateend of the range. We find no correlation between star formation activityand proximity to other cataloged galaxies. Two galaxies located in voidsare similar in properties to the Sm group in our sample. The H IIregions in these galaxies are most often found within the Holmbergradius RH, although in a few systems H II regions are tracedas far as 1.7RH. Similarly, most of the star formation isfound within three disk scale lengths RD, but in somegalaxies H II regions are traced as far as 6RD. A comparisonof Hα surface photometry with V-band surface photometry shows thatthe two approximately follow each other with radius in Sm galaxies, butin most BCDs there is an excess of Hα emission in the centers thatdrops with radius. In approximately half of the Im galaxies Hα andV correspond well, and in the rest there are small to large differencesin the relative rate of falloff with radius. The cases with stronggradients in the LHα/LV ratios and with highcentral star formation rate densities, which include most of the BCDs,require a significant fraction of their gas to migrate to the center inthe last gigayear. We discuss possible torques that could have causedthis without leaving an obvious signature, including dark matter barsand past interactions or mergers with small galaxies or H I clouds.There is now a substantial amount of evidence for these processes amongmany surveys of BCDs. We note that such gas migration will also increasethe local pressure and possibly enhance the formation of massive denseclusters but conclude that the star formation process itself does notappear to differ much among BCD, Im, and Sm types. In particular, thereis evidence in the distribution function for Hα surface brightnessthat the turbulent Mach numbers are all about the same in these systems.This follows from the Hα distribution functions corrected forexponential disk gradients, which are log-normal with a nearly constantdispersion. Thus, the influence of shock-triggered star formation isapparently no greater in BCDs than in Im and Sm types.
| 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.
| The nuclear ring in the unbarred galaxy NGC 278: Result of a minor merger?
We present fully sampled high angular resolution two-dimensionalkinematics in the Hα spectral line, optical and near-infraredimaging, as well as 21 cm atomic hydrogen data of the spiral galaxy NGC278. This is a small non-barred galaxy, which has a bright star forminginner region of about 2 kpc in diameter, reminiscent of nuclear ringsseen mainly in barred galaxies. The Hα kinematics show a disturbedvelocity field, which may be partly the result of spiral density wavestreaming motions. The 21 cm data trace the atomic hydrogen well outsidethe optical disk. The H I is not abundant but clearly shows disturbedmorphology and kinematics. We postulate that the current structure ofNGC 278 is a result of a recent interaction with a small gas-richgalaxy, which is now dispersed into the outer disk of NGC 278.Non-axisymmetries set up in the disk by this minor merger may well bethe cause of the intense star formation in the inner region, which canbe interpreted as a rare example of a nuclear ring in a non-barredgalaxy. Rather than being induced by a bar, this nuclear ring would thenbe the direct result of an interaction event in the recent history ofthe galaxy.
| 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
| Disk-bulge decompositions of spiral galaxies in UBVRI
A sample of 26 bright spiral galaxies (Btot < 12.7) withlow to medium inclination and without a bar was observed with UBVRIfilters. The CAFOS focal reducer camera at the Calar Alto 2.2 mtelescope was used. The surface-brightness distributions were fittedusing a 2-dimensional algorithm with corresponding functions for thedisk- and bulge-structure. For the disks an exponential function wasused, for the bulges a Sérsic Rβ law, was appliedwith the concentration parameter β = 1/n as another fit variable.Correlations of the resulting structural parameters of disks and bulgesin UBVRI are investigated, giving clues to the formation history of thebulges.We confirm that the large and bright bulges of early-type spirals aresimilar to elliptical galaxies. They were probably formed prior to thedisks in a monolithic collapse or via early mergers. Late-type spiralshave tiny and faint bulges with disk-like profiles. These bulges wereprobably formed after the disk in secular evolution processes, e.g. froma disk instability. The comparison of the color indices of correspondingspirals and bulges with population synthesis computations support aboveformation scenarios.Tables 2-4 are only available in electronic form at the CDS viaanonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/415/63
| Cold Dust in Galaxies: Sub-mm Observations with the Heinrich-Hertz-Telescope
We have studied the cold dust component of a sample of nearby galaxiesvia its thermal continuum emission at 870 mu m wavelength.
| Infrared Emission of Normal Galaxies from 2.5 to 12 Micron: Infrared Space Observatory Spectra, Near-Infrared Continuum, and Mid-Infrared Emission Features
We present ISOPHOT spectra of the regions 2.5-4.9 μm and 5.8-11.6μm for a sample of 45 disk galaxies from the US Infrared SpaceObservatory Key Project on Normal Galaxies. The galaxies were selectedto span the range in global properties of normal, star-forming diskgalaxies in the local universe. The spectra can be decomposed into threespectral components: (1) continuum emission from stellar photospheres,which dominates the near-infrared (NIR; 2.5-4.9 μm) spectral region;(2) a weak NIR excess continuum, which has a color temperature of~103 K, carries a luminosity of a few percent of the totalfar-infrared (FIR) dust luminosity LFIR and most likelyarises from the interstellar medium (ISM); and (3) the well-known broademission features at 6.2, 7.7, 8.6, and 11.3 μm, which are generallyattributed to aromatic carbon particles. These aromatic features inemission (AFEs) dominate the mid-infrared (MIR; 5.8-11.6 μm) part ofthe spectrum and resemble the so-called type A spectra observed in manynonstellar sources and the diffuse ISM in our own Galaxy. The fewnotable exceptions include NGC 4418, where a dust continuum replaces theAFEs in MIR, and NGC 1569, where the AFEs are weak and the strongestemission feature is [S IV] 10.51 μm. The relative strengths of theAFEs vary by 15%-25% among the galaxies. However, little correlation isseen between these variations and either IRAS 60 μm/100 μm fluxdensity ratio R(60/100) or the FIR/blue luminosity ratioLFIR/LB, two widely used indicators of the currentstar formation activity, suggesting that the observed variations are nota consequence of the radiation field differences among the galaxies. Wedemonstrate that the NIR excess continuum and AFE emission arecorrelated, suggesting that they are produced by similar mechanisms andsimilar (or the same) material. On the other hand, as the current starformation activity increases, the overall strengths of the AFEs and theNIR excess continuum drop significantly with respect to that of the FIRemission from large dust grains. In particular, the summed luminosity ofthe AFEs falls from ~0.2 LFIR for the most ``IR-quiescent''galaxies to ~0.1 LFIR for the most ``IR-active'' galaxies.This is likely a consequence of the preferential destruction in intenseradiation fields of the small carriers responsible for the NIR/AFEemission.Based on observations with ISO, an ESA project with instruments fundedby ESA member states (especially the PI countries, France, Germany, theNetherlands, and the United Kingdom) and with the participation of ISASand NASA.
| A Chandra survey of nearby spiral galaxies
We present results from a Chandra survey of 11 nearby, face-on spiralgalaxies. 24 observations totalling 900 ks of new and archival Chandradata reveal more than 1000 X-ray point sources associated with thegalaxies, diffuse emission, and hundreds of serendipitous sources. Wediscuss source populations and luminosity functions and show that theslope of the X-ray luminosity function is correlated with the starformation rate in the galaxies. We also discuss ultraluminous X-raysources in comparison with sources within the Milky Way. Finally, wediscuss ongoing work on source classification based upon X-ray colorsand spectra, position within the host galaxies, and multiwavelenthcounterparts.
| 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.
| The WSRT wide-field H I survey. I. The background galaxy sample
We have used the Westerbork array to carry out an unbiased wide-fieldsurvey for H I emission features, achieving an RMS sensitivity of about18 mJy/Beam at a velocity resolution of 17 km s-1 over 1800deg2 and between -1000 < VHel <+6500 kms-1. The primary data consists of auto-correlation spectrawith an effective angular resolution of 49' FWHM, althoughcross-correlation data were also acquired. The survey region is centeredapproximately on the position of Messier 31 and is Nyquist-sampled over60x 30o in RA x Dec. More than 100 distinct features aredetected at high significance in each of the two velocity regimes(negative and positive LGSR velocities). In this paper we present theresults for our H I detections of external galaxies at positive LGSRvelocity. We detect 155 external galaxies in excess of 8sigma inintegrated H I flux density. Plausible optical associations are foundwithin a 30' search radius for all but one of our H I detections in DSSimages, although several are not previously cataloged or do not havepublished red-shift determinations. Our detection without a DSSassociation is at low galactic latitude. Twenty-three of our objects aredetected in H I for the first time. We classify almost half of ourdetections as ``confused'', since one or more companions is catalogedwithin a radius of 30' and a velocity interval of 400 km s-1.We identify a handful of instances of significant positional offsetsexceeding 10 kpc of unconfused optical galaxies with the associated H Icentroid, possibly indicative of severe tidal distortions or uncatalogedgas-rich companions. A possible trend is found for an excess of detectedH I flux in unconfused galaxies within our large survey beam relative tothat detected previously in smaller telescope beams, both as function ofincreasing distance and increasing gas mass. This may be an indicationfor a diffuse gaseous component on 100 kpc scales in the environment ofmassive galaxies or a population of uncataloged low mass companions. Weuse our galaxy sample to estimate the H I mass function from our surveyvolume. Good agreement is found with the HIPASS BGC results, but onlyafter explicit correction for galaxy density variations with distance.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/406/829 and Fig. 3 is onlyavailable in electronic form at http://www.edpsciences.org
| 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
| GHASP: An Hα kinematic survey of spiral and irregular galaxies. II. Velocity fields and rotation curves of 15 galaxies
We present Fabry-Perot images obtained during the GHASP survey (GassendiHα survey of SPirals). We have derived the Hα maps, the 2Dvelocity fields and the rotation curves for a new set of 15 galaxies,increasing the sample we plan to build. The majority of the objectsstudied here are late-type spirals (Sc-Sdm) and irregular galaxies. Only8 galaxies have a regular and symmetric rotation curve (two of them havea solid-body rotation curve) and they are all of morphological typeearlier than 8 ~ Sd. Five galaxies present an irregular rotation curveand they are all very late-type galaxies (t>= 8.8). For one galaxy,UGC 2053, no rotation curve could be derived, and for another one, UGC11300, both sides have completely different behaviors. All of them havealready been observed in HI by the WHISP survey led at Westerbork, forwhich GHASP brings an interesting complement.Based on observations collected at the Observatoire de Haute deProvence.
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