A new chemodynamical tool to study the evolution of galaxies in the local Universe: a quick and accurate numerical technique to compute gas cooling rate for any chemical composition

We have developed a quick and accurate numerical tool to compute gas cooling whichever its chemical composition.Comment: 3 pages, 2 figures, to appear in the Proceedings of "Heating vs. Cooling in Galaxies and Clusters of Galaxies", August 2006, Garching (Germany), Eds. Boehringer, Schuecker, Pratt, Finoguenov, Springer-Verlag series "ESO Astrophysics Symposia

Theory and laboratory astrophysics

Science opportunities in the 1990's are discussed. Topics covered include the large scale structure of the universe, galaxies, stars, star formation and the interstellar medium, high energy astrophysics, and the solar system. Laboratory astrophysics in the 1990's is briefly surveyed, covering such topics as molecular, atomic, optical, nuclear and optical physics. Funding recommendations are given for the National Science Foundation, NASA, and the Department of Energy. Recommendations for laboratory astrophysics research are given

Tales within Tales and Cutoffs within Cutoffs: What Sets the Mass Scale for Galaxies?

Please answer ``yes'' or ``no'': 1. Does the mass function for clusters of galaxies cut off exponentially? 2. Does the luminosity function for galaxies cut off exponentially? 3. Is the dependence of virial velocity on galaxy luminosity a power law? 4. Does the velocity function for galaxies cut off exponentially?Comment: 10 pages, no figures, contribution to the MPA/ESO/MPE/USM conference "Lighthouses of the Universe", Sunyaev et al. (eds.), ESO Astrophysics Symposia, Springer Verla

Spiral galaxies with large optical warps

As a result of our statistical study of 540 edge-on galaxies, we present here the images and preliminary statistical analysis of a sub-sample of 60 galaxies, that were selected to be S-type warped spirals. Computing the average volumic density of galaxies from available redshift surveys, a first analysis suggests that warped galaxies are found in denser environments. Only the clearest and strongest warps have been extracted here, and therefore this sample of 60 objects gather the best candidates for future HI or optical works on galaxy warps.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, accepted in Astronomy and Astrophysics Su