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The Cool ISM in S0 Galaxies. II. A Survey of Atomic Gas
The place of lenticular galaxies within the range of types of galaxiesremains unclear. We previously reported the mass of molecular hydrogenfor a volume-limited sample of lenticular galaxies, where we saw thatthe amount of gas was less than that predicted by the return of stellarmass to the interstellar medium. Here we report observations of atomichydrogen (H I) for the same sample. Detections in several galaxies makemore compelling the case presented in our earlier paper that the mass ofcool gas in S0 galaxies cuts off at ~10% of what is expected fromcurrent models of gas return from stellar evolution. The molecular andatomic phases of the gas in our sample galaxies appear to be separateand distinct, both spatially and in velocity space. We propose that themolecular gas arises mostly from the stellar mass returned to thegalaxy, while the atomic hydrogen is mainly accumulated from externalsources (infall, captured dwarfs, etc.). While this proposal fits mostof the observations, it makes the presence of the upper mass cutoff evenmore mysterious.
| Ultraluminous X-Ray Sources in Nearby Galaxies from ROSAT High Resolution Imager Observations I. Data Analysis
X-ray observations have revealed in other galaxies a class ofextranuclear X-ray point sources with X-ray luminosities of1039-1041 ergs s-1, exceeding theEddington luminosity for stellar mass X-ray binaries. Theseultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) may be powered by intermediate-massblack holes of a few thousand Msolar or stellar mass blackholes with special radiation processes. In this paper, we present asurvey of ULXs in 313 nearby galaxies withD25>1' within 40 Mpc with 467 ROSAT HighResolution Imager (HRI) archival observations. The HRI observations arereduced with uniform procedures, refined by simulations that help definethe point source detection algorithm employed in this survey. A sampleof 562 extragalactic X-ray point sources withLX=1038-1043 ergs s-1 isextracted from 173 survey galaxies, including 106 ULX candidates withinthe D25 isophotes of 63 galaxies and 110 ULX candidatesbetween 1D25 and 2D25 of 64 galaxies, from which aclean sample of 109 ULXs is constructed to minimize the contaminationfrom foreground or background objects. The strong connection betweenULXs and star formation is confirmed based on the striking preference ofULXs to occur in late-type galaxies, especially in star-forming regionssuch as spiral arms. ULXs are variable on timescales over days to yearsand exhibit a variety of long term variability patterns. Theidentifications of ULXs in the clean sample show some ULXs identified assupernovae (remnants), H II regions/nebulae, or young massive stars instar-forming regions, and a few other ULXs identified as old globularclusters. In a subsequent paper, the statistic properties of the surveywill be studied to calculate the occurrence frequencies and luminosityfunctions for ULXs in different types of galaxies to shed light on thenature of these enigmatic sources.
| The Molecular Interstellar Medium of Dwarf Galaxies on Kiloparsec Scales: A New Survey for CO in Northern, IRAS-detected Dwarf Galaxies
We present a new survey for CO in dwarf galaxies using the ARO Kitt Peak12 m telescope. This survey consists of observations of the centralregions of 121 northern dwarfs with IRAS detections and no known COemission. We detect CO in 28 of these galaxies and marginally detectanother 16, increasing by about 50% the number of such galaxies known tohave significant CO emission. The galaxies we detect are comparable instellar and dynamical mass to the Large Magellanic Cloud, althoughsomewhat brighter in CO and fainter in the far-IR. Within dwarfs, wefind that the CO luminosity LCO is most strongly correlatedwith the K-band and the far-infrared luminosities. There are also strongcorrelations with the radio continuum (RC) and B-band luminosities andlinear diameter. Conversely, we find that far-IR dust temperature is apoor predictor of CO emission within the dwarfs alone, although a goodpredictor of normalized CO content among a larger sample of galaxies. Wesuggest that LCO and LK correlate well because thestellar component of a galaxy dominates the midplane gravitational fieldand thus sets the pressure and density of the atomic gas, which controlthe formation of H2 from H I. We compare our sample with moremassive galaxies and find that dwarfs and large galaxies obey the samerelationship between CO and the 1.4 GHz RC surface brightness. Thisrelationship is well described by a Schmidt law withΣRC~Σ1.3CO. Therefore,dwarf galaxies and large spirals exhibit the same relationship betweenmolecular gas and star formation rate (SFR). We find that this result isrobust to moderate changes in the RC-to-SFR and CO-to-H2conversion factors. Our data appear to be inconsistent with large (orderof magnitude) variations in the CO-to-H2 conversion factor inthe star-forming molecular gas.
| On the recent star formation history of the Milky Way disk
We have derived the star formation history of the Milky Way disk overthe last 2 Gyr from the age distribution diagram of a large sample ofopen clusters comprising more than 580 objects. By interpreting the agedistribution diagram using numerical results from an extensive libraryof N-body calculations carried out during the last ten years, wereconstruct the recent star formation history of the Milky Way disk.Under the assumption that the disk has never been polluted by anyextragalactic stellar populations, our analysis suggests thatsuperimposed on a relatively small level of constant star formationactivity mainly in small-N star clusters, the star formation rate hasexperienced at least five episodes of enhanced star formation lastingabout 0.2 Gyr with production of larger clusters. This cyclic behaviourshows a period of 0.4+/-0.1 Gyr and could be the result of density wavesand/or interactions with satellite galaxies. On the other hand, the starformation rate history from a volume-limited sample of open clusters inthe solar neighbourhood appears to be consistent with the overall starformation history obtained from the entire sample. Pure continuous starformation both in the solar neighbourhood and the entire Galactic diskis strongly ruled out. Our results also indicate that, in the Milky Waydisk, about 90% of open clusters are born with N<=150 and the slopein the power-law frequency distribution of their masses is about -2.7when quiescent star formation takes place. If the above results arere-interpreted taking into consideration accretion events onto the MilkyWay, it is found that a fraction of the unusually high number of openclusters with ages older than 0.6 Gyr may have been formed in disruptedsatellites. Problems arising from the selection effects and the ageerrors in the open cluster sample used are discussed in detail.
| Testing Radiatively Inefficient Accretion Flow Theory: An XMM-Newton Observation of NGC 3998
We present the results of a 10 ks XMM-Newton observation of NGC 3998, a``type I'' LINER galaxy (i.e., with significant broad Hαemission). Our goal is to test the extent to which radiativelyinefficient accretion flow (RIAF) models and/or scaled-down activegalactic nuclei (AGNs) models are consistent with the observedproperties of NGC 3998. A power-law fit to the XMM-Newton spectraresults in a power-law slope of Γ=1.9 and 2-10 keV flux of1.1×10-11 ergs cm-2 s-1, inexcellent agreement with previous hard X-ray observations. The OM UVflux at 2120 Å appears to be marginally resolved, with ~50% of theflux extended beyond 2". The nuclear component of the 2120 Å fluxis consistent with an extrapolation of the X-ray power law, although~50% of the flux may be absorbed. The OM U flux lies significantly abovethe X-ray power-law extrapolation and contains a significantcontribution from extragalactic emission. The upper limit for narrow FeK emission derived from the XMM-Newton spectra is 33 eV (forΔχ2=2.7). The upper limit for narrow Fe K emissionderived from a combined fit of the XMM-Newton and BeppoSAX spectra is 25eV, which is one of the strictest limits to date for any AGN. Thissignificantly rules out Fe K emission, which is expected to be observedin typical Seyfert 1 galaxies. The X-ray flux of NGC 3998 has not beenobserved to vary significantly (at >30% level) within the X-rayobservations, and only between observations at a level of ~50%, which isalso in contrast to typical Seyfert 1 galaxies. The lack of anyreflection features suggests that any optically thick, geometricallythin accretion disk must be truncated, probably at a radius of order100-300 (in Schwarzschild units). RIAF models fit the UV to X-rayspectral energy distribution of NGC 3998 reasonably well. In thesemodels the mid-IR flux also constrains the emission from any outer thindisk component that might be present. The UV to X-ray spectral energydistribution (SED) is also consistent with a Comptonized thin disk witha very low accretion rate (M<10-5MEdd), inwhich case the lack of Fe K emission may be due to an ionized accretiondisk. Accretion models in general do not account for the observed radioflux of NGC 3998, and the radio flux may be due to a jet. Recent jetmodels may also be consistent with the nuclear fluxes of NGC 3998 ingeneral, including the X-ray, optical/UV, and mid-IR bands. The(ground-based) near-IR to optical photometric data for the nuclearregion of NGC 3998 contain large contributions from extranuclearemission. We also derive nuclear fluxes using archival Hubble SpaceTelescope WFPC2 data, resulting in meaningful constraints to the nuclearSED of NGC 3998 in the optical band.
| 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
| The Cool Interstellar Medium in S0 Galaxies. I. A Survey of Molecular Gas
Lenticular galaxies remain remarkably mysterious as a class.Observations to date have not led to any broad consensus about theirorigins, properties, and evolution, although they are often thought tohave formed in one big burst of star formation early in the history ofthe universe and to have evolved relatively passively since then. Inthat picture, current theory predicts that stellar evolution returnssubstantial quantities of gas to the interstellar medium; most isejected from the galaxy, but significant amounts of cool gas might beretained. Past searches for that material, though, have provided unclearresults. We present results from a survey of molecular gas in avolume-limited sample of field S0 galaxies selected from the NearbyGalaxies Catalog. CO emission is detected from 78% of the samplegalaxies. We find that the molecular gas is almost always located insidethe central few kiloparsecs of a lenticular galaxy, meaning that ingeneral it is more centrally concentrated than in spirals. We combineour data with H I observations from the literature to determine thetotal masses of cool and cold gas. Curiously, we find that, across awide range of luminosity, the most gas-rich galaxies have ~10% of thetotal amount of gas ever returned by their stars. That result isdifficult to understand within the context of either monolithic orhierarchical models of evolution of the interstellar medium.
| 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 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
| A catalogue and analysis of X-ray luminosities of early-type galaxies
We present a catalogue of X-ray luminosities for 401 early-typegalaxies, of which 136 are based on newly analysed ROSAT PSPC pointedobservations. The remaining luminosities are taken from the literatureand converted to a common energy band, spectral model and distancescale. Using this sample we fit the LX:LB relationfor early-type galaxies and find a best-fit slope for the catalogue of~2.2. We demonstrate the influence of group-dominant galaxies on the fitand present evidence that the relation is not well modelled by a singlepower-law fit. We also derive estimates of the contribution to galaxyX-ray luminosities from discrete-sources and conclude that they provideLdscr/LB~=29.5ergs-1LBsolar-1. Wecompare this result with luminosities from our catalogue. Lastly, weexamine the influence of environment on galaxy X-ray luminosity and onthe form of the LX:LB relation. We conclude thatalthough environment undoubtedly affects the X-ray properties ofindividual galaxies, particularly those in the centres of groups andclusters, it does not change the nature of whole populations.
| A synthesis of data from fundamental plane and surface brightness fluctuation surveys
We perform a series of comparisons between distance-independentphotometric and spectroscopic properties used in the surface brightnessfluctuation (SBF) and fundamental plane (FP) methods of early-typegalaxy distance estimation. The data are taken from two recent surveys:the SBF Survey of Galaxy Distances and the Streaming Motions of AbellClusters (SMAC) FP survey. We derive a relation between(V-I)0 colour and Mg2 index using nearly 200galaxies and discuss implications for Galactic extinction estimates andearly-type galaxy stellar populations. We find that the reddenings fromSchlegel et al. for galaxies with E(B-V)>~0.2mag appear to beoverestimated by 5-10 per cent, but we do not find significant evidencefor large-scale dipole errors in the extinction map. In comparison withstellar population models having solar elemental abundance ratios, thegalaxies in our sample are generally too blue at a given Mg2;we ascribe this to the well-known enhancement of the α-elements inluminous early-type galaxies. We confirm a tight relation betweenstellar velocity dispersion σ and the SBF `fluctuation count'parameter N, which is a luminosity-weighted measure of the total numberof stars in a galaxy. The correlation between N and σ is eventighter than that between Mg2 and σ. Finally, we deriveFP photometric parameters for 280 galaxies from the SBF survey data set.Comparisons with external sources allow us to estimate the errors onthese parameters and derive the correction necessary to bring them on tothe SMAC system. The data are used in a forthcoming paper, whichcompares the distances derived from the FP and SBF methods.
| The Ursa Major cluster of galaxies - III. Optical observations of dwarf galaxies and the luminosity function down to MR=-11
Results are presented of a deep optical survey of the Ursa Majorcluster, a spiral-rich cluster of galaxies at a distance of 18.6Mpcwhich contains about 30 per cent of the light but only 5 per cent of themass of the nearby Virgo cluster. Fields around known cluster membersand a pattern of blind fields along the major and minor axes of thecluster were studied with mosaic CCD cameras on the Canada-France-HawaiiTelescope. The dynamical crossing time for the Ursa Major cluster isonly slightly less than a Hubble time. Most galaxies in the localUniverse exist in similar moderate-density environments. The Ursa Majorcluster is therefore a good place to study the statistical properties ofdwarf galaxies, since this structure is at an evolutionary stagerepresentative of typical environments, yet has enough galaxies thatreasonable counting statistics can be accumulated. The mainobservational results of our survey are as follows. (i) The galaxyluminosity function is flat, with a logarithmic slope α=-1.1 for-17
| The Ursa Major Cluster of Galaxies. V. H I Rotation Curve Shapes and the Tully-Fisher Relations
This paper investigates the statistical properties of the Tully-Fisher(TF) relations for a volume-limited complete sample of spiral galaxiesin the nearby Ursa Major Cluster. The merits of B, R, I, and K' surfacephotometry and the availability of detailed kinematic information from HI synthesis imaging have been exploited. In addition to the corrected HI global profile widths WiR,I, the available H Irotation curves allow direct measurements of the observed maximumrotational velocities Vmax and the amplitudesVflat of the outer flat parts. The dynamical state of the gasdisks could also be determined in detail from the radio observations.The four luminosity and three kinematic measures allowed theconstruction of 12 correlations for various subsamples. For large galaxysamples, the Mb,iR-logWiR,Icorrelation in conjunction with strict selection criteria is preferredfor distance determinations with a 7% accuracy. Galaxies with rotationcurves that are still rising at the last measured point liesystematically on the low-velocity side of the TF relation. Galaxieswith a partly declining rotation curve(Vmax>Vflat) tend to lie systematically on thehigh-velocity side of the relation when usingWiR,I or Vmax. However, systematicoffsets are eliminated when Vflat is used. Residuals of theMb,iB-log(2Vflat) relation correlateconsistently with global galaxy properties along the Hubble sequencelike morphological type, color, surface brightness, and gas massfraction. These correlations are absent for the near-infraredMb,iK'-log(2Vflat)residuals. The tightest correlation(χ2red=1.1) is found for theMb,iK'-log(2Vflat) relation,which has a slope of -11.3+/-0.5 and a total observed scatter of 0.26mag with a most likely intrinsic scatter of zero. The tightness of thenear-infrared correlation is preserved when converting it into abaryonic TF relation that has a slope of -10.0 in the case(Mgas/LK')=1.6 while a zerointrinsic scatter remains most likely. Based on the tightness of thenear-infrared and baryonic correlations, it is concluded that the TFrelation reflects a fundamental correlation between the mass of the darkmatter halo, measured through its induced maximum rotational velocityVflat, and the total baryonic mass Mbar of agalaxy where Mbar~V4flat. Althoughthe actual distribution of the baryonic matter inside halos of similarmass can vary significantly, it does not affect this relation.
| The SBF Survey of Galaxy Distances. IV. SBF Magnitudes, Colors, and Distances
We report data for I-band surface brightness fluctuation (SBF)magnitudes, (V-I) colors, and distance moduli for 300 galaxies. Thesurvey contains E, S0, and early-type spiral galaxies in the proportionsof 49:42:9 and is essentially complete for E galaxies to Hubblevelocities of 2000 km s-1, with a substantial sampling of Egalaxies out to 4000 km s-1. The median error in distancemodulus is 0.22 mag. We also present two new results from the survey.(1) We compare the mean peculiar flow velocity (bulk flow) implied byour distances with predictions of typical cold dark matter transferfunctions as a function of scale, and we find very good agreement withcold, dark matter cosmologies if the transfer function scale parameterΓ and the power spectrum normalization σ8 arerelated by σ8Γ-0.5~2+/-0.5. Deriveddirectly from velocities, this result is independent of the distributionof galaxies or models for biasing. This modest bulk flow contradictsreports of large-scale, large-amplitude flows in the ~200 Mpc diametervolume surrounding our survey volume. (2) We present adistance-independent measure of absolute galaxy luminosity, N and showhow it correlates with galaxy properties such as color and velocitydispersion, demonstrating its utility for measuring galaxy distancesthrough large and unknown extinction. Observations in part from theMichigan-Dartmouth-MIT (MDM) Observatory.
| 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.
| The Ursa Major cluster of galaxies. IV. HI synthesis observations
In this data paper we present the results of an extensive 21 cm-linesynthesis imaging survey of 43 spiral galaxies in the nearby Ursa Majorcluster using the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope. Detailedkinematic information in the form of position-velocity diagrams androtation curves is presented in an atlas together with HI channel maps,21 cm continuum maps, global HI profiles, radial HI surface densityprofiles, integrated HI column density maps, and HI velocity fields. Therelation between the corrected global HI linewidth and the rotationalvelocities Vmax and Vflat as derived from therotation curves is investigated. Inclination angles obtained from theoptical axis ratios are compared to those derived from the inclined HIdisks and the HI velocity fields. The galaxies were not selected on thebasis of their HI content but solely on the basis of their clustermembership and inclination which should be suitable for a kinematicanalysis. The observed galaxies provide a well-defined, volume limitedand equidistant sample, useful to investigate in detail the statisticalproperties of the Tully-Fisher relation and the dark matter halos aroundthem.
| Nearby Optical Galaxies: Selection of the Sample and Identification of Groups
In this paper we describe the Nearby Optical Galaxy (NOG) sample, whichis a complete, distance-limited (cz<=6000 km s-1) andmagnitude-limited (B<=14) sample of ~7000 optical galaxies. Thesample covers 2/3 (8.27 sr) of the sky (|b|>20deg) andappears to have a good completeness in redshift (97%). We select thesample on the basis of homogenized corrected total blue magnitudes inorder to minimize systematic effects in galaxy sampling. We identify thegroups in this sample by means of both the hierarchical and thepercolation ``friends-of-friends'' methods. The resulting catalogs ofloose groups appear to be similar and are among the largest catalogs ofgroups currently available. Most of the NOG galaxies (~60%) are found tobe members of galaxy pairs (~580 pairs for a total of ~15% of objects)or groups with at least three members (~500 groups for a total of ~45%of objects). About 40% of galaxies are left ungrouped (field galaxies).We illustrate the main features of the NOG galaxy distribution. Comparedto previous optical and IRAS galaxy samples, the NOG provides a densersampling of the galaxy distribution in the nearby universe. Given itslarge sky coverage, the identification of groups, and its high-densitysampling, the NOG is suited to the analysis of the galaxy density fieldof the nearby universe, especially on small scales.
| Arcsecond Positions of UGC Galaxies
We present accurate B1950 and J2000 positions for all confirmed galaxiesin the Uppsala General Catalog (UGC). The positions were measuredvisually from Digitized Sky Survey images with rms uncertaintiesσ<=[(1.2")2+(θ/100)2]1/2,where θ is the major-axis diameter. We compared each galaxymeasured with the original UGC description to ensure high reliability.The full position list is available in the electronic version only.
| The Nature of Accreting Black Holes in Nearby Galaxy Nuclei
We have found compact X-ray sources in the center of 21 (54%) of 39nearby face-on spiral and elliptical galaxies with available ROSAT HRIdata. ROSAT X-ray luminosities (0.2-2.4 keV) of these compact X-raysources are ~10^37-10^40 ergs s^-1 (with a mean of 3x10^39 ergs s^-1).The mean displacement between the location of the compact X-ray sourceand the optical photometric center of the galaxy is ~390 pc. The factthat compact nuclear sources were found in nearly all (five of six)galaxies with previous evidence for a black hole or an active galacticnucleus (AGN) indicates that at least some of the X-ray sources areaccreting supermassive black holes. ASCA spectra of six of the 21galaxies show the presence of a hard component with relatively steep(Gamma~2.5) spectral slope. A multicolor disk blackbody model fits thedata from the spiral galaxies well, suggesting that the X-ray object inthese galaxies may be similar to a black hole candidate in its soft(high) state. ASCA data from the elliptical galaxies indicate that hot(kT~0.7 keV) gas dominates the emission. The fact that (for both spiraland elliptical galaxies) the spectral slope is steeper than in normaltype 1 AGNs and that relatively low absorbing columns (N_H~10^21 cm^-2)were found to the power-law component indicates that these objects aresomehow geometrically and/or physically different from AGNs in normalactive galaxies. The X-ray sources in the spiral and elliptical galaxiesmay be black hole X-ray binaries, low-luminosity AGNs, or possibly youngX-ray luminous supernovae. Assuming the sources in the spiral galaxiesare accreting black holes in their soft state, we estimate black holemasses ~10^2-10^4 M_solar.
| Groups of galaxies. III. Some empirical characteristics.
Not Available
| Total magnitude, radius, colour indices, colour gradients and photometric type of galaxies
We present a catalogue of aperture photometry of galaxies, in UBVRI,assembled from three different origins: (i) an update of the catalogueof Buta et al. (1995) (ii) published photometric profiles and (iii)aperture photometry performed on CCD images. We explored different setsof growth curves to fit these data: (i) The Sersic law, (ii) The net ofgrowth curves used for the preparation of the RC3 and (iii) A linearinterpolation between the de Vaucouleurs (r(1/4) ) and exponential laws.Finally we adopted the latter solution. Fitting these growth curves, wederive (1) the total magnitude, (2) the effective radius, (3) the colourindices and (4) gradients and (5) the photometric type of 5169 galaxies.The photometric type is defined to statistically match the revisedmorphologic type and parametrizes the shape of the growth curve. It iscoded from -9, for very concentrated galaxies, to +10, for diffusegalaxies. Based in part on observations collected at the Haute-ProvenceObservatory.
| The Ursa Major Cluster of Galaxies. II. Bimodality of the Distribution of Central Surface Brightnesses
The Ursa Major Cluster appears to be unevolved and made up of H I--richspiral galaxies such as those one finds in the field. B, R, I, K'photometry has been obtained for 79 galaxies, including 62 in a completesample with M^{b,i}B<-16.m5 (with a distance to thecluster of 15.5 Mpc). The K' information is particularly important forthe present discussion because it is not seriously affected byobscuration. There is reasonably convincing evidence that thedistribution of exponential disk central surface brightnesses isbimodal. There is roughly an order of magnitude difference in the meanluminosity densities of high and low surface brightness disks. Disksavoid the domain between the high and low surface brightness zones. Thefew intermediate surface brightness examples in the sample all havesignificant neighbors within a projected distance of 80 kpc. The highsurface brightness galaxies exhibit a range-21^{{m}}
| The Ursa Major Cluster of Galaxies.I.Cluster Definition and Photometric Data
The Ursa Major Cluster has received remarkably little attention,although it is as near as the Virgo Cluster and contains a comparablenumber of H I-rich galaxies. In this paper, criteria for groupmembership are discussed and data are presented for 79 galaxiesidentified with the group. Of these, all 79 have been imaged at B,R,Ibands with CCDs, 70 have been imaged at K' with a HgCdTe array detector,and 70 have been detected in the HI 21 cm line. A complete sample of 62galaxies brighter than M_B_ = - 16.5 is identified. Images and gradientsin surface brightness and color are presented at a common linear scale.As has been seen previously, the galaxies with the reddest global colorsare reddest at the centers and get bluer at large radii. However,curiously, among the galaxies with the bluest global colors there aresystems with very blue cores that get redder at large radii.
| Colliding and Merging Galaxies. III. The Dynamically Young Merger Remnant NGC 3921
This paper presents imaging, photometric, and spectroscopic observationsof NGC 3921 = Mrk 430 gathered over many years with five opticaltelescopes. This luminous galaxy (M_V_= -22.8 for H_0_ = 50) atcz_hel_=5926 +/- 15 km s^-1^ features a single nucleus, a main body withcomplex fine structure (ripples, loops, fan-shaped protrusions), and apair of ~100 kpc long, crossed tidal tails indicative of two former diskgalaxies of near-equal mass. These galaxies have essentially merged. Themain body of the remnant shows a typical post-starburst spectrumdominated in the blue by A 3-5 V stars. The inferred burst age is 0.5-1Gyr and the burst strength ~10% (by mass). Surrounding the nucleus isextremely centrally concentrated ionized gas that can be traced out to~12" (7 kpc), emits ~> 1.5 x 10^41^ ergs s^-1^ in Hα, and showssigns of both rotational and chaotic motions. The bright semistellarnucleus appears strikingly off-centered relative to the main body, whichitself features "sloshing" isophotes. That is, the centers of successiveisophotes shift position by ~>2 kpc, causing the nucleus to appeareccentric by up to 23% relative to a nearly half-light isophote. Theluminous matter has clearly not yet equilibrated, and this mergerremnant is dynamically young. Nevertheless, the mean light distributionof the main body is already well described by an r^1/4^ law. Thisdistribution plus the luminosity, UBV colors, color gradients, velocitydispersion, spectroscopic line strengths, and fine-structure index allagree with the notion that NGC 3921, which is a member of a small, tightgroup of four galaxies, is a 0.7+/-0.3 Gyr old protoelliptical (reckonedsince close passage that started the merger). Both it and its kin NGC7252 are nearby analogs of distant galaxies with "E+A"-type spectra inButcher-Oemler clusters. A search for star clusters and associations inNGC 3921 reveals 19 candidate OB associations, but only five candidateyoung globular clusters with M_V_ = -12 to -14. Thus, NGC 3921 appearsto have distinctly fewer and certainly less luminous young globularclusters than NGC 7252. This less extreme population of young globularsmay reflect a paucity of gas in one of the two merging component disksof this suspected S0-Sc or Sa-Sc merger (Hibbard & van Gorkom, AJ,in press). Such gas paucity may explain the weaker starburst and mayhave supplied fewer giant molecular clouds for globular clusterformation. Hence, the Hubble types and gas contents of componentgalaxies appear to play an important role in determining the clusterpopulations in merger remnants.
| An image database. II. Catalogue between δ=-30deg and δ=70deg.
A preliminary list of 68.040 galaxies was built from extraction of35.841 digitized images of the Palomar Sky Survey (Paper I). For eachgalaxy, the basic parameters are obtained: coordinates, diameter, axisratio, total magnitude, position angle. On this preliminary list, weapply severe selection rules to get a catalog of 28.000 galaxies, wellidentified and well documented. For each parameter, a comparison is madewith standard measurements. The accuracy of the raw photometricparameters is quite good despite of the simplicity of the method.Without any local correction, the standard error on the total magnitudeis about 0.5 magnitude up to a total magnitude of B_T_=17. Significantsecondary effects are detected concerning the magnitudes: distance toplate center effect and air-mass effect.
| The fundamental plane of early-type galaxies: stellar populations and mass-to-light ratio.
We analyse the residuals to the fundamental plane (FP) of ellipticalgalaxies as a function of stellar-population indicators; these are basedon the line-strength parameter Mg_2_ and on UBVRI broad-band colors, andare partly derived from new observations. The effect of the stellarpopulations accounts for approximately half the observed variation ofthe mass-to-light ratio responsible for the FP tilt. The residual tiltcan be explained by the contribution of two additional effects: thedependence of the rotational support, and possibly that of the spatialstructure, on the luminosity. We conclude to a constancy of thedynamical-to-stellar mass ratio. This probably extends to globularclusters as well, but the dominant factor would be here the luminositydependence of the structure rather than that of the stellar population.This result also implies a constancy of the fraction of dark matter overall the scalelength covered by stellar systems. Our compilation ofinternal stellar kinematics of galaxies is appended.
| A Catalog of Stellar Velocity Dispersions. II. 1994 Update
A catalog of central velocity dispersion measurements is presented,current through 1993 September. The catalog includes 2474 measurementsof 1563 galaxies. A standard set of 86 galaxies is defined, consistingof galaxies with at least three reliable, concordant measurements. It issuggested that future studies observe some of these standard galaxies sothat different studies can be normalized to a consistent system. Allmeasurements are reduced to a normalized system using these standards.
| A multiparametric analysis of the Einstein sample of early-type galaxies. 1: Luminosity and ISM parameters
We have conducted bivariate and multivariate statistical analysis ofdata measuring the luminosity and interstellar medium of the Einsteinsample of early-type galaxies (presented by Fabbiano, Kim, &Trinchieri 1992). We find a strong nonlinear correlation betweenLB and LX, with a power-law slope of 1.8 +/- 0.1,steepening to 2.0 +/- if we do not consider the Local Group dwarfgalaxies M32 and NGC 205. Considering only galaxies with logLX less than or equal to 40.5, we instead find a slope of 1.0+/- 0.2 (with or without the Local Group dwarfs). Although E and S0galaxies have consistent slopes for their LB-LXrelationships, the mean values of the distribution functions of bothLX and LX/LB for the S0 galaxies arelower than those for the E galaxies at the 2.8 sigma and 3.5 sigmalevels, respectively. We find clear evidence for a correlation betweenLX and the X-ray color C21, defined by Kim,Fabbiano, & Trinchieri (1992b), which indicates that X-rayluminosity is correlated with the spectral shape below 1 keV in thesense that low-LX systems have relatively large contributionsfrom a soft component compared with high-LX systems. We findevidence from our analysis of the 12 micron IRAS data for our samplethat our S0 sample has excess 12 micron emission compared with the Esample, scaled by their optical luminosities. This may be due toemission from dust heated in star-forming regions in S0 disks. Thisinterpretation is reinforced by the existence of a strongL12-L100 correlation for our S0 sample that is notfound for the E galaxies, and by an analysis of optical-IR colors. Wefind steep slopes for power-law relationships between radio luminosityand optical, X-ray, and far-IR (FIR) properties. This last point arguesthat the presence of an FIR-emitting interstellar medium (ISM) inearly-type galaxies is coupled to their ability to generate nonthermalradio continuum, as previously argued by, e.g., Walsh et al. (1989). Wealso find that, for a given L100, galaxies with largerLX/LB tend to be stronger nonthermal radiosources, as originally suggested by Kim & Fabbiano (1990). We notethat, while LB is most strongly correlated withL6, the total radio luminosity, both LX andLX/LB are more strongly correlated with L6CO, the core radio luminosity. These points support the argument(proposed by Fabbiano, Gioia, & Trinchieri 1989) that radio cores inearly-type galaxies are fueled by the hot ISM.
| Integrated photoelectric magnitudes and color indices of bright galaxies in the Johnson UBV system
The photoelectric total magnitudes and color indices published in theThird Reference Catalogue of Bright Galaxies (RC3) are based on ananalysis of approximately equals 26,000 B, 25,000 B-V, and 17,000 U-Bmultiaperture measurements available up to mid 1987 from nearly 350sources. This paper provides the full details of the analysis andestimates of internal and external errors in the parameters. Thederivation of the parameters is based on techniques described by theVaucouleurs & Corwin (1977) whereby photoelectric multiaperture dataare fitted by mean Hubble-type-dependent curves which describe theintegral of the B-band flux and the typical B-V and U-B integrated colorgradients. A sophisticated analysis of the residuals of thesemeasurements from the curves was made to allow for the random andsystematic errors that effect such data. The result is a homogeneous setof total magnitudes BTA total colors(B-V)T and (U-B)T, and effective colors(B-V)e and (U-B)e for more than 3000 brightgalaxies in RC3.
| Three-dimensional structure of a disk galaxy, NGC 3998
We present a parameter set for a luminosity distribution model of NGC3998 comprising an oblate-disk component following the exponential lawand a prolate-bulge component following the r exp 1/4 law, which canreproduce the two-dimensional distribution of the observed brightnesswith an rms error of 0.29 mag/sq arcsec and the twist and axis ratio ofthe observed isophotes. The scale-length ratios were found to be 0.35for the disk and 0.85 for the prolate bulge, with the inclination angleof the disk being i = 40 deg and the position angle of the prolate axisin the disk plane being phi = 110 deg relative to the line of sight. Weconfirmed the existence of a nonaxisymmetric bulge component, which hasbeen predicted based on the twist and axis ratio of the observedisophotes.
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