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Low-Luminosity Active Galaxies and Their Central Black Holes
Central black hole masses for 117 spiral galaxies representingmorphological stages S0/a through Sc and taken from the largespectroscopic survey of Ho et al. are derived using Ks-banddata from the Two Micron All Sky Survey. Black hole masses are foundusing a calibrated black hole-Ks bulge luminosity relation,while bulge luminosities are measured by means of a two-dimensionalbulge-disk decomposition routine. The black hole masses are correlatedagainst a variety of parameters representing properties of the nucleusand host galaxy. Nuclear properties such as line width (FWHM [N II]), aswell as emission-line ratios (e.g., [O III]/Hβ, [O I]/Hα, [NII]/Hα, and [S II]/Hα), show a very high degree ofcorrelation with black hole mass. The excellent correlation with linewidth supports the view that the emission-line gas is in virialequilibrium with either the black hole or bulge potential. The very goodemission-line ratio correlations may indicate a change in ionizingcontinuum shape with black hole mass in the sense that more massiveblack holes generate harder spectra. Apart from theinclination-corrected rotational velocity, no excellent correlations arefound between black hole mass and host galaxy properties. Significantdifferences are found between the distributions of black hole masses inearly-, mid-, and late-type spiral galaxies (subsamples A, B, and C) inthe sense that early-type galaxies have preferentially larger centralblack holes, consistent with observations that Seyfert galaxies arefound preferentially in early-type systems. The line width distributionsshow a marked difference among subsamples A, B, and C in the sense thatearlier type galaxies have larger line widths. There are also cleardifferences in line ratios between subsamples A+B and C that likely arerelated to the level of ionization in the gas. Finally, aKs-band Simien & de Vaucouleurs diagram shows excellentagreement with the original B-band relation, although there is a largedispersion at a given morphological stage.
| EGRET Upper Limits and Stacking Searches of Gamma-Ray Observations of Luminous and Ultraluminous Infrared Galaxies
We present a stacking analysis of EGRET γ-ray observations at thepositions of luminous and ultraluminous infrared galaxies. The latterwere selected from the recently presented HCN survey, which is thoughtto contain the most active star-forming regions of the universe.Different sorting criteria are used, and since there is no positivecollective detection of γ-ray emission from these objects, wedetermined both collective and individual upper limits. The uppermostexcess we find appears in the case of ULIRGs ordered by redshift, at avalue of 1.8 σ.
| A Chandra Snapshot Survey of Infrared-bright LINERs: A Possible Link Between Star Formation, Active Galactic Nucleus Fueling, and Mass Accretion
We present results from a high-resolution X-ray imaging study of nearbyLINERs observed by ACIS on board Chandra. This study complements andextends previous X-ray studies of LINERs, focusing on the underexploredpopulation of nearby dust-enshrouded infrared-bright LINERs. The sampleconsists of 15 IR-bright LINERs (LFIR/LB>3),with distances that range from 11 to 26 Mpc. Combining our sample withprevious Chandra studies, we find that ~51% (28/55) of the LINERsdisplay compact hard X-ray cores. The nuclear 2-10 keV luminosities ofthe galaxies in this expanded sample range from ~2×1038to ~2×1044 ergs s-1. We find that the mostextreme IR-faint LINERs are exclusively active galactic nuclei (AGNs).The fraction of LINERs containing AGNs appears to decrease with IRbrightness and increase again at the highest values ofLFIR/LB. We find that of the 24 LINERs showingcompact nuclear hard X-ray cores in the expanded sample that wereobserved at Hα wavelengths, only eight actually show evidence of abroad line. Similarly, of the 14 LINERs showing compact nuclear hardX-ray cores with corresponding radio observations, only eight display acompact flat spectrum radio core. These findings emphasize the need forhigh-resolution X-ray imaging observations in the study of IR-brightLINERs. Finally, we find an intriguing trend in the Eddington ratioversus LFIR and LFIR/LB for theAGN-LINERs in the expanded sample that extends over 7 orders ofmagnitude in L/LEdd. This correlation may imply a linkbetween black hole growth, as measured by the Eddington ratio, and thestar formation rate, as measured by the far-IR luminosity andIR-brightness ratio. If the far-IR luminosity is an indicator of themolecular gas content in our sample of LINERs, our results may furtherindicate that the mass accretion rate scales with the host galaxy's fuelsupply. We discuss the potential implications of our results in theframework of black hole growth and AGN fueling in low-luminosity AGNs.
| New H2O masers in Seyfert and FIR bright galaxies
Using the Effelsberg 100-m telescope, detections of four extragalacticwater vapor masers are reported. Isotropic luminosities are ~50, 1000, 1and 230 Lȯ for Mrk 1066 (UGC 2456), Mrk 34, NGC 3556 andArp 299, respectively. Mrk 34 contains by far the most distant and oneof the most luminous water vapor megamasers so far reported in a Seyfertgalaxy. The interacting system Arp 299 appears to show two maserhotspots separated by approximately 20´´. With these newresults and even more recent data from Braatz et al. (2004, ApJ, 617,L29), the detection rate in our sample of Seyferts with known jet-NarrowLine Region interactions becomes 50% (7/14), while in star forminggalaxies with high (S100~μ m>50 Jy) far infrared fluxesthe detection rate is 22% (10/45). The jet-NLR interaction sample maynot only contain “jet-masers” but also a significant numberof accretion “disk-masers” like those seen in NGC 4258. Astatistical analysis of 53 extragalactic H2O sources (excluding theGalaxy and the Magellanic Clouds) indicates (1) that the correlationbetween IRAS Point Source and H2O luminosities, established forindividual star forming regions in the galactic disk, also holds forAGN-dominated megamaser galaxies; (2) that maser luminosities are notcorrelated with 60 μm/100 μm color temperatures; and (3) that onlya small fraction of the luminous megamasers (L_H_2O > 100Lȯ) detectable with 100-m sized telescopes have so farbeen identified. The H2O luminosity function (LF) suggests that thenumber of galaxies with 1 Lȯ < L_H_2O < 10Lȯ, the transition range between“kilomasers” (mostly star formation) and“megamasers” (active galactic nuclei), is small. The overallslope of the LF, ~-1.5, indicates that the number of detectable masersis almost independent of their luminosity. If the LF is not steepeningat very high maser luminosities and if it is possible to find suitablecandidate sources, H2O megamasers at significant redshifts should bedetectable even with present day state-of-the-art facilities.
| HCN Survey of Normal Spiral, Infrared-luminous, and Ultraluminous Galaxies
We report systematic HCN J=1-0 (and CO) observations of a sample of 53infrared (IR) and/or CO-bright and/or luminous galaxies, including sevenultraluminous infrared galaxies, nearly 20 luminous infrared galaxies,and more than a dozen of the nearest normal spiral galaxies. This is thelargest and most sensitive HCN survey of galaxies to date. All galaxiesobserved so far follow the tight correlation between the IR luminosityLIR and the HCN luminosity LHCN initially proposedby Solomon, Downes, & Radford, which is detailed in a companionpaper. We also address here the issue of HCN excitation. There is noparticularly strong correlation between LHCN and the 12 μmluminosity; in fact, of all the four IRAS bands, the 12 μm luminosityhas the weakest correlation with the HCN luminosity. There is also noevidence of stronger HCN emission or a higher ratio of HCN and COluminosities LHCN/LCO for galaxies with excess 12μm emission. This result implies that mid-IR radiative pumping, orpopulating, of the J=1 level of HCN by a mid-IR vibrational transitionis not important compared with the collisional excitation by densemolecular hydrogen. Furthermore, large velocity gradient calculationsjustify the use of HCN J=1-0 emission as a tracer of high-densitymolecular gas (>~3×104/τcm-3) andgive an estimate of the mass of dense molecular gas from HCNobservations. Therefore, LHCN may be used as a measure of thetotal mass of dense molecular gas, and the luminosity ratioLHCN/LCO may indicate the fraction of moleculargas that is dense.
| The Star Formation Rate and Dense Molecular Gas in Galaxies
HCN luminosity is a tracer of dense molecular gas,n(H2)>~3×104cm-3, associatedwith star-forming giant molecular cloud (GMC) cores. We present theresults and analysis of our survey of HCN emission from 65 infraredgalaxies, including nine ultraluminous infrared galaxies (ULIGs,LIR>~1012Lsolar), 22 luminousinfrared galaxies (LIGs,1011Lsolar0.06 are LIGs or ULIGs. Normal spiralsall have similar and low dense gas fractionsLHCN/LCO=0.02-0.05. The global star formationefficiency depends on the fraction of the molecular gas in a densephase.
| Further clues to the nature of composite LINER/H II galaxies
We have analyzed new, archival and published high resolution radio andX-ray observations of a sample of composite LINER/H II galaxies known toexhibit AGN-like properties. Five of the 16 AGN candidates havemilliarcsecond-scale detections and are found to display a compact, flatspectrum, high brightness temperature radio core, four of which alsoexhibit extended radio emission. Five of the eight AGN candidates withavailable high resolution X-ray observations were found to possess ahard X-ray nuclear source, two of which have no milliarcsecond radiodetection. The combined high resolution radio and X-ray data yield a 50%detection rate of low luminosity AGN among the AGN candidates, whichtranslates into a 12% detection rate for the entire composite LINER/H IIsample. In the sources where the AGN has been unambiguously detected,the ionizing power of the AGN is not sufficient to generate the observedemission lines, unless the hard X-rays are heavily obscured. We attemptto apply a canonical advection-dominated accretion flow (ADAF) and jetmodel to the sample sources in order to explain the observed radio andX-ray emission. While ADAFs may be responsible for the observed emissionin submillijansky radio cores like NGC 7331, they do not appearconsistent with the radio emission observed in the milliarcsecond-scaleradio detected cores; the latter sources are more likely to have anenergetically important contribution from a radio-emitting jet.
| Box- and peanut-shaped bulges. III. A new class of bulges: Thick Boxy Bulges
Inspecting all 1224 edge-on disk galaxies larger than 2\arcmin in theRC3 on Digitized Sky Survey (DSS) images (Lütticke et al.\cite{lue2000a}) we have found several galaxies with extraordinarybulges meeting two criteria: they are box shaped and large in respect tothe diameters of their galaxies. These bulges are often disturbed, showfrequently prominent irregularities and asymmetries, and some possesspossible merger remnants or merging satellites. For these bulges we haveintroduced the term ``Thick Boxy Bulges'' (TBBs). About 2% of all diskgalaxies (S0-Sd), respectively 4% of all galaxies with box- andpeanut-shaped (b/p) bulges, belong to this class of galaxies. Usingmulticolour CCD and NIR data we have enlarged and followed up our sampleof nearly 20 galaxies with a TBB. The disturbed morphology of a largefraction of these galaxies shows that many of the TBB galaxies are notdynamically settled. For the TBBs the extent of the box shape seems tobe too large to result from a normal bar potential. Therefore weconclude that two classes of b/p bulges exist with different origins.While most (96%) b/p bulges can be explained by bars alone(Lütticke et al. \cite{lue2000b}), the extended boxy structures ofTBBs result most likely from accreted material by infalling satellitecompanions (soft merging).
| The IRAS Revised Bright Galaxy Sample
IRAS flux densities, redshifts, and infrared luminosities are reportedfor all sources identified in the IRAS Revised Bright Galaxy Sample(RBGS), a complete flux-limited survey of all extragalactic objects withtotal 60 μm flux density greater than 5.24 Jy, covering the entiresky surveyed by IRAS at Galactic latitudes |b|>5°. The RBGS includes629 objects, with median and mean sample redshifts of 0.0082 and 0.0126,respectively, and a maximum redshift of 0.0876. The RBGS supersedes theprevious two-part IRAS Bright Galaxy Samples(BGS1+BGS2), which were compiled before the final(Pass 3) calibration of the IRAS Level 1 Archive in 1990 May. The RBGSalso makes use of more accurate and consistent automated methods tomeasure the flux of objects with extended emission. The RBGS contains 39objects that were not present in the BGS1+BGS2,and 28 objects from the BGS1+BGS2 have beendropped from RBGS because their revised 60 μm flux densities are notgreater than 5.24 Jy. Comparison of revised flux measurements forsources in both surveys shows that most flux differences are in therange ~5%-25%, although some faint sources at 12 and 25 μm differ byas much as a factor of 2. Basic properties of the RBGS sources aresummarized, including estimated total infrared luminosities, as well asupdates to cross identifications with sources from optical galaxycatalogs established using the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database. Inaddition, an atlas of images from the Digitized Sky Survey with overlaysof the IRAS position uncertainty ellipse and annotated scale bars isprovided for ease in visualizing the optical morphology in context withthe angular and metric size of each object. The revised bolometricinfrared luminosity function, φ(Lir), forinfrared-bright galaxies in the local universe remains best fit by adouble power law, φ(L)~Lα, withα=-0.6(+/-0.1) and α=-2.2(+/-0.1) below and above the``characteristic'' infrared luminosityL*ir~1010.5Lsolar,respectively. A companion paper provides IRAS High Resolution (HIRES)processing of over 100 RBGS sources where improved spatial resolutionoften provides better IRAS source positions or allows for deconvolutionof close galaxy pairs.
| 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
| The Radio Properties of Composite LINER/H II Galaxies
Arcsecond-resolution VLA observations-newly obtained as well aspublished-of 40 nearby galaxies are discussed, completing a study of theradio properties of a magnitude-limited sample of nearby galaxies of thecomposite LINER/H II type. Our results reveal an overall detection rateof at least 25% active galactic nucleus (AGN) candidates among thesecomposite sources. The general properties of these AGN candidates, ascompared to non-AGN composite sources and H II galaxies, are discussed.
| 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 UZC-SSRS2 Group Catalog
We 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.
| Local velocity field from sosie galaxies. I. The Peebles' model
Pratton et al. (1997) showed that the velocity field around clusterscould generate an apparent distortion that appears as tangentialstructures or radial filaments. In the present paper we determine theparameters of the Peebles' model (1976) describing infall of galaxiesonto clusters with the aim of testing quantitatively the amplitude ofthis distortion. The distances are determined from the concept of sosiegalaxies (Paturel 1984) using 21 calibrators for which the distanceswere recently calculated from two independent Cepheid calibrations. Weuse both B and I-band magnitudes. The Spaenhauer diagram method is usedto correct for the Malmquist bias. We give the equations for theconstruction of this diagram. We analyze the apparent Hubble constant indifferent regions around Virgo and obtain simultaneously the Local Groupinfall and the unperturbed Hubble constant. We found:[VLG-infall = 208 ± 9 km s-1] [\log H =1.82 ± 0.04 (H ≈ 66 ± 6 km s-1Mpc-1).] The front side and backside infalls can be seenaround Virgo and Fornax. In the direction of Virgo the comparison ismade with the Peebles' model. We obtain: [vinfall} =CVirgo/r0.9 ± 0.2] withCVirgo=2800 for Virgo and CFornax=1350 for Fornax,with the adopted units (km s-1 and Mpc). We obtain thefollowing mean distance moduli: [μVirgo=31.3 ± 0.2(r=18 Mpc )] [μFornax=31.7 ± 0.3 (r=22 Mpc). ] Allthese quantities form an accurate and coherent system. Full Table 2 isonly available in electronic form at the CDS via anonymous ftp tocdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/393/57
| Radio sources in low-luminosity active galactic nuclei. III. ``AGNs'' in a distance-limited sample of ``LLAGNs''
This paper presents the results of a high resolution radio imagingsurvey of all known (96) low-luminosity active galactic nuclei (LLAGNs)at D <= 19 Mpc. We first report new 2 cm (150 mas resolution usingthe VLA) and 6 cm (2 mas resolution using the VLBA) radio observationsof the previously unobserved nuclei in our samples and then presentresults on the complete survey. We find that almost half of all LINERsand low-luminosity Seyferts have flat-spectrum radio cores when observedat 150 mas resolution. Higher (2 mas) resolution observations of aflux-limited subsample have provided a 100% (16 of 16) detection rate ofpc-scale radio cores, with implied brightness temperatures gtrsim108 K. The five LLAGNs with the highest core radio fluxesalso have pc-scale ``jets''. Compact radio cores are almost exclusivelyfound in massive ellipticals and in type 1 nuclei (i.e. nuclei withbroad Hα emission). Only a few ``transition'' nuclei have compactradio cores; those detected in the radio have optical emission-linediagnostic ratios close to those of LINERs/Seyferts. This indicates thatsome transition nuclei are truly composite Seyfert/LINER+H II regionnuclei, with the radio core power depending on the strength of theformer component. The core radio power is correlated with the nuclearoptical ``broad'' Hα luminosity, the nuclear optical ``narrow''emission-line luminosity and width, and with the galaxy luminosity. Inthese correlations LLAGNs fall close to the low-luminosityextrapolations of more powerful AGNs. The scalings suggest that many ofthe radio-non-detected LLAGNs are simply lower power versions of theradio-detected LLAGNs. The ratio of core radio power to nuclear opticalemission-line luminosity increases with increasing bulge luminosity forall LLAGNs. Also, there is evidence that the luminosity of the diskcomponent of the galaxy is correlated with the nuclear emission-lineluminosity (but not the core radio power). About half of all LLAGNs withmultiple epoch data show significant inter-year radio variability.Investigation of a sample of ~ 150 nearby bright galaxies, most of themLLAGNs, shows that the nuclear (<=150 mas size) radio power isstrongly correlated with both the black hole mass and the galaxy bulgeluminosity; linear regression fits to all ~ 150 galaxies give: logP2 cm = 1.31(+/-0.16) log {MMDO} + 8.77 and logP2 cm = 1.89(+/-0.21) log LB(bulge) -0.17. Lowaccretion rates (<=10-2-10-3 of the Eddingtonrate) are implied in both advection- and jet-type models. In brief, allevidence points towards the presence of accreting massive black holes ina large fraction, perhaps all, of LLAGNs, with the nuclear radioemission originating in either the accretion inflow onto the massiveblack hole or from jets launched by this black hole-accretion disksystem.
| Radio continuum and CO emission in star-forming galaxies
We combine the radio continuum images from the NRAO VLA Sky Survey withthe CO-line observations from the extragalactic CO survey of the FiveCollege Radio Astronomy Observatory to study the relationship betweenmolecular gas and the star formation rate within the disks of 180 spiralgalaxies at 45\arcsec resolution. We find a tight correlation betweenthese quantities. On average, the ratio between the radio continuum andthe CO emission is constant, within a factor of 3, both inside the samegalaxy and from galaxy to galaxy. The mean star formation efficiencydeduced from the radio continuum corresponds to convert 3.5% of theavailable molecular gas into stars on a time scale of 108 yrand depends weakly on general galaxy properties, such as Hubble type ornuclear activity. A comparison is made with another similar analysisperformed using the Halpha luminosity as star formationindicator. The overall agreement we find between the two studiesreinforces the use of the radio luminosity as star formation rateindicator not only on global but also on local scales.
| Detection of Nuclear X-Ray Sources in Nearby Galaxies with Chandra
We report preliminary results from an arcsecond-resolution X-ray surveyof nearby galaxies using the Advanced CCD Imaging Spectrometer on boardthe Chandra X-Ray Observatory. The total sample consists of 41low-luminosity active galactic nuclei (AGNs), including Seyfertgalaxies, LINERs, and LINER/H II transition objects. In the initialsubsample of 24 objects observed thus far, we detect in ~62% of theobjects a compact, pointlike source astrometrically coincident witheither the optical or radio position of the nucleus. The high detectionrate strongly suggests that the majority of the objects do containweakly active, AGN-like cores, presumably powered by central massiveblack holes. The 2-10 keV luminosities of the nuclear sources range fromless than 1038 to 1041 ergs s-1, with amedian value of 2×1038 ergs s-1. Ourdetection limit corresponds to LX(2-10keV)~8×1037 ergs s-1 for the typical sampledistance of 12 Mpc; this limit is 2 orders of magnitude fainter than theweakest sources of this kind previously studied using ASCA or BeppoSAX.The new data extend toward lower luminosities the known linearcorrelation between hard X-ray and Hα luminosity for broad-lineAGNs. Many narrow-line objects do contain X-ray cores, consistent witheither weak AGNs or X-ray binary systems, but they have X-rayluminosities a factor of 10 below the LX-LHαrelation of the broad-line sources. Their distributions of photonenergies show no indication of exceptionally high absorption. Theoptical line emission in these nuclei is likely powered, at least inpart, by stellar processes.
| 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.
| Homogenization of the Stellar Population along Late-Type Spiral Galaxies
We present a study of the broadband UBV color profiles for 257 Sbcbarred and nonbarred galaxies, using photoelectric aperture photometrydata from the literature. Using robust statistical methods, we haveestimated the color gradients of the galaxies, as well as the total andbulge mean colors. A comparative photometric study using CCD images wasdone. In our sample, the color gradients are negative (reddish inward)in approximately 59% of the objects, are almost null in 27%, and arepositive in 14%, considering only the face-on galaxies, which representapproximately 51% of the sample. The results do not change, essentially,when we include the edge-on galaxies. As a consequence of this study wehave also found that barred galaxies are overrepresented among theobjects having null or positive gradients, indicating that bars act as amechanism of homogenization of the stellar population. This effect ismore evident in the U-B color index, although it can also be detected inthe B-V color. A correlation between the total and bulge colors wasfound that is a consequence of an underlying correlation between thecolors of bulges and disks found by other authors. Moreover, the meantotal color is the same irrespective of the gradient regime, whilebulges are bluer in galaxies with null or positive gradients, whichindicates an increase of the star formation rate in the central regionsof these objects. We have also made a quantitative evaluation of theamount of extinction in the center of these galaxies. This was doneusing the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) and the Near InfraredCamera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS) Hubble Space Telescope(HST) archival data, as well as CCD B, V, and I images. We show thatalthough the extinction in the V-band can reach values up to 2 mag inthe central region, it is unlikely that dust plays a fundamental role inglobal color gradients. We found no correlation between color and O/Habundance gradients. This result could suggest that the color gradientsare more sensitive to the age rather than to the metallicity of thestellar population. However, the absence of this correlation may becaused by dust extinction. We discuss this result by considering apicture in which bars are a relatively fast, recurrent phenomenon. Theseresults are not compatible with a pure classical monolithic scenario forbulge and disk formation. On the contrary, they favor a scenario inwhich both these components are evolving in a correlated process inwhich stellar bars play a crucial role. Based partly on observationsmade at the Pico dos Dias Observatory (PDO/LNA-CNPq), Brazil.
| Multi-Wavelength Studies of Merging Bulge Galaxies
In a statistical study to determine the frequency of the box/peanutbulges a small fraction of edge-on galaxies was found to possessdisturbed and prominent box-shaped bulges called Thick Boxy Bulges(TBBs, Lütticke et al. 2000). It present, N-body and hydrodynamicalsimulations for stars in barred potentials and gas kinematic studieshave demonstrated that resonances induced by bars are able to reproducethe box/peanut structure and the observed complex gas kinematics ingalactic centers. In the galaxies investigated here, however, the bulgeextent is much too large to be explained by resonant orbits in a barpotential. An alternative mechanism is the infall of gas throughaccretion events. In order to study the photometric properties of theseTBBs (such as the scale-height, the surface brightness profiles, and theasymmetries), we have obtained B, R, and H (or Ks) imaging data. Forsome of these galaxies VLA and ATCA HI synthesis imaging is presented.It is noticeable that the HI in them is distributed in a peculiar way:in a strong warped disk (ESO 383-005), with non-settled (perhapscounter-rotating) gas (IC 4745), with clumps of emission (NGC 1055), orin a patchy distribution (IC 4757). We discuss these observations in thecontext of the hypothesis that minor mergers of companions have a stronginfluence on building bulges in the TBB galaxies. The infall of low-masssatellites could be the natural explanation of the vertically extendedcomponents and the other kinematical peculiarities, as well as thethickness of the box-shaped bulges in the TBB galaxies.
| Warm dust as a tracer of galaxies with gaseous halos
We present radio continuum observations conducted with the VLA and ATCAof a sample of 15 edge-on spiral galaxies. 11 of these galaxies, withinclination angles of i >~ 75o and neither active galacticnuclei nor nearby interaction partners, are suitable for studies of haloproperties in relation to the level of star formation in their disks. In6 of these 11 galaxies radio halos were detected at the angularresolution of the current data. In the remaining cases the presence ofhalo emission could not be proven unambiguously, partly due torelatively low angular resolution. A clear trend was found that galaxieswith radio halos are those with the highest far-infrared 60 mu m to 100mu m flux ratios. This shows the suitability of highf60/f100 ratios of >=0.4 as a reliable tracerof galaxies with high star formation rates and related disk-halointeractions, leading to the presence of extraplanar emission, e.g. fromcosmic ray electrons. The measured exponential scale heights of those 6radio halos that were clearly detected range from about 1.4 to 3.1 kpc.All 4 physically small galaxies in our sample do show extraplanarsynchrotron radio emission, indicating that their more shallowgravitational potential compared to normal-sized spirals mightfacilitate the escape of cosmic-ray electrons from the sites of starformation in their disks. Although the galaxies with the highest energyinput rates into the ISM of their disks are those that have the mostprominent radio halos, there is no direct relation between the haloscale heights and the energy input rates. Instead, the scale heights ofthe radio halos are dominated by the energy losses of the cosmic rayelectrons on their way out of the galaxy disks.
| 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.
| Box- and peanut-shaped bulges. I. Statistics
We present a classification for bulges of a complete sample of ~ 1350edge-on disk galaxies derived from the RC3 (Third Reference Catalogue ofBright Galaxies, de Vaucouleurs et al. \cite{rc3}). A visualclassification of the bulges using the Digitized Sky Survey (DSS) inthree types of b/p bulges or as an elliptical type is presented andsupported by CCD images. NIR observations reveal that dust extinctiondoes almost not influence the shape of bulges. There is no substantialdifference between the shape of bulges in the optical and in the NIR.Our analysis reveals that 45% of all bulges are box- and peanut-shaped(b/p). The frequency of b/p bulges for all morphological types from S0to Sd is > 40%. In particular, this is for the first time that such alarge frequency of b/p bulges is reported for galaxies as late as Sd.The fraction of the observed b/p bulges is large enough to explain theb/p bulges by bars. Partly based on observations collected at ESO/LaSilla (Chile), DSAZ/Calar Alto (Spain), and Lowell Observatory/Flagstaff(AZ/U.S.A.). Tables 6 and 7 are only available in electronic form at CDSvia anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/Abstract.html
| The QDOT all-sky IRAS galaxy redshift survey
We describe the construction of the QDOT survey, which is publiclyavailable from an anonymous FTP account. The catalogue consists ofinfrared properties and redshifts of an all-sky sample of 2387 IRASgalaxies brighter than the IRAS PSC 60-μm completeness limit(S_60>0.6Jy), sparsely sampled at a rate of one-in-six. At |b|>10deg, after removing a small number of Galactic sources, the redshiftcompleteness is better than 98per cent (2086/2127). New redshifts for1401 IRAS sources were obtained to complete the catalogue; themeasurement and reduction of these are described, and the new redshiftstabulated here. We also tabulate all sources at |b|>10 deg with noredshift so far, and sources with conflicting alternative redshiftseither from our own work, or from published velocities. A list of 95ultraluminous galaxies (i.e. with L_60μm>10^12 L_solar) is alsoprovided. Of these, ~20per cent are AGN of some kind; the broad-lineobjects typically show strong Feii emission. Since the publication ofthe first QDOT papers, there have been several hundred velocity changes:some velocities are new, some QDOT velocities have been replaced by moreaccurate values, and some errors have been corrected. We also present anew analysis of the accuracy and linearity of IRAS 60-μm fluxes. Wefind that the flux uncertainties are well described by a combination of0.05-Jy fixed size uncertainty and 8per cent fractional uncertainty.This is not enough to cause the large Malmquist-type errors in the rateof evolution postulated by Fisher et al. We do, however, find marginalevidence for non-linearity in the PSC 60-μm flux scale, in the sensethat faint sources may have fluxes overestimated by about 5per centcompared with bright sources. We update some of the previous scientificanalyses to assess the changes. The main new results are as follows. (1)The luminosity function is very well determined overall but is uncertainby a factor of several at the very highest luminosities(L_60μm>5x10^12L_solar), as this is where the remainingunidentified objects are almost certainly concentrated. (2) Thebest-fitting rate of evolution is somewhat lower than our previousestimate; expressed as pure density evolution with density varying as(1+z)^p, we find p=5.6+/-2.3. Making a rough correction for the possible(but very uncertain) non-linearity of fluxes, we find p=4.5+/-2.3. (3)The dipole amplitude decreases a little, and the implied value of thedensity parameter, assuming that IRAS galaxies trace the mass, isΩ=0.9(+0.45, -0.25). (4) Finally, the estimate of density varianceon large scales changes negligibly, still indicating a significantdiscrepancy from the predictions of simple cold dark matter cosmogonies.
| 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.
| On the Influence of the Environment on the Star Formation Rates of a Sample of Galaxies in Nearby Compact Groups
We present the results of a study of the star formation rates (SFRs) ofa sample of disk galaxies in nearby compact groups compared with theSFRs of a sample of field galaxies. For this purpose, Hαluminosities and equivalent widths were derived for the galaxies of oursample. A direct comparison of the equivalent widths and Hαluminosities, normalized to the B luminosities and estimated area of thegalaxies of both samples, yields the result that the median values ofthese quantities are almost identical for both samples, although thedistributions for the compact-group sample are broader around the meanvalue than was found in the field galaxy sample. This result can beexplained by assuming that although interactions between galaxies incompact groups can alter the SFRs, the median value of the normalizedSFRs is preserved, being almost indistinguishable from the correspondingvalue for field galaxies. Measuring the global L_Hα/L_B of thegroups, including early-type galaxies, we find that most of the groupsthat show the highest level of L_Hα/L_B with respect to a set ofsynthetic groups built out of field galaxies show tidal features in atleast one of their members. Finally, we have explored the relationshipbetween the ratio L_Hα/L_B and several relevant dynamicalparameters of the groups: velocity dispersion, crossing time, radius,and the mass-to-luminosity ratio, finding no clear correlation. Thissuggests that the exact dynamical state of a group does not control theSFR of the group as a whole. Our results are compatible with a scenariofor compact groups of galaxies in which the dark matter of the group isarranged in a common halo, therefore preventing a fast collapse of thegalaxies.
| An Infrared Search for Extinguished Supernovae in Starburst Galaxies
IR and radio-band observations of heavily extinguished regions instarburst galaxies suggest a high supernova (SN) rate associated withsuch regions. Optically measured SN rates may therefore underestimatethe total SN rate by factors of up to 10, as a result of the very highextinction (A_B~10-20 mag) to core-collapse SNe in starburst regions.The IR/radio SN rates come from a variety of indirect means, however,which suffer from model dependence and other problems. We describe adirect measurement of the SN rate from a regular patrol of starburstgalaxies done with K'-band imaging to minimize the effects ofextinction. A collection of K'-band measurements of core-collapse SNenear maximum light is presented. Such measurements (excluding 1987A) arenot well reported in the literature. Results of a preliminary K'-bandsearch, using the MIRC camera at the Wyoming Infrared Observatory and animproved search strategy using the new ORCA optics, are described. Amonthly patrol of a sample of IRAS bright (mostly starburst) galaxieswithin 25 Mpc should yield 1-6 SNe yr^-1, corresponding to the range ofestimated SN rates. Our initial MIRC search with low resolution (2.2"pixels) failed to find extinguished SNe in the IRAS galaxies, limitingthe SN rate outside the nucleus (at greater than 15" radius) to lessthan 3.8 far-IR SN rate units (SNe per century per 10^10 L_solarmeasured at 60 and 100 mum, or FIRSRU) at 90% confidence. The MIRCcamera had insufficient resolution to search nuclear starburst regions,where starburst and SN activity is concentrated; therefore, we wereunable to rigorously test the hypothesis of high SN rates in heavilyobscured star-forming regions. We conclude that high-resolution nuclearSN searches in starburst galaxies with small fields are more productivethan low-resolution, large-field searches, even for our sample of large(often several arcminutes) galaxies. With our ORCA high-resolutionoptics, we could limit the total SN rate to less than 1.3 FIRSRU at 90%confidence in 3 years of observations, lower than most estimates.
| The Star Formation Efficiency within Galaxies
We combine Hα imaging with the CO-line observations of the FiveCollege Radio Astronomy Observatory Extragalactic CO Survey to study therelationship between molecular gas and high-mass star formation for 568regions in 121 galaxies at 45" resolution. Our study finds a strongcorrelation between these quantities when sampled locally withingalaxies, consistent with recent studies of globally averagedquantities. For spiral galaxies, there are no strong radial gradients inthe star formation efficiency across the star-forming disk, althoughstar formation efficiencies measured in the outermost regions (R>9kpc) of midsized galaxies tend to be systematically low. Additionally,star formation efficiencies in large (D_0>60 kpc) galaxies areuniformly low at all radii compared with smaller galaxies. As a functionof morphology and environment, the behavior of the star formationefficiency within galaxies is consistent with the results of ourprevious investigation of the global quantities. Among spirals the starformation efficiency does not depend on Hubble type, with a similarrange of efficiencies within each type and less than 25% variation inthe mean from type to type. Finally, relative to an isolated galaxysample, the star formation efficiency is found to be sensitive only toextreme variations in the galaxy environment. The star formationefficiency decreases steadily with increasing H I deficiency among Virgocluster spirals, and it is enhanced in strong interactions and mergers.
| Hidden bars and boxy bulges
It has been suggested that the boxy and peanut-shaped bulges found insome edge-on galaxies are galactic bars viewed from the side. Weinvestigate this hypothesis by presenting emission-line spectra for asample of 10 edge-on galaxies that display a variety of bulgemorphologies. To avoid potential biases in the classification of thismorphology, we use an objective measure of bulge shape. Generally,bulges classified as more boxy show the more complicated kinematicscharacteristic of edge-on bars, confirming the intimate relation betweenthe two phenomena.
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