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 Hubble Space Telescope STIS Spectra of Nuclear Star Clusters in Spiral Galaxies: Dependence of Age and Mass on Hubble TypeWe study the nuclear star clusters (NCs) in spiral galaxies of variousHubble types using spectra obtained with the STIS on board the HubbleSpace Telescope (HST). We observed the nuclear clusters in 40 galaxies,selected from two previous HST WFPC2 imaging surveys. At a spatialresolution of ~0.2" the spectra provide a better separation of clusterlight from underlying galaxy light than is possible with ground-basedspectra. Approximately half of the spectra have a sufficiently highsignal-to-noise ratio for detailed stellar population analysis. For theother half we only measure the continuum slope, as quantified by the B-Vcolor. To infer the star formation history, metallicity, and dustextinction, we fit weighted superpositions of single-age stellarpopulation templates to the high signal-to-noise ratio spectra. We usethe results to determine the luminosity-weighted age, mass-to-lightratio, and masses of the clusters. Approximately half of the sampleclusters contain a population younger than 1 Gyr. Theluminosity-weighted ages range from 10 Myr to 10 Gyr. The stellarpopulations of NCs are generally best fit as a mixture of populations ofdifferent ages. This indicates that NCs did not form in a single event,but that instead they had additional star formation long after theoldest stars formed. On average, the sample clusters in late-typespirals have a younger luminosity-weighted mean age than those inearly-type spirals (L=8.37+/-0.25 vs.9.23+/-0.21). The average mass-weighted ages are older by ~0.7 dex,indicating that there often is an underlying older population that doesnot contribute much light but does contain most of the mass. The averagecluster masses are smaller in late-type spirals than in early-typespirals (logM=6.25+/-0.21 vs. 7.63+/-0.24) and exceed the masses typicalof globular clusters. The cluster mass correlates loosely with totalgalaxy luminosity. It correlates more strongly with both the Hubble typeof the host galaxy and the luminosity of its bulge. The lattercorrelation has the same slope as the well-known correlation betweensupermassive black hole mass and bulge luminosity. The properties ofboth nuclear clusters and black holes in the centers of spiral galaxiesare therefore intimately connected to the properties of the host galaxy,and in particular its bulge component. Plausible formation scenarioshave to account for this. We discuss various possible selection biasesin our results, but conclude that none of them can explain thedifferences seen between clusters in early- and late-type spirals. Theinability to infer spectroscopically the populations of faint clustersdoes introduce a bias toward younger ages, but not necessarily towardhigher 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 NAS5-26555. These observations areassociated with proposals 9070 and 9783. Ultraluminous X-Ray Sources in Nearby Galaxies from ROSAT High Resolution Imager Observations I. Data AnalysisX-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. Completing H I observations of galaxies in the Virgo clusterHigh sensitivity (rms noise  0.5 mJy) 21-cm H I line observationswere made of 33 galaxies in the Virgo cluster, using the refurbishedArecibo telescope, which resulted in the detection of 12 objects. Thesedata, combined with the measurements available from the literature,provide the first set of H I data that is complete for all 355 late-type(Sa-Im-BCD) galaxies in the Virgo cluster with mp ≤ 18.0mag. The Virgo cluster H I mass function (HIMF) that was derived forthis optically selected galaxy sample is in agreement with the HIMFderived for the Virgo cluster from the blind HIJASS H I survey and isinconsistent with the Field HIMF. This indicates that both in this richcluster and in the general field, neutral hydrogen is primarilyassociated with late-type galaxies, with marginal contributions fromearly-type galaxies and isolated H I clouds. The inconsistency betweenthe cluster and the field HIMF derives primarily from the difference inthe optical luminosity function of late-type galaxies in the twoenvironments, combined with the HI deficiency that is known to occur ingalaxies in rich clusters.Tables \ref{t1, \ref{sample_dat} and Appendix A are only available inelectronic form at http://www.edpsciences.org Inner-truncated Disks in GalaxiesWe 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. A Hubble Space Telescope Census of Nuclear Star Clusters in Late-Type Spiral Galaxies. II. Cluster Sizes and Structural Parameter CorrelationsWe investigate the structural properties of nuclear star clusters inlate-type spiral galaxies. More specifically, we fit analytical modelsto Hubble Space Telescope images of 39 nuclear clusters in order todetermine their effective radii after correction for the instrumentalpoint-spread function. We use the results of this analysis to comparethe luminosities and sizes of nuclear star clusters to those of otherellipsoidal stellar systems, in particular the Milky Way globularclusters. Our nuclear clusters have a median effective radius ofre=3.5 pc, with 50% of the sample falling in the range2.4pc<=re<=5.0pc. This narrow size distribution isstatistically indistinguishable from that of Galactic globular clusters,even though the nuclear clusters are, on average, 4 mag brighter thanthe old globular clusters. We discuss some possible interpretations ofthis result. From a comparison of nuclear cluster luminosities withvarious properties of their host galaxies, we confirm that more luminousgalaxies harbor more luminous nuclear clusters. It remains unclearwhether this correlation mainly reflects the influence of galaxy size,mass, and/or star formation rate. Since the brighter galaxies in oursample typically have stellar disks with a higher central surfacebrightness, nuclear cluster luminosity also correlates with thisproperty of their hosts. On the other hand, we find no evidence for acorrelation between the presence of a nuclear star cluster and thepresence of a large-scale stellar bar. Tracing the star formation history of cluster galaxies using the Hα/UV flux ratioSince the Hα and UV fluxes from galaxies are sensitive to stellarpopulations of ages <107 and ≈ 108 yrrespectively, their ratio f(Hα)/f(UV) provides us with a tool tostudy the recent t ≤ 108 yr star formation history ofgalaxies, an exercise that we present here applied to 98 galaxies in 4nearby clusters (Virgo, Coma, Abell 1367 and Cancer). The observedf(Hα)/f(UV) ratio is  a factor of two smaller than theexpected one as determined from population synthesis models assuming arealistic delayed, exponentially declining star formation history. Wediscuss various mechanisms that may have affected the observedf(Hα)/f(UV) ratio and we propose that the above discrepancy arisesfrom either the absorption of Lyman continuum photons by dust within thestar formation regions or from the occurrence of star formationepisodes. After splitting our sample into different subsamples accordingto evolutionary criteria we find that our reference sample of galaxiesunaffected by the cluster environment show an average value off(Hα)/f(UV) two times lower than the expected one. We argue thatthis difference must be mostly due to absorption of ≈45% of the Lymancontinuum photons within star forming regions. Galaxies with clear signsof an ongoing interaction show average values of f(Hα)/f(UV)slightly higher than the reference value, as expected if those objectshad SFR increased by a factor of ≃4. The accuracy of the currentUV and Hα photometry is not yet sufficient to clearly disentanglethe effect of interactions on the f(Hα)/f(UV) ratio, butsignificant observational improvements are shortly expected to resultfrom the GALEX mission.Tables 1-3 are only available in electronic form athttp://www.edpsciences.org Spectrophotometry of galaxies in the Virgo cluster. II. The dataDrift-scan mode (3600-6800 Å) spectra with 500 Searching for Bulges at the End of the Hubble SequenceWe investigate the stellar disk properties of a sample of 19 nearbyspiral galaxies with low inclination and late Hubble type (Scd orlater). We combine our high-resolution Hubble Space Telescope I-bandobservations with existing ground-based optical images to obtain surfacebrightness profiles that cover a high dynamic range of galactic radii.Most of these galaxies contain a nuclear star cluster, as discussed in aseparate paper. The main goal of the present work is to constrain theproperties of stellar bulges at these extremely late Hubble types. Wefind that the surface brightness profiles of the latest-type spiralgalaxies are complex, with a wide range in shapes. We have sorted oursample in a sequence, starting with pure'' disk galaxies(approximately 30% of the sample). These galaxies have exponentialstellar disks that extend inward to within a few tens of parsecs fromthe nucleus, where the light from the nuclear cluster starts todominate. They appear to be truly bulgeless systems. Progressing alongthe sequence, the galaxies show increasingly prominent deviations from asimple exponential disk model on kiloparsec scales. Traditionally, suchdeviations have prompted bulge-disk'' decompositions. Indeed, thesurface brightness profiles of these galaxies are generally well fittedby adding a second (exponential) bulge component. However, we find thatmost surface brightness profiles can be fitted equally well (or better)with a single Sérsic-type R1/n profile over the entireradial range of the galaxy without requiring a separate bulge''component. We warn in a general sense against identification of bulgessolely on the basis of single-band surface brightness profiles. Despitethe narrow range of Hubble types in our sample, the surface brightnessprofiles are far from uniform. The differences between the variousgalaxies appear unrelated to their Hubble types, thus questioning theusefulness of the Hubble sequence for the subcategorization of thelatest-type spiral galaxies. A number of galaxies show central excessemission on spatial scales of a few hundred parsecs that cannot beattributed to the nuclear cluster, the Sérsic-type description ofthe stellar disk, or what one would generally consider to be a bulgecomponent. The origin of this light component remains unclear.Based in part on observations made with the NASA/ESA Hubble SpaceTelescope, obtained at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which isoperated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy,Inc., under NASA contract NAS 5-26555. These observations are associatedwith proposal 8599. Molecular gas in the central regions of the latest-type spiral galaxiesUsing the IRAM 30 >m telescope, we have surveyed an unbiased sampleof 47 nearby spiral galaxies of very late (Scd-Sm) Hubble-type foremission in the 12CO(1-0) and (2-1) lines. The sensitivity ofour data (a few mK) allows detection of about 60% of our sample in atleast one of the CO lines. The median detected H2 mass is1.4x 107 >msun within the central few kpc, assuming astandard conversion factor. We use the measured line intensities tocomplement existing studies of the molecular gas content of spiralgalaxies as a function of Hubble-type and to significantly improve thestatistical significance of such studies at the late end of the spiralsequence. We find that the latest-type spirals closely follow thecorrelation between molecular gas content and galaxy luminosityestablished for earlier Hubble types. The molecular gas in late-typegalaxies seems to be less centrally concentrated than in earlier types.We use Hubble Space Telescope optical images to correlate the moleculargas mass to the properties of the central galaxy disk and the compactstar cluster that occupies the nucleus of most late-type spirals. Thereis no clear correlation between the luminosity of the nuclear starcluster and the molecular gas mass, although the CO detection rate ishighest for the brightest clusters. It appears that the central surfacebrightness of the stellar disk is an important parameter for the amountof molecular gas at the galaxy center. Whether stellar bars play acritical role for the gas dynamics remains unclear, in part because ofuncertainties in the morphological classifications of our sample. A new catalogue of ISM content of normal galaxiesWe 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 The Three-dimensional Structure of the Virgo Cluster Region from Tully-Fisher and H I DataThe distances and H I contents of 161 spiral galaxies in the region ofthe Virgo cluster are used to gain insight into the complicatedstructure of this galaxy system. Special attention has been paid to theinvestigation of the suggestion presented in an earlier work that someperipheral Virgo groups may contain strongly gas-deficient spiralgalaxies. The three-dimensional galaxy distribution has been inferredfrom quality distance estimates obtained by averaging distance modulibased on the Tully-Fisher relationship taken from eight published datasets previously homogenized, resulting in a relation with a dispersionof 0.41 mag. Previous findings that the spiral distribution issubstantially more elongated along the line of sight than in the planeof the sky are confirmed by the current data. In addition, an importanteast-west disparity in this effect has been detected. The overallwidth-to-depth ratio of the Virgo cluster region is about 1:4, with themost distant objects concentrated in the western half. The filamentarystructure of the spiral population and its orientation are alsoreflected by the H I-deficient objects alone. The H I deficiency patternshows a central enhancement extending from ~16 to 22 Mpc inline-of-sight distance; most of this enhancement arises from galaxiesthat belong to the Virgo cluster proper. However, significant gasdeficiencies are also detected outside the main body of the cluster in aprobable group of galaxies at line-of-sight distances ~25-30 Mpc, lyingin the region dominated by the southern edge of the M49 subcluster andclouds W' and W, as well as in various foreground galaxies. In the Virgoregion, the H I content of the galaxies then is not a straightforwardindicator of cluster membership. Bar Galaxies and Their EnvironmentsThe 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 UZC-SSRS2 Group CatalogWe apply a friends-of-friends algorithm to the combined Updated ZwickyCatalog and Southern Sky Redshift Survey to construct a catalog of 1168groups of galaxies; 411 of these groups have five or more members withinthe redshift survey. The group catalog covers 4.69 sr, and all groupsexceed the number density contrast threshold, δρ/ρ=80. Wedemonstrate that the groups catalog is homogeneous across the twounderlying redshift surveys; the catalog of groups and their membersthus provides a basis for other statistical studies of the large-scaledistribution of groups and their physical properties. The medianphysical properties of the groups are similar to those for groupsderived from independent surveys, including the ESO Key Programme andthe Las Campanas Redshift Survey. We include tables of groups and theirmembers. A Hubble Space Telescope Census of Nuclear Star Clusters in Late-Type Spiral Galaxies. I. Observations and Image AnalysisWe present new Hubble Space Telescope I-band images of a sample of 77nearby late-type spiral galaxies with low inclination. The main purposeof this catalog is to study the frequency and properties of nuclear starclusters. In 59 galaxies of our sample, we have identified a distinct,compact (but resolved), and dominant source at or very close to thephotocenter. In many cases, these clusters are the only prominent sourcewithin a few kiloparsecs from the galaxy nucleus. We present surfacebrightness profiles, derived from elliptical isophote fits, of allgalaxies for which the fit was successful. We use the fitted isophotesat radii larger than 2" to check whether the location of the clustercoincides with the photocenter of the galaxy and confirm that in nearlyall cases, we are truly dealing with nuclear'' star clusters. Fromanalytical fits to the surface brightness profiles, we derive thecluster luminosities after subtraction of the light contribution fromthe underlying galaxy disk and/or bulge. Based on observations made withthe NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, obtained at the Space TelescopeScience Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universitiesfor Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS 5-26555. Theseobservations are associated with proposal 8599. Hα surface photometry of galaxies in the Virgo cluster. IV. The current star formation in nearby clusters of galaxiesHα +[NII] imaging observations of 369 late-type (spiral) galaxiesin the Virgo cluster and in the Coma/A1367 supercluster are analyzed,covering 3 rich nearby clusters (A1367, Coma and Virgo) and nearlyisolated galaxies in the Great-Wall. They constitute an opticallyselected sample (mp<16.0) observed with ~ 60 %completeness. These observations provide us with the current(T<107 yrs) star formation properties of galaxies that westudy as a function of the clustercentric projected distances (Theta ).The expected decrease of the star formation rate (SFR), as traced by theHα EW, with decreasing Theta is found only when galaxies brighterthan Mp ~ -19.5 are considered. Fainter objects show no orreverse trends. We also include in our analysis Near Infrared data,providing information on the old (T>109 yrs) stars. Puttogether, the young and the old stellar indicators give the ratio ofcurrently formed stars over the stars formed in the past, orbirthrate'' parameter b. For the considered galaxies we also determinethe global gas content'' combining HI with CO observations. We definethe gas deficiency'' parameter as the logarithmic difference betweenthe gas content of isolated galaxies of a given Hubble type and themeasured gas content. For the isolated objects we find that b decreaseswith increasing NIR luminosity. In other words less massive galaxies arecurrently forming stars at a higher rate than their giant counterpartswhich experienced most of their star formation activity at earliercosmological epochs. The gas-deficient objects, primarily members of theVirgo cluster, have a birthrate significantly lower than the isolatedobjects with normal gas content and of similar NIR luminosity. Thisindicates that the current star formation is regulated by the gaseouscontent of spirals. Whatever mechanism (most plausibly ram-pressurestripping) is responsible for the pattern of gas deficiency observed inspiral galaxies members of rich clusters, it also produces the observedquenching of the current star formation. A significant fraction of gashealthy'' (i.e. with a gas deficiency parameter less than 0.4) andcurrently star forming galaxies is unexpectedly found projected near thecenter of the Virgo cluster. Their average Tully-Fisher distance isfound approximately one magnitude further away (muo = 31.77)than the distance of their gas-deficient counterparts (muo =30.85), suggesting that the gas healthy objects belong to a cloudprojected onto the cluster center, but in fact lying a few Mpc behindVirgo, thus unaffected by the dense IGM of the cluster. Based onobservations taken at the Observatorio Astronómico Nacional(Mexico), the OHP (France), Calar Alto and NOT (Spain) observatories.Table \ref{tab4} is only available in electronic form athttp://www.edpsciences.org Hα surface photometry of galaxies in the Virgo cluster. II. Observations with the OHP and Calar Alto 1.2 m telescopesWe present Hα line imaging observations of 122 galaxies obtainedwith the 1.20 m telescopes of the Observatoire de Haute Provence (OHP)and of Calar Alto. The observed galaxies are mostly Virgo clustermembers (95), along with 10 objects in the Coma/A1367 supercluster, 6 inthe clusters A2197 and A2199, and 11 nearby galaxies taken as fillers.Hα +[NII] fluxes and equivalent widths, as well as images of allthe detected targets, are presented. Based on observations taken at theObservatoire de Haute Provence (OHP) (France), operated by the FrenchCNRS, and Calar Alto Observatory (Spain), operated by theMax-Planck-Institut für Astronomie (Heidelberg) jointly with theSpanish National Commission for Astronomy. Figure 1 is only available inelectronic form at http://www.edpsciences.org Nearby Optical Galaxies: Selection of the Sample and Identification of GroupsIn 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. Optical Spectral Signatures of Dusty Starburst GalaxiesWe analyze the optical spectral properties of the complete sample ofVery Luminous Infrared Galaxies presented by Wu et al., and we find ahigh fraction (~50%) of spectra showing both a strong Hδ line inabsorption and relatively modest [O II] emission [e(a) spectra]. Thee(a) signature has been proposed as an efficient method to identifydusty starburst galaxies, and we study the star formation activity andthe nature of these galaxies, as well as the effects of dust on theirobserved properties. We examine their emission-line characteristics, inparticular their [O II]/Hα ratio, and we find this to be greatlyaffected by reddening. A search for AGN spectral signatures reveals thatthe e(a) galaxies are typically H II/LINER galaxies. We compare the starformation rates derived from the FIR luminosities with the estimatesbased on the Hα line and find that the values obtained from theoptical emission lines are a factor of 10-70 (Hα) and 20-140 ([OII]) lower than the FIR estimates (50-300 Msolaryr-1). We then study the morphological properties of the e(a)galaxies, looking for a near companion or signs of a merger/interaction.In order to explore the evolution of the e(a) population, we present anoverview of the available observations of e(a) galaxies in differentenvironments both at low and high redshift. Finally, we discuss the roleof dust in determining the e(a) spectral properties and we propose ascenario of selective obscuration in which the extinction decreases withthe stellar age. 1.65 ^mum (H-band) surface photometry of galaxies. IV. observations of 170 galaxies with the Calar Alto 2.2 m telescopeWe present near-infrared (H band) surface photometry of 170 galaxies,obtained in 1997 using the Calar Alto 2.2 m telescope equipped with theNICMOS3 camera MAGIC. The majority of our targets are selected amongbright members of the Virgo cluster, however galaxies in the A262 andCancer clusters and in the Coma/A1367 supercluster are also included.This data set is aimed at complementing the NIR survey in the Virgocluster discussed in \cite[Boselli et al. (1997)]{B97} and in the ComaSupercluster, presented in Papers I, II and III of this series.Magnitudes at the optical radius, total magnitudes, isophotal radii andlight concentration indices are derivedTables 1 and 2 (full version) are only available in electronic form atthe CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/Abstract.html.Based on observations taken at the Calar Alto Observatory, operated bythe Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie (Heidelberg) jointly withthe Spanish National Commission for Astronomy. 1.65 μm (H-band) surface photometry of galaxies. V. Profile decomposition of 1157 galaxiesWe present near-infrared H-band (1.65 μm) surface brightness profiledecomposition for 1157 galaxies in five nearby clusters of galaxies:Coma, A1367, Virgo, A262 and Cancer, and in the bridge between Coma andA1367 in the Great Wall". The optically selected (mpg≤16.0) sample is representative of all Hubble types, from E to Irr+BCD,except dE and of significantly different environments, spanning fromisolated regions to rich clusters of galaxies. We model the surfacebrightness profiles with a de Vaucouleurs r1/4 law (dV), withan exponential disk law (E), or with a combination of the two (B+D).From the fitted quantities we derive the H band effective surfacebrightness (μe) and radius (re) of each component, theasymptotic magnitude HT and the light concentration indexC31. We find that: i) Less than 50% of the Ellipticalgalaxies have pure dV profiles. The majority of E to Sb galaxies is bestrepresented by a B+D profile. All Scd to BCD galaxies have pureexponential profiles. ii) The type of decomposition is a strong functionof the total H band luminosity (mass), independent of the Hubbleclassification: the fraction of pure exponential decompositionsdecreases with increasing luminosity, that of B+D increases withluminosity. Pure dV profiles are absent in the low luminosity rangeLH<1010 L\odot and become dominantabove 1011 L\odot . Based on observations taken atTIRGO, Gornergrat, Switzerland (operated by CAISMI-CNR, Arcetri,Firenze, Italy) and at the Calar Alto Observatory (operated by theMax-Planck-Institut für Astronomie (Heidelberg) jointly with theSpanish National Commission for Astronomy). Table 2 and Figs. 2, 3, 4are available in their entirety only in electronic form at the CDS viaanonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/Abstract.html The 3D structure of the Virgo cluster from H-band Fundamental Plane and Tully-Fisher distance determinationsWe undertook a surface photometry survey of 200 galaxies in the Virgocluster (complete to B<14.0 mag) carried out in the near-infrared(NIR) H band. Combining velocity dispersion measurements from theliterature with new spectroscopic data for 11 galaxies, we derivedistances of 59 early-type galaxies using the Fundamental Plane (FP)method. The distances of another 75 late-type galaxies are determinedusing the Tully-Fisher (TF) method. For this purpose we use the maximumrotational velocity, as derived from HI spectra from the literature,complemented with new Hα rotation curves of eight highlyHI-deficient galaxies. The zero-points of the FP and TF templaterelations are calibrated assuming the distance modulus of Virgomu_0=31.0, as determined with the Cepheids method. Using these 134distance determinations (with individual uncertainties of 0.35 mag (TF)and 0.45 mag (FP)) we find that the distance of cluster A, associatedwith M87, is mu_0=30.84 +/- 0.06. Cluster B, offset to the south, isfound at mu_0=31.84 +/- 0.10. This subcluster is falling on to A atabout 750 km s^-1. Clouds W and M are at twice the distance of A.Galaxies on the north-west and south-east of the main cluster A belongto two clouds composed almost exclusively of spiral galaxies withdistances consistent with A, but with significantly different velocitydistributions, suggesting that they are falling on to cluster A atapproximately 770 km s^-1 from the far side and at 200 km s^-1 from thenear side respectively. The mass of Virgo inferred from the peculiarmotions induced on its vicinity is consistent with the virialexpectation. Arcsecond Positions of UGC GalaxiesWe 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. On the local radio luminosity function of galaxies. I. The Virgo clusterWe cross-correlate the galaxies brighter than m_B=18 in the Virgocluster with the radio sources in the NVSS survey (1.4 GHz), resultingin 180 radio-optical identifications. We determine the radio luminosityfunction of the Virgo galaxies, separately for the early- andlate-types. Late-type galaxies develop radio sources with a probabilityproportional to their optical luminosity. In fact their radio/optical(R_B) distribution is gaussian, centered at log R_B ~ -0.5, i.e. theradio luminosity is ~ 0.3 of the optical one. The probability oflate-type galaxies to develop radio sources is almost independent oftheir detailed Hubble type, except for Sa (and S0+S0a) which are afactor of ~ 5 less frequent than later types at any R_B. Giantelliptical galaxies feed monster" radio sources with a probabilitystrongly increasing with mass. However the frequency of fainter radiosources is progressively less sensitive on the system mass. The faintestgiant E galaxies (M_B=-17) have a probability of feeding low power radiosources similar to that of dwarf E galaxies as faint as M_B=-13. Table~1is only available in electronic form at the CDS via anonymous ftp tocdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/Abstract.html The Virgo Cluster Distance from 21 Centimeter Line WidthsThe distance of the Virgo cluster is derived in the B band from the 21cm line width-absolute magnitude relation. This relation is calibratedusing 18 spirals with Cepheid distances, mainly from the Hubble SpaceTelescope. The calibration is applied to a complete sample ofnonpeculiar spirals with i > 45 deg lying within the optical (n = 49)or X-ray (n = 35) contour of the cluster, resulting in a mean clusterdistance of (m - M)0 = 31.58 +/- 0.24 mag (external error), or 20.7 +/-2.4 Mpc. The mean distance of subcluster A is 0.46 +/- 0.18 mag smallerthan that of subcluster B, but the individual distances of the membersof the two substructures show considerable overlap. Cluster spirals with30 deg < i < 45 deg yield distances almost as good as those ofmore inclined galaxies. H I-truncated galaxies are overluminous by 0.8mag at a given line width. The distance modulus is corrected by -0.07mag for the fact that cluster members have lower H I surface fluxes andare redder in (B-I) at a given line width than the (field) calibrators.Different sources for the B magnitudes and line widths have littleeffect on the resulting distance. Different precepts for the internalabsorption correction change the result by no more than +/-0.17 mag. Theindividual distances of the cluster members do not show any dependenceon recession velocity, inclination, Hubble type, or line width. Thedependence on apparent magnitude reflects the considerable depth effectof the cluster. The adopted distance is in good agreement withindependent distance determinations of the cluster. Combining thecluster distance with the corrected cluster velocity of 1142 +/- 61 kms-1 gives H0 = 55 +/- 7 km s-1 Mpc-1 (external error). If the Virgocluster distance is inserted into the tight Hubble diagram of clustersout to 11,000 km s-1 using relative distances to the Virgo cluster, oneobtains a global value of H0 = 57 +/- 7 km s-1 Mpc-1. Groups of galaxies. III. Some empirical characteristics.Not Available Bulge-Disk Decomposition of 659 Spiral and Lenticular Galaxy Brightness ProfilesWe present one of the largest homogeneous sets of spiral and lenticulargalaxy brightness profile decompositions completed to date. The 659galaxies in our sample have been fitted with a de Vaucouleurs law forthe bulge component and an inner-truncated exponential for the diskcomponent. Of the 659 galaxies in the sample, 620 were successfullyfitted with the chosen fitting functions. The fits are generally welldefined, with more than 90% having rms deviations from the observedprofile of less than 0.35 mag. We find no correlations of fittingquality, as measured by these rms residuals, with either morphologicaltype or inclination. Similarly, the estimated errors of the fittedcoefficients show no significant trends with type or inclination. Thesedecompositions form a useful basis for the study of the lightdistributions of spiral and lenticular galaxies. The object base issufficiently large that well-defined samples of galaxies can be selectedfrom it. A statistical study of the spectra of very luminous IRAS galaxies. II. Spectral and environmental analysisSpectroscopic observations of a sample of 73 very luminous IRAS galaxies(log(LIR/Lsun)>=11.5 for H0=50 km\s(-1) ; Mpc(-1) ,q0=0.5) from the 2 Jy redshift surveycatalogue were carried out using the 2.16 m telescope at the BeijingAstronomical Observatory. The observational data, including the opticalimages (extracted from Digital Sky Survey) and spectra for thesegalaxies, are presented in Paper I \cite[(Wu et al. 1998)]{wu98}. Inthis paper, we give the spectral and morphological classifications forthese very luminous IRAS galaxies (VLIRGs). We show that about 60% ofVLIRGs exhibit AGN-like spectra (Seyfert 1s, Seyfert 2s, LINER-likegalaxies). This fraction goes up to 82% for the ultraluminous IRASgalaxies (ULIRGs) subsample (Log(LIR/Lsun) >=12.0). 56% of the VLIRGs show strong interaction or merging signatures;this fraction rises to 91% for the ULIRGs. These statistical resultsstrongly suggest that interaction triggers nuclear activities andenhances the infrared luminosity. We find that LINER and a mixture typewhich have optical properties of both HII galaxies and LINERs could beat the transition stage from infrared luminous HII galaxies to AGNs;their main energy production is from starbursts as well as AGNs. Bothinfrared luminosities and Hα equivalent widths increasedramatically as nuclear separations between VLIRGs and their nearestneighbors decrease. There is little doubt that strong starbursts happenin the nuclei of VLIRGs. Assuming class 0 as advanced merger, weconstruct a simple merger sequence, from morphological classes 1 to 4(with near or far companions), to class 5 and 6 (interacting pairs andmergers) and then to class 0 (isolated galaxies). Along this sequence,VLIRGs evolve from HII galaxies to AGNs. Table 1 is only available atthe CDS via anonymous ftp 130.79.128.5 or http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr Catalogue of HI maps of galaxies. I.A catalogue is presented of galaxies having large-scale observations inthe HI line. This catalogue collects from the literature the informationthat characterizes the observations in the 21-cm line and the way thatthese data were presented by means of maps, graphics and tables, forshowing the distribution and kinematics of the gas. It containsfurthermore a measure of the HI extension that is detected at the levelof the maximum sensitivity reached in the observations. This catalogueis intended as a guide for references on the HI maps published in theliterature from 1953 to 1995 and is the basis for the analysis of thedata presented in Paper II. The catalogue is only available inelectronic form at the CDS via anonymous ftp 130.79.128.5 orhttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/Abstract.html A statistical study of the spectra of very luminous IRAS galaxies. I. DataThis paper presents the results of spectral observations for the largestcomplete sample of very luminous IRAS galaxies obtained to date. Thesample consists of those 73 objects for which log(L_IR/Lsun)>= 11.5 (H0=50;km; s(-1) Mpc(-1) , q0=0.5) andmag <= 15.5 , and was extracted from the 2 Jy IRAS redshift catalog.All the spectra were obtained using the 2.16 m telescope of BeijingAstronomical Observatory during the years 1994-1996. A total of 123galaxy spectra were obtained with spectral ranges of 4400;Angstroms to7100;Angstroms and 3500;Angstroms to 8100;Angstroms at resolutions of11.2;Angstroms and 9.3;Angstroms respectively. In addition to the 73spectra for sample galaxies, we also present spectra for ten non-samplegalaxies and a further 40 for the companions of sample galaxies. Thedata presented include nuclear spectrum and the parameters describingthe emission lines, absorption lines and continua as well as DSS imagesand environmental parameters. Table 1 is also available in electricform, Table 2-4 are only available in electronic form form at the CDSvia anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130. 79.128.5) or via http:cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/Abstract.html. Figures 4 and 9 are published in theon-line version of A&A.. Study of the Virgo Cluster Using the B-Band Tully-Fisher RelationThe distances to spiral galaxies of the Virgo cluster are estimatedusing the B-band Tully-Fisher (TF) relation, and the three-dimensionalstructure of the cluster is studied. The analysis is made for a completespiral sample taken from the Virgo Cluster catalog of Binggeli, Sandage,& Tammann. The sample contains virtually all spiral galaxies down toM_{BT}=-15 mag at 40 Mpc. A careful examination is made ofthe selection effect and errors of the data. We estimate distance to 181galaxies, among which distances to 89 galaxies are reasonably accurate.We compare these distances to those obtained by other authors on agalaxy-by-galaxy basis. We find reasonable consistency of theTully-Fisher distance among various authors. In particular, it is foundthat the discrepancy in the distance among the different analyses withdifferent data is about 15%, when good H I and photometric data areavailable. We clarify that the different results on the Virgo distanceamong authors arise from the choice of the sample and interpretation ofthe data. We confirm that the Tully-Fisher relation for the Virgocluster shows an unusually large scatter sigma = 0.67 mag, compared tothat for other clusters. We conclude that this scatter is not due to theintrinsic dispersion of the Tully-Fisher relation, but due to a largedepth effect of the Virgo cluster, which we estimate to be extended from12 Mpc to 30 Mpc. The distribution of H I--deficient galaxies isconcentrated at around 14--20 Mpc, indicating the presence of a core atthis distance, and this agrees with the distance estimated for M87 andother elliptical galaxies with other methods. We show also that thespatial number density of spiral galaxies takes a peak at this distance,while a simple average of all spiral galaxy distances gives 20 Mpc. Thefact that the velocity dispersion of galaxies takes a maximum at 14--18Mpc lends an additional support for the distance to the core. Thesefeatures cannot be understood if the large scatter of the TF relation ismerely due to the intrinsic dispersion. The structure of the VirgoCluster we infer from the Tully-Fisher analysis looks like a filamentwhich is familiar to us in a late phase of structure formation in thepancake collapse in hierarchical clustering simulations. This Virgofilament lies almost along the line of sight, and this is the originthat has led a number of authors to much confusion in the Virgo distancedeterminations. We show that the M87 subcluster is located around 15--18Mpc, and it consists mainly of early-type type spiral galaxies inaddition to elliptical and S0 galaxies. There are very few late-typespiral galaxies in this subcluster. The spiral rich M49 subclusterconsists of a mixture of all types of spiral galaxies and is located atabout 22 Mpc. The two other known clouds, W and M, are located at about30--40 Mpc and undergo infall toward the core. The M cloud contains fewearly type spirals. We cannot discriminate, however, whether thesesubclusters or clouds are isolated aggregates or merely parts offilamentary structure. Finally, we infer the Hubble constant to be 82+/- 10 km s-1 Mpc-1.
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