110 research outputs found
A review of elliptical and disc galaxy structure, and modern scaling laws
A century ago, in 1911 and 1913, Plummer and then Reynolds introduced their
models to describe the radial distribution of stars in `nebulae'. This article
reviews the progress since then, providing both an historical perspective and a
contemporary review of the stellar structure of bulges, discs and elliptical
galaxies. The quantification of galaxy nuclei, such as central mass deficits
and excess nuclear light, plus the structure of dark matter halos and cD galaxy
envelopes, are discussed. Issues pertaining to spiral galaxies including dust,
bulge-to-disc ratios, bulgeless galaxies, bars and the identification of
pseudobulges are also reviewed. An array of modern scaling relations involving
sizes, luminosities, surface brightnesses and stellar concentrations are
presented, many of which are shown to be curved. These 'redshift zero'
relations not only quantify the behavior and nature of galaxies in the Universe
today, but are the modern benchmark for evolutionary studies of galaxies,
whether based on observations, N-body-simulations or semi-analytical modelling.
For example, it is shown that some of the recently discovered compact
elliptical galaxies at 1.5 < z < 2.5 may be the bulges of modern disc galaxies.Comment: Condensed version (due to Contract) of an invited review article to
appear in "Planets, Stars and Stellar
Systems"(www.springer.com/astronomy/book/978-90-481-8818-5). 500+ references
incl. many somewhat forgotten, pioneer papers. Original submission to
Springer: 07-June-201
Interferometric Observations of Rapidly Rotating Stars
Optical interferometry provides us with a unique opportunity to improve our
understanding of stellar structure and evolution. Through direct observation of
rotationally distorted photospheres at sub-milliarcsecond scales, we are now
able to characterize latitude dependencies of stellar radius, temperature
structure, and even energy transport. These detailed new views of stars are
leading to revised thinking in a broad array of associated topics, such as
spectroscopy, stellar evolution, and exoplanet detection. As newly advanced
techniques and instrumentation mature, this topic in astronomy is poised to
greatly expand in depth and influence.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&AR
The expansion field: The value of H_0
Any calibration of the present value of the Hubble constant requires
recession velocities and distances of galaxies. While the conversion of
observed velocities into true recession velocities has only a small effect on
the result, the derivation of unbiased distances which rest on a solid zero
point and cover a useful range of about 4-30 Mpc is crucial. A list of 279 such
galaxy distances within v<2000 km/s is given which are derived from the tip of
the red-giant branch (TRGB), from Cepheids, and from supernovae of type Ia (SNe
Ia). Their random errors are not more than 0.15 mag as shown by
intercomparison. They trace a linear expansion field within narrow margins from
v=250 to at least 2000 km/s. Additional 62 distant SNe Ia confirm the linearity
to at least 20,000 km/s. The dispersion about the Hubble line is dominated by
random peculiar velocities, amounting locally to <100 km/s but increasing
outwards. Due to the linearity of the expansion field the Hubble constant H_0
can be found at any distance >4.5 Mpc. RR Lyr star-calibrated TRGB distances of
78 galaxies above this limit give H_0=63.0+/-1.6 at an effective distance of 6
Mpc. They compensate the effect of peculiar motions by their large number.
Support for this result comes from 28 independently calibrated Cepheids that
give H_0=63.4+/-1.7 at 15 Mpc. This agrees also with the large-scale value of
H_0=61.2+/-0.5 from the distant, Cepheid-calibrated SNe Ia. A mean value of
H_0=62.3+/-1.3 is adopted. Because the value depends on two independent zero
points of the distance scale its systematic error is estimated to be 6%.
Typical errors of H_0 come from the use of a universal, yet unjustified P-L
relation of Cepheids, the neglect of selection bias in magnitude-limited
samples, or they are inherent to the adopted models.Comment: 44 pages, 4 figures, 6 tables, accepted for publication in the
Astronony and Astrophysics Review 15
An overview of concepts and approaches used in estimating the burden of congenital disorders globally.
Congenital disorders are an important cause of pregnancy loss, premature death and life-long disability. A range of interventions can greatly reduce their burden, but the absence of local epidemiological data on their prevalence and the impact of interventions impede policy and service development in many countries. In an attempt to overcome these deficiencies, we have developed a tool-The Modell Global Database of Congenital Disorders (MGDb) that combines general biological principles and available observational data with demographic data, to generate estimates of the birth prevalence and effects of interventions on mortality and disability due to congenital disorders. MGDb aims to support policy development by generating country, regional and global epidemiological estimates. Here we provide an overview of the concepts and methodological approach used to develop MGDb
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