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The SAURON project - VI. Line strength maps of 48 elliptical and lenticular galaxies
We present absorption line strength maps of 48 representative ellipticaland lenticular galaxies obtained as part of a survey of nearby galaxiesusing our custom-built integral-field spectrograph, SAURON, operating onthe William Herschel Telescope. Using high-quality spectra, spatiallybinned to a constant signal-to-noise ratio, we measure four key age,metallicity and abundance ratio sensitive indices from the Lick/IDSsystem over a two-dimensional field extending up to approximately oneeffective radius. A discussion of calibrations and offsets is given,along with a description of error estimation and nebular emissioncorrection. We modify the classical Fe5270 index to define a new index,Fe5270S, which maximizes the useable spatial coverage ofSAURON. Maps of Hβ, Fe5015, Mgb and Fe5270S arepresented for each galaxy. We use the maps to compute average linestrengths integrated over circular apertures of one-eighth effectiveradius, and compare the resulting relations of index versus velocitydispersion with previous long-slit work. The metal line strength mapsshow generally negative gradients with increasing radius roughlyconsistent with the morphology of the light profiles. Remarkabledeviations from this general trend exist, particularly the Mgb isoindexcontours appear to be flatter than the isophotes of the surfacebrightness for about 40 per cent of our galaxies without significantdust features. Generally, these galaxies exhibit significant rotation.We infer from this that the fast-rotating component features a highermetallicity and/or an increased Mg/Fe ratio as compared to the galaxy asa whole. The Hβ maps are typically flat or show a mild positiveoutwards radial gradient, while a few galaxies show strong central peaksand/or elevated overall Hβ strength likely connected to recent starformation activity. For the most prominent post-starburst galaxies, eventhe metal line strength maps show a reversed gradient.
| The hot, warm and cold gas in Arp 227 - an evolving poor group
Arp 227 represents a prototypical example of an interacting mixed pairof galaxies located in a low-density environment. We investigate the gasproperties of the pair in the X-ray, Hα, HI and CO bands. We alsodetect two additional members of the group in HI which indicates thatthe pair constitutes the dominant members of a loose group.The HI distribution shows a tail of gas that connects the spiral member,NGC 470, to the lenticular, NGC 474, showing that the two main membersare currently undergoing interaction. The Hα emission reveals thepresence of secondary components at the centre of NGC 470, superposed onthe main component tracing the rotation of the galaxy. This latter mapsa nearly unperturbed velocity field. The dominant, nearly unperturbedtrend of the kinematics is confirmed by CO observations, althoughrestricted to the centre of the galaxy. The X-ray luminosity of NGC 470is comparable with that of a `normal' spiral galaxy. NGC 474 on theother hand is very gas-poor and has not been detected in Hα. ItsX-ray luminosity is consistent with the low end of the expected emissionfrom discrete sources.Arp 227 as a loose group shows several signatures of galaxy-galaxyinteraction. Our observations suggest the presence of signatures ofinteraction in the overall kinematics of the spiral companion. Theongoing interaction is clearly visible only in the outer HI halo of NGC470. While the large shell system of NGC 474 could be associated with anaccretion event, the secondary components in the Hα profile in thecentre of NGC 470 could be due to the interaction with the companion.The low X-ray luminosity of NGC 470 seems to be a characteristic ofdynamically young systems. All the above evidence suggest that Arp 227is an evolving group in the early phase of its evolution and that itsdrivers are the accretion of faint galaxies and the ongoing large-scaleinteraction between NGC 470 and 474.
| The SAURON project - V. Integral-field emission-line kinematics of 48 elliptical and lenticular galaxies
We present the emission-line fluxes and kinematics of 48 representativeelliptical and lenticular galaxies obtained with our custom-builtintegral-field spectrograph, SAURON, operating on the William HerschelTelescope. Hβ, [OIII]λλ4959,5007 and[NI]λλ5198,5200 emission lines were measured using a newprocedure that simultaneously fits both the stellar spectrum and theemission lines. Using this technique we can detect emission lines downto an equivalent width of 0.1 Å set by the current limitations indescribing galaxy spectra with synthetic and real stellar templates,rather than by the quality of our spectra. Gas velocities and velocitydispersions are typically accurate to within 14 and 20 kms-1, respectively, and at worse to within 25 and 40 kms-1. The errors on the flux of the [OIII] and Hβ linesare on average 10 and 20 per cent, respectively, and never exceed 30 percent. Emission is clearly detected in 75 per cent of our samplegalaxies, and comes in a variety of resolved spatial distributions andkinematic behaviours. A mild dependence on the Hubble type and galacticenvironment is observed, with higher detection rates in lenticulargalaxies and field objects. More significant is the fact that only 55per cent of the galaxies in the Virgo cluster exhibit clearly detectedemission. The ionized-gas kinematics is rarely consistent with simplecoplanar circular motions. However, the gas almost never displayscompletely irregular kinematics, generally showing coherent motions withsmooth variations in angular momentum. In the majority of the cases, thegas kinematics is decoupled from the stellar kinematics, and in half ofthe objects this decoupling implies a recent acquisition of gaseousmaterial. Over the entire sample however, the distribution of the meanmisalignment values between stellar and gaseous angular momenta isinconsistent with a purely external origin. The distribution ofkinematic misalignment values is found to be strongly dependent on theapparent flattening and the level of rotational support of galaxies,with flatter, fast rotating objects hosting preferentially corotatinggaseous and stellar systems. In a third of the cases, the distributionand kinematics of the gas underscore the presence of non-axisymmetricperturbations of the gravitational potential. Consistent with previousstudies, the presence of dust features is always accompanied by gasemission while the converse is not always true. A considerable range ofvalues for the [OIII]/Hβ ratio is found both across the sample andwithin single galaxies. Despite the limitations of this ratio as anemission-line diagnostic, this finding suggests either that a variety ofmechanisms is responsible for the gas excitation in E and S0 galaxies orthat the metallicity of the interstellar material is quiteheterogeneous.
| Gas in early-type galaxies: cross-fuelling in late-type-early-type pairs?
We present 12CO (J= 1-0) and 12CO (J= 2-1)observations of eight early-type galaxies, forming part of a sample ofinteracting galaxies, each consisting of one late- and one early-typesystem. All of the early-type galaxies observed are undetected in CO tolow levels, allowing us to place tight constraints on their moleculargas content. Additionally, we present HI absorption data for one system.The implications for possible gas transfer from the late- to theearly-type galaxy during the interaction are discussed.
| Stellar Populations in Nearby Lenticular Galaxies
We have obtained two-dimensional spectral data for a sample of 58 nearbyS0 galaxies with the Multi-Pupil Fiber/Field Spectrograph of the 6 mtelescope of the Special Astrophysical Observatory of the RussianAcademy of Sciences. The Lick indices Hβ, Mg b, and arecalculated separately for the nuclei and for the bulges taken as therings between R=4'' and 7", and the luminosity-weighted ages,metallicities, and Mg/Fe ratios of the stellar populations are estimatedby comparing the data to single stellar population (SSP) models. Fourtypes of galaxy environments are considered: clusters, centers ofgroups, other places in groups, and the field. The nuclei are found tobe on average slightly younger than the bulges in any type ofenvironment, and the bulges of S0 galaxies in sparse environments areyounger than those in dense environments. The effect can be partlyattributed to the well-known age correlation with the stellar velocitydispersion in early-type galaxies (in our sample the galaxies in sparseenvironments are on average less massive than those in denseenvironments), but for the most massive S0 galaxies, withσ*=170-220 km s-1, the age dependence on theenvironment is still significant at the confidence level of 1.5 σ.Based on observations collected with the 6 m telescope (BTA) at theSpecial Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) of the Russian Academy ofSciences (RAS).
| Star Formation Histories of Nearby Elliptical Galaxies. II. Merger Remnant Sample
This work presents high signal-to-noise spectroscopic observations of asample of six suspected merger remnants, selected primarily on the basisof H I tidal debris detections. Single stellar population analysis ofthese galaxies indicates that their ages, metallicities, andα-enhancement ratios are consistent with those of a representativesample of nearby elliptical galaxies. The expected stellar population ofa recent merger remnant, a young age combined with low [α/Fe], isnot seen in any H I-selected galaxy. However, one galaxy (NGC 2534) isfound to deviate from the Z-plane in the sense expected for a mergerremnant. Another galaxy (NGC 7332), selected by other criteria, bestmatches the merger remnant expectations.
| Group, field and isolated early-type galaxies - II. Global trends from nuclear data
We have derived ages, metallicities and enhanced-element ratios[α/Fe] for a sample of 83 early-type galaxies essentially ingroups, the field or isolated objects. The stellar-population propertiesderived for each galaxy correspond to the nuclear re/8aperture extraction. The median age found for Es is 5.8+/-0.6 Gyr andthe average metallicity is +0.37+/-0.03 dex. For S0s, the median age is3.0+/-0.6 Gyr and [Z/H]= 0.53+/-0.04 dex. We compare the distribution ofour galaxies in the Hβ-[MgFe] diagram with Fornax galaxies. Ourelliptical galaxies are 3-4 Gyr younger than Es in the Fornax cluster.We find that the galaxies lie in a plane defined by [Z/H]= 0.99logσ0- 0.46 log(age) - 1.60, or in linear terms Z~σ0× (age) -0.5. More massive (largerσ0) and older galaxies present, on average, large[α/Fe] values, and therefore must have undergone shorterstar-formation time-scales. Comparing group against field/isolatedgalaxies, it is not clear that environment plays an important role indetermining their stellar-population history. In particular, ourisolated galaxies show ages differing by more than 8 Gyr. Finally weexplore our large spectral coverage to derive log(O/H) metallicity fromthe Hα and NIIλ6584 and compare it with model-dependent[Z/H]. We find that the O/H abundances are similar for all galaxies, andwe can interpret it as if most chemical evolution has already finishedin these galaxies.
| Group, field and isolated early-type galaxies - I. Observations and nuclear data
This is the first paper of a series on the investigation of stellarpopulation properties and galaxy evolution of an observationallyhomogeneous sample of early-type galaxies in groups, field and isolatedgalaxies.Here we present high signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) long-slit spectroscopyof 86 nearby elliptical and S0 galaxies. Eight of them are isolated,selected according to a rigorous criterion, which guarantees a genuinelow-density subsample. The present survey has the advantage of coveringa larger wavelength range than normally found in the literature, whichincludes [OIII]λ5007 and Hα, both lines important foremission correction. Among the 86 galaxies with S/N >= 15 (perresolution element, for re/8 central aperture), 57 have theirHβ-index corrected for emission (the average correction is 0.190Åin Hβ) and 42 galaxies reveal [OIII]λ5007 emission,of which 16 also show obvious Hα emission. Most of the galaxies inthe sample do not show obvious signs of disturbances nor tidal featuresin the morphologies, although 11 belong to the Arp catalogue of peculiargalaxies; only three of them (NGC 750, 751 and 3226) seem to be stronglyinteracting. We present the measurement of 25 central line-strengthindices calibrated to the Lick/IDS system. Kinematic information isobtained for the sample. We analyse the line-strength index versusvelocity dispersion relations for our sample of mainly low-densityenvironment galaxies, and compare the slope of the relations withcluster galaxies from the literature. Our main findings are that theindex-σ0 relations presented for low-density regionsare not significantly different from those of cluster E/S0s. The slopeof the index-σ0 relations does not seem to change forearly-type galaxies of different environmental densities, but thescatter of the relations seems larger for group, field and isolatedgalaxies than for cluster galaxies.
| The Central Region of Barred Galaxies: Molecular Environment, Starbursts, and Secular Evolution
Stellar bars drive gas into the circumnuclear (CN) region of galaxies.To investigate the fate of the CN gas and star formation (SF), we studya sample of barred nonstarbursts and starbursts with high-resolution CO,optical, Hα, radio continuum, Brγ, and HST data, and findthe following. (1) The inner kiloparsec of bars differs markedly fromthe outer disk. It hosts molecular gas surface densitiesΣgas-m of 500-3500 Msolar pc-2,gas mass fractions of 10%-30%, and epicyclic frequencies of several100-1000 km s-1 kpc-1. Consequently, in the CNregion gravitational instabilities can only grow at high gas densitiesand on short timescales, explaining in part why powerful starburstsreside there. (2) Across the sample, we find bar pattern speeds withupper limits of 43-115 km s-1 pc-1 and outer innerLindblad resonance radii of >500 pc. (3) Barred starbursts andnonstarbursts have CN SF rates of 3-11 and 0.1-2 Msolaryr-1, despite similar CN gas masses. TheΣgas-m value in the starbursts is larger (1000-3500Msolar pc-2) and close to the Toomre criticaldensity over a large region. (4) Molecular gas makes up 10%-30% of theCN dynamical mass and fuels large CN SF rates in the starbursts,building young, massive, high-V/σ components. Implications forsecular evolution along the Hubble sequence are discussed.
| Testing galaxy evolution in the field: morphology and properties of the diffuse X-ray emission in shell galaxies.
Not Available
| The SAURON project - III. Integral-field absorption-line kinematics of 48 elliptical and lenticular galaxies
We present the stellar kinematics of 48 representative elliptical andlenticular galaxies obtained with our custom-built integral-fieldspectrograph SAURON operating on the William Herschel Telescope. Thedata were homogeneously processed through a dedicated reduction andanalysis pipeline. All resulting SAURON data cubes were spatially binnedto a constant minimum signal-to-noise ratio. We have measured thestellar kinematics with an optimized (penalized pixel-fitting) routinewhich fits the spectra in pixel space, via the use of optimal templates,and prevents the presence of emission lines to affect the measurements.We have thus generated maps of the mean stellar velocity V, the velocitydispersion σ, and the Gauss-Hermite moments h3 andh4 of the line-of-sight velocity distributions. The mapsextend to approximately one effective radius. Many objects displaykinematic twists, kinematically decoupled components, central stellardiscs, and other peculiarities, the nature of which will be discussed infuture papers of this series.
| Structure and kinematics of candidatedouble-barred galaxies
Results of optical and NIR spectral and photometric observations of asample of candidate double-barred galaxies are presented. Velocityfields and velocity dispersion maps of stars and ionized gas, continuumand emission-line images were constructed from integral-fieldspectroscopy observations carried out at the 6 m telescope (BTA) of SAORAS, with the MPFS spectrograph and the scanning Fabry-PerotInterferometer. NGC 2681 was also observed with thelong-slit spectrograph of the BTA. Optical and NIR images were obtainedat the BTA and at the 2.1 m telescope (OAN, México).High-resolution images were retrieved from the HST data archive.Morphological and kinematic features of all 13 sample objects aredescribed in detail. Attention is focused on the interpretation ofobserved non-circular motions of gas and stars in circumnuclear (onekiloparsec-scale) regions. We have shown first of all that these motionsare caused by the gravitational potential of a large-scale bar.NGC 3368 and NGC 3786 have nuclearbars only, their isophotal twist at larger radii being connected withthe bright spiral arms. Three cases of inner polar disks in our sample(NGC 2681, NGC 3368 andNGC 5850) are considered. We found ionized-gascounter-rotation in the central kiloparsec of the lenticular galaxyNGC 3945. Seven galaxies (NGC 470,NGC 2273, NGC 2681, NGC3945, NGC 5566, NGC5905, and NGC 6951) have inner mini-disksnested in large-scale bars. Minispiral structures occur often in thesenuclear disks. It is interesting that the majority of the observed,morphological and kinematical, features in the sample galaxies can beexplained without the secondary bar hypothesis. Thus we suggest that adynamically independent secondary bar is a rarer phenomenon than followsfrom isophotal analysis of the images only.Based on observations carried out at the 6 m telescope of the SpecialAstrophysical Observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences, operatedunder the financial support of the Science Department of Russia(registration number 01-43), at the 2.1 m telescope of the ObservatorioAstronónico Nacional, San Pedro Martir, México, and fromthe data archive of the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope at the SpaceTelescope Science Institute. STScI is operated by the association ofUniversities for Research in Astronomy, Inc. under NASA contract NAS5-26555.Tables 1 to 6 and Figures 2-13 and 15-18 are only available inelectronic form at http://www.edpsciences.org
| Properties of isolated disk galaxies
We present a new sample of northern isolated galaxies, which are definedby the physical criterion that they were not affected by other galaxiesin their evolution during the last few Gyr. To find them we used thelogarithmic ratio, f, between inner and tidal forces acting upon thecandidate galaxy by a possible perturber. The analysis of thedistribution of the f-values for the galaxies in the Coma cluster leadus to adopt the criterion f ≤ -4.5 for isolated galaxies. Thecandidates were chosen from the CfA catalog of galaxies within thevolume defined by cz ≤5000 km s-1, galactic latitudehigher than 40o and declination ≥-2.5o. Theselection of the sample, based on redshift values (when available),magnitudes and sizes of the candidate galaxies and possible perturberspresent in the same field is discussed. The final list of selectedisolated galaxies includes 203 objects from the initial 1706. The listcontains only truly isolated galaxies in the sense defined, but it is byno means complete, since all the galaxies with possible companions underthe f-criterion but with unknown redshift were discarded. We alsoselected a sample of perturbed galaxies comprised of all the diskgalaxies from the initial list with companions (with known redshift)satisfying f ≥ -2 and \Delta(cz) ≤500 km s-1; a totalof 130 objects. The statistical comparison of both samples showssignificant differences in morphology, sizes, masses, luminosities andcolor indices. Confirming previous results, we found that late spiral,Sc-type galaxies are, in particular, more frequent among isolatedgalaxies, whereas Lenticular galaxies are more abundant among perturbedgalaxies. Isolated systems appear to be smaller, less luminous and bluerthan interacting objects. We also found that bars are twice as frequentamong perturbed galaxies compared to isolated galaxies, in particularfor early Spirals and Lenticulars. The perturbed galaxies have higherLFIR/LB and Mmol/LB ratios,but the atomic gas content is similar for the two samples. The analysisof the luminosity-size and mass-luminosity relations shows similartrends for both families, the main difference being the almost totalabsence of big, bright and massive galaxies among the family of isolatedsystems, together with the almost total absence of small, faint and lowmass galaxies among the perturbed systems. All these aspects indicatethat the evolution induced by interactions with neighbors would proceedfrom late, small, faint and low mass Spirals to earlier, bigger, moreluminous and more massive spiral and lenticular galaxies, producing atthe same time a larger fraction of barred galaxies but preserving thesame relations between global parameters. The properties we found forour sample of isolated galaxies appear similar to those of high redshiftgalaxies, suggesting that the present-day isolated galaxies could bequietly evolved, unused building blocks surviving in low densityenvironments.Tables \ref{t1} and \ref{t2} are only available in electronic form athttp://www.edpsciences.org
| First detection of cold dust in the northern shell of NGC 5128 (Centaurus A)
Deep far-infrared (FIR) imaging data obtained with ISOPHOT at 90 μm,150 μm, and 200 μm detected the thermal emission from cold dust inthe northern shell region of NGC 5128 (Centaurus A), where previouslyneutral hydrogen and molecular gas has been found. A somewhat extendedFIR emission region is present in both the 150 μm and 200 μm map,while only an upper flux limit could be derived from the 90 μm data.The FIR spectral energy distribution can be reconciled with a modifiedblackbody spectrum with very cold dust color temperatures and emissivityindices in the range 13 K < TDust < 15.5 K and 2 >β > 1, respectively, where the data favor the low temperatureend. A representative value for the associated dust mass isMDust ≈ 7×104 Mȯ, whichtogether with the HI gas mass gives a gas-to-dust ratio of ≈300,close the average values of normal inactive spiral galaxies. This value,in conjunction with the atomic to molecular gas mass ratio typical for aspiral galaxy, indicates that the interstellar medium (ISM) from theinner part of a captured disk galaxy is likely the origin of theoutlying gas and dust. These observations are in agreement with recenttheoretical considerations that in galaxy interactions leading tostellar shell structures the less dissipative clumpy component of theISM from the captured galaxy can lead to gaseous shells. Alternatively,the outlying gas and dust could be a rotating ring structure resultingfrom an interaction or even late infall of tidal material of a merger inthe distant past. With all three components (atomic gas, molecular gas,dust) of the ISM present in the northern shell region, local starformation may account for the chains of young blue stars surrounding theregion to the east and north. The dust cloud may also be involved in thedisruption of the large scale radio jet before entering the brighterregion of the northern radio lobe.Based on observations with ISO, an ESA project with instruments fundedby ESA Member States (especially the PI countries: France, Germany, TheNetherlands and the UK) and with the participation of ISAS and NASA.
| Tidally Triggered Star Formation in Close Pairs of Galaxies. II. Constraints on Burst Strengths and Ages
Galaxy-galaxy interactions rearrange the baryons in galaxies and triggersubstantial star formation; the aggregate effects of these interactionson the evolutionary histories of galaxies in the universe are poorlyunderstood. We combine B- and R-band photometry and optical spectroscopyto estimate the strengths and timescales of bursts of triggered starformation in the centers of 190 galaxies in pairs and compact groups.Based on an analysis of the measured colors and EW(Hα), wecharacterize the preexisting and triggered populations separately. Thebest-fitting burst scenarios assume stronger reddening corrections forline emission than for the continuum and continuous star formationlasting for >~100 Myr. The most realistic scenarios require aninitial mass function that is deficient in the highest mass stars. Thecolor of the preexisting stellar population is the most significantsource of uncertainty. Triggered star formation contributessubstantially (probably >~50%) to the R-band flux in the centralregions of several galaxies; tidal tails do not necessarily accompanythis star formation. Many of the galaxies in our sample have bluercenters than outskirts, suggesting that pre- or nonmerger interactionsmay lead to evolution along the Hubble sequence. These objects wouldappear blue and compact at higher redshifts; the older, redder outskirtsof the disks would be difficult to detect. Our data indicate thatgalaxies with larger separations on the sky contain weaker, and probablyolder, bursts of star formation on average. However, confirmation ofthese trends requires further constraints on the colors of the olderstellar populations and on the reddening for individual galaxies.
| Lensing and the Centers of Distant Early-Type Galaxies
Gravitational lensing provides a unique probe of the inner 10-1000 pc ofdistant galaxies (z~0.2-1). Theoretical studies have predicted that eachstrong lens system should have a faint image near the center of the lensgalaxy, which should, in principle, be visible in radio lenses but hasnever been detected. We study the predicted ``core'' images using modelsderived from the stellar distributions in nearby early-type galaxies. Wefind that realistic lens galaxies produce a remarkably wide range ofcore images, with magnifications spanning some 6 orders of magnitude.More concentrated galaxies produce fainter core images, although notwith any model-independent relation between the galaxy properties andthe core images. Some real galaxies have diffuse cores that should yieldbright core images (magnification μcore>~0.1), but morecommon are galaxies that yield faint core images(μcore<~0.001). Thus, stellar mass distributions aloneare probably concentrated enough to explain the lack of observed coreimages. Observational sensitivity may need to improve by an order ofmagnitude before detections of core images become common. Two-imagelenses should tend to have brighter core images than four-image lenses,so they will be the better targets for finding core images andexploiting these tools for studying the central mass distributions ofdistant galaxies.
| Metallicity distributions of globular cluster systems in galaxies
We collected a sample of 100 galaxies for which different observers havedetermined colour indices of globular cluster candidates. The sampleincludes representatives of galaxies of various morphological types anddifferent luminosities. Colour indices (in most cases (V-I), but also(B-I) and (C-T_1)) were transformed into metallicities [Fe/H] accordingto a relation by Kissler-Patig (1998). These data were analysed with theKMM software in order to estimate similarity of the distribution withuni- or bimodal Gaussian distribution. We found that 45 of 100 systemshave bimodal metallicity distributions. Mean metallicity of themetal-poor component for these galaxies is < [Fe/H]> = -1.40 +/-0.02, of the metal-rich component < [Fe/H]> = -0.69 +/- 0.03.Dispersions of the distributions are 0.15 and 0.18, respectively.Distribution of unimodal metallicities is rather wide. These data willbe analysed in a subsequent paper in order to find correlations withparameters of galaxies and galactic environment.
| Star Formation Histories of Early-Type Galaxies. I. Higher Order Balmer Lines as Age Indicators
We have obtained blue integrated spectra of 175 nearby early-typegalaxies, covering a wide range in galaxy velocity dispersion andemphasizing those with σ<100 km s-1. Galaxies havebeen observed both in the Virgo Cluster and in lower densityenvironments. The main goals are the evaluation of higher order Balmerlines as age indicators and differences in stellar populations as afunction of mass, environment, and morphology. In this first paper, ouremphasis is on presenting the methods used to characterize the behaviorof the Balmer lines through evolutionary population synthesis models.Lower σ galaxies exhibit a substantially greater intrinsicscatter, in a variety of line-strength indicators, than do higherσ galaxies, with the large intrinsic scatter setting in below aσ of 100 km s-1. Moreover, a greater contrast inscatter is present in the Balmer lines than in the lines of metalfeatures. Evolutionary synthesis modeling of the observed spectralindexes indicates that the strong Balmer lines found primarily among thelow-σ galaxies are caused by young age, rather than by lowmetallicity. Thus we find a trend between the population age and thecentral velocity dispersion, such that low-σ galaxies have youngerluminosity-weighted mean ages. We have repeated this analysis usingseveral different Balmer lines and find consistent results from onespectral indicator to another.
| Redshift-Distance Survey of Early-Type Galaxies: Circular-Aperture Photometry
We present R-band CCD photometry for 1332 early-type galaxies, observedas part of the ENEAR survey of peculiar motions using early-typegalaxies in the nearby universe. Circular apertures are used to tracethe surface brightness profiles, which are then fitted by atwo-component bulge-disk model. From the fits, we obtain the structuralparameters required to estimate galaxy distances using theDn-σ and fundamental plane relations. We find thatabout 12% of the galaxies are well represented by a pure r1/4law, while 87% are best fitted by a two-component model. There are 356repeated observations of 257 galaxies obtained during different runsthat are used to derive statistical corrections and bring the data to acommon system. We also use these repeated observations to estimate ourinternal errors. The accuracy of our measurements are tested by thecomparison of 354 galaxies in common with other authors. Typical errorsin our measurements are 0.011 dex for logDn, 0.064 dex forlogre, 0.086 mag arcsec-2 for<μe>, and 0.09 for mRC,comparable to those estimated by other authors. The photometric datareported here represent one of the largest high-quality and uniformall-sky samples currently available for early-type galaxies in thenearby universe, especially suitable for peculiar motion studies.Based on observations at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO),National Optical Astronomy Observatory, which is operated by theAssociation of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., undercooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation (NSF);European Southern Observatory (ESO); Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory(FLWO); and the MDM Observatory on Kitt Peak.
| A Search for H I in Five Elliptical Galaxies with Fine Structure
We report on VLA H I spectral line observations of five early-typegalaxies classified as optically peculiar because of the presence ofjets, ripples, or other optical fine structure. We detect H I within theprimary beam (30' half-power beamwidth) in four of the five systems.However, in only one case is this gas associated with the targetedelliptical galaxy. In the other cases the H I is associated with anearby gas-rich disk or dwarf galaxy. The one H I detection is for NGC7626, where we tentatively detect an H I cloud lying between 20 and 40kpc southwest of the galaxy center. Its origin is unclear. Our failureto detect obvious tidal H I features suggests that if thesefine-structure elliptical galaxies are remnants of disk galaxy mergers,either the progenitors were gas-poor or they are well evolved and anygaseous tidal features have dispersed and/or been converted into otherphases. Our targeted systems all reside in groups or clusters, and itseems likely that tidal H I is shorter lived in these environments thansuggested by studies of more isolated merger remnants.
| Core Radio and Optical Emission in the Nuclei of nearby FR I Radio Galaxies
In this paper we analyze the relation between radio, optical continuumand Hα+[N II] emission from the cores of a sample of 21 nearbyFanaroff and Riley type I galaxies as observed with the VLBA and HST.The emission arises inside the inner tens of parsecs of the galaxies.Core radio emission is observed in 19/20 galaxies, optical corecontinuum emission is detected in 12/21 galaxies and Hα+[N II]core emission is detected in 20/21 galaxies. We confirm the recentlydetected linear correlation between radio and optical core emission inFR I galaxies and show that both core emissions also correlate withcentral Hα+[N II] emission. The tight correlations between radio,optical, and Hα+[N II] core emission constrain the bulk Lorentzfactor to γ~2-5 and γ<~2 for a continuous jet and a jetconsisting of discrete blobs, respectively, assuming jet-viewing anglesin the range 30°-90°. Radio and optical core emissions arelikely to be synchrotron radiation from the inner jet, possibly with asignificant contribution from emission by an accretion disk and/or flow.Elliptical galaxies with LINER nuclei without large-scale radio jetsseem to follow the core emission correlations found in FR I galaxies.This suggests that the central engines could be very similar for the twoclasses of active galactic nuclei. Based on observations with theNASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope obtained at the Space Telescope ScienceInstitute, which is operated by the Association of Universities forResearch in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS 5-26555.
| The SAURON project - II. Sample and early results
Early results are reported from the SAURON survey of the kinematics andstellar populations of a representative sample of nearby E, S0 and Sagalaxies. The survey is aimed at determining the intrinsic shape of thegalaxies, their orbital structure, the mass-to-light ratio as a functionof radius, the age and metallicity of the stellar populations, and thefrequency of kinematically decoupled cores and nuclear black holes. Theconstruction of the representative sample is described, and itsproperties are illustrated. A comparison with long-slit spectroscopicdata establishes that the SAURON measurements are comparable to, orbetter than, the highest-quality determinations. Comparisons arepresented for NGC 3384 and 4365, where stellar velocities and velocitydispersions are determined to a precision of 6kms-1, and theh3 and h4 parameters of the line-of-sight velocitydistribution to a precision of better than 0.02. Extraction of accurategas emission-line intensities, velocities and linewidths from the datacubes is illustrated for NGC 5813. Comparisons with published linestrengths for NGC 3384 and 5813 reveal uncertainties of <~0.1Åon the measurements of the Hβ, Mg b and Fe5270 indices.Integral-field mapping uniquely connects measurements of the kinematicsand stellar populations to the galaxy morphology. The maps presentedhere illustrate the rich stellar kinematics, gaseous kinematics, andline-strength distributions of early-type galaxies. The results includethe discovery of a thin, edge-on, disc in NGC 3623, confirm theaxisymmetric shape of the central region of M32, illustrate the LINERnucleus and surrounding counter-rotating star-forming ring in NGC 7742,and suggest a uniform stellar population in the decoupled core galaxyNGC 5813.
| Two-Dimensional Spectroscopy of Double-Barred Galaxies
We describe the results of our spectroscopy for a sample of barredgalaxies whose inner regions exhibit an isophotal twist commonly calleda secondary bar. The line-of-sight velocity fields of the ionized gasand stars and the light-of-sight velocity dispersion fields of the starswere constructed from two-dimensional spectroscopy with the 6m SpecialAstrophysical Observatory telescope. We detected various types ofnon-circular motions of ionized gas: radial flows within large-scalebars, counter-rotation of the gas and stars at the center of NGC 3945, apolar gaseous disk in NGC 5850, etc. Our analysis of the optical andnear-infrared images (both ground-based and those from the Hubble SpaceTelescope) revealed circumnuclear minispirals in five objects. Thepresence of an inner (secondary) bar in the galaxy images is shown tohave no effect on the circumnuclear kinematics of the gas and stars.Thus, contrary to popular belief, the secondary bar is not a dynamicallydecoupled galactic structure. We conclude that the so-calleddouble-barred galaxies are not a separate type of galaxies but are acombination of objects with distinctly different morphology of theircircumnuclear regions.
| 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 Colors of Globular Clusters
A compilation has been made of available data on the ratio of the numberof metal-rich ([Fe/H]>-1.0) to metal-poor ([Fe/H]<-1.0) clustersin various globular cluster systems. Among early-type galaxies of typesE, E/S0, and S0, the ratio of blue to red globular clusters is found tovary by almost 2 orders of magnitude. The data suggest that cD galaxieshave the widest range of evolutionary histories. The fraction ofmetal-rich red clusters is largest among early-type galaxies and appearsto decrease toward later Hubble types.
| X-Ray-emitting QSOS Ejected from Arp 220
Four compact ROSAT X-ray sources very close to the nearby ultraluminousinfrared galaxy Arp 220 (IC 4553) have been identified asmedium-redshift QSOs. The closest pair lying symmetrically across thegalaxy have almost identical redshifts z=1.25, 1.26. All of the evidencesuggests that these QSOs have been ejected from Arp 220 and have largeintrinsic redshifts.
| A Possible Relationship between Quasars and Clusters of Galaxies
The distribution on the sky of clusters of galaxies shows significantassociation with relatively nearby, large, active galaxies. The patternis that of clusters paired equidistant across a central galaxy with theapparent magnitudes and redshifts of their constituent galaxies beingclosely matched. The clusters and the galaxies in them tend to be strongX-ray and radio emitters, and their redshifts occur at preferredredshift values. The central, low-redshift galaxies often show evidenceof ejection in the direction of these higher redshift clusters. In allthese respects the clusters resemble closely quasars which have beenincreasingly shown for the last 34 years to be similarly associated withactive parent galaxies. New, especially significant pairings of quasarsare presented here, which are, at the same time, associated with Abellclusters of galaxies. It is argued here that, empirically, the quasarsare ejected from active galaxies. They evolve to lower redshift withtime, forming stars, and fragmenting at the end of their developmentinto clusters of low-luminosity galaxies. The cluster galaxies can be atthe same distance as their lower redshift parents because they stillretain a component of their earlier, quasar intrinsic redshift.
| The Frequency of Active and Quiescent Galaxies with Companions: Implications for the Feeding of the Nucleus
We analyze the idea that nuclear activity, either active galactic nuclei(AGNs) or star formation, can be triggered by interactions by studyingthe percentage of active, H II, and quiescent galaxies with companions.Our sample was selected from the Palomar survey and avoids selectionbiases faced by previous studies. This sample was split into fivedifferent groups, Seyfert galaxies, LINERs, transition galaxies, H IIgalaxies, and absorption-line galaxies. The comparison between the localgalaxy density distributions of the different groups showed that in mostcases there is no statistically significant difference among galaxies ofdifferent activity types, with the exception that absorption-linegalaxies are seen in higher density environments, since most of them arein the Virgo Cluster. The comparison of the percentage of galaxies withnearby companions showed that there is a higher percentage of LINERs,transition galaxies, and absorption-line galaxies with companions thanSeyfert and H II galaxies. However, we find that when we consider onlygalaxies of similar morphological types (elliptical or spiral), there isno difference in the percentage of galaxies with companions amongdifferent activity types, indicating that the former result was due tothe morphology-density effect. In addition, only small differences arefound when we consider galaxies with similar Hα luminosities. Thecomparison between H II galaxies of different Hα luminositiesshows that there is a significantly higher percentage of galaxies withcompanions among H II galaxies with L(Hα)>1039 ergss-1 than among those with L(Hα)<=1039ergs s-1, indicating that interactions increase the amount ofcircumnuclear star formation, in agreement with previous results. Thefact that we find that galaxies of different activity types have thesame percentage of companions suggests that interactions betweengalaxies is not a necessary condition to trigger the nuclear activity inAGNs. We compare our results with previous ones and discuss theirimplications.
| New Insights from Hubble Space Telescope Studies of Globular Cluster Systems. II. Analysis of 29 S0 Systems
We examine the globular cluster systems (GCSs) of a sample of 34 S0galaxies from a WFPC2 snapshot survey in the V and I bands. Of these 34galaxies, 29 have measurable globular cluster systems. The mean color ofthe GCSs of individual galaxies vary from V-I=0.85 mag to V-I=1.17 mag.The average color of GCSs in all 29 S0 galaxies, V-I=1.00+/-0.07 mag, issimilar to the value of V-I=1.04+/-0.04 derived for ellipticals in acompanion paper. The mean metallicity of a cluster system is correlatedto the luminosity (or mass) of the host galaxy, but it is not dependenton the Hubble type. Our measurements of the local specific frequency, onthe other hand, confirm that the cluster formation efficiency is afunction of Hubble type. The mean local specific frequency of our samplewithin the WFPC2 field of view is 1.0+/-0.6, lower thanSN(Local)=2.4+/-1.8 derived for ellipticals in a similaranalysis. Although we are able to confirm a bimodal color distributionin only one galaxy from the shallow ``snapshot'' images analyzed in thispaper, statistical tests suggest that 10%-20% of S0s are bimodal at thepresent level of photometric accuracy. There are no significant trendsin GCS properties with membership or location of the S0 host in a galaxycluster. We have measured the turnover luminosity of the globularcluster luminosity function (GCLF) for the richest few GCSs and find theGCLF distances to be in agreement with other estimates. The globularclusters in S0 galaxies have average half-light radii of ~2.6 pc, whichis similar to that of other galaxies, including our own. Based onobservations with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, obtained at theSpace Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Associationof Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA), Inc., under NASAcontract NAS 5-26555.
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