Free-free and H42alpha emission from the dusty starburst within NGC 4945 as observed by ALMA

We present observations of the 85.69 GHz continuum emission and H42alpha line emission from the central 30 arcsec within NGC 4945. Both sources of emission originate from nearly identical structures that can be modelled as exponential discs with a scale length of ~2.1 arcsec (or ~40 pc). An analysis of the spectral energy distribution based on combining these data with archival data imply that 84% +/- 10% of the 85.69 GHz continuum emission originates from free-free emission. The electron temperature is 5400 +/- 600 K, which is comparable to what has been measured near the centre of the Milky Way Galaxy. The star formation rate (SFR) based on the H42alpha and 85.69 GHz free-free emission (and using a distance of 3.8 Mpc) is 4.35 +/- 0.25 M/yr. This is consistent with the SFR from the total infrared flux and with previous measurements based on recombination line emission, and it is within a factor of ~2 of SFRs derived from radio data. The Spitzer Space Telescope 24 micron data and Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer 22 micron data yield SFRs ~10x lower than the ALMA measurements, most likely because the mid-infrared data are strongly affected by dust attenuation equivalent to A_V=150. These results indicate that SFRs based on mid-infrared emission may be highly inaccurate for dusty, compact circumnuclear starbursts.Comment: 19 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

Kathryns Wheel: A spectacular galaxy collision discovered in the Galactic neighbourhood

We report the discovery of the closest collisional ring galaxy to the Milky Way. Such rare systems occur due to "bulls-eye" encounters between two reasonably matched galaxies. The recessional velocity of about 840 km/s is low enough that it was detected in the AAO/UKST Survey for Galactic H$\alpha$ emission. The distance is only 10.0 Mpc and the main galaxy shows a full ring of star forming knots, 6.1 kpc in diameter surrounding a quiescent disk. The smaller assumed "bullet" galaxy also shows vigorous star formation. The spectacular nature of the object had been overlooked because of its location in the Galactic plane and proximity to a bright star and even though it is the 60$^{\rm th}$ brightest galaxy in the HI Parkes All Sky Survey (HIPASS) HI survey. The overall system has a physical size of $\sim$15 kpc, a total mass of $M_\ast = 6.6\times 10^9$ M$_\odot$ (stars + HI), a metallicity of [O/H]$\sim-0.4$, and a star formation rate of 0.2-0.5 M$_\odot$\,yr$^{-1}$, making it a Magellanic-type system. Collisional ring galaxies therefore extend to much lower galaxy masses than commonly assumed. We derive a space density for such systems of $7 \times 10^{-5}\,\rm Mpc^{-3}$, an order of magnitude higher than previously estimated. This suggests Kathryn's Wheel is the nearest such system. We present discovery images, CTIO 4-m telescope narrow-band follow-up images and spectroscopy for selected emission components. Given its proximity and modest extinction along the line of sight, this spectacular system provides an ideal target for future high spatial resolution studies of such systems and for direct detection of its stellar populations.Comment: 18 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

ALMA observations of 99 GHz free-free and H40α\alpha line emission from star formation in the centre of NGC 253

We present Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array observations of 99.02 GHz free-free and H40$\alpha$ emission from the centre of the nearby starburst galaxy NGC 253. We calculate electron temperatures of 3700-4500 K for the photoionized gas, which agrees with previous measurements. We measure a photoionizing photon production rate of $(3.2\pm0.2)\times10^{53}$ s$^{-1}$ and a star formation rate of $1.73\pm0.12$ M$_\odot$ yr$^{-1}$ within the central 20$\times$10 arcsec, which fall within the broad range of measurements from previous millimetre and radio observations but which are better constrained. We also demonstrate that the dust opacities are ~3 dex higher than inferred from previous near-infrared data, which illustrates the benefits of using millimetre star formation tracers in very dusty sources.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS Letter

LABOCA and MAMBO-2 imaging of the dust ring of the Sombrero galaxy (NGC 4594)

The Sombrero galaxy (NGC 4594) is an Sa galaxy with a symmetric dust ring. We have used the Large APEX BOlometer CAmera (LABOCA) at 870 micron and the MAx-Planck Millimeter BOlometer (MAMBO-2) at 1.2 mm to detect the dust ring for the first time at submillimetre and millimetre wavelengths. We have constructed a model of the galaxy to separate the active galactic nucleus (AGN) and dust ring components. The ring radius at both 870 micron and 1.2 mm agrees well with the radius determined from optical absorption and atomic gas studies. The spectral energy distribution of the ring is well fitted by a single grey-body with dust emissivity index beta=2 and a dust temperature T_d=18.4 K. The dust mass of the ring is found to be 1.6\pm0.2x10^7Msun which, for a Galactic gas-to-dust ratio, implies a gas mass that is consistent with measurements from the literature.Comment: 4 pages including 3 figures and 2 tables. Accepted for publication in A&A Letters. Full resolution version at http://www.strw.leidenuniv.nl/~vlahakis/vlahakis-highres.pd

Old stellar counter-rotating components in early-type galaxies from elliptical-spiral mergers

We investigate, by means of numerical simulations, the possibility of forming counter-rotating old stellar components by major mergers between an elliptical and a spiral galaxy. We show that counter-rotation can appear both in dissipative and dissipationless retrograde mergers, and it is mostly associated to the presence of a disk component, which preserves part of its initial spin. In turn, the external regions of the two interacting galaxies acquire part of the orbital angular momentum, due to the action of tidal forces exerted on each galaxy by the companion.Comment: 6 pages, 15 figures. Accepted on Astronomy & Astrophysic

Tests of star formation metrics in the low metallicity galaxy NGC 5253 using ALMA observations of H30α\alpha line emission

We use Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) observations of H30$\alpha$ (231.90 GHz) emission from the low metallicity dwarf galaxy NGC 5253 to measure the star formation rate (SFR) within the galaxy and to test the reliability of SFRs derived from other commonly-used metrics. The H30$\alpha$ emission, which originates mainly from the central starburst, yields a photoionizing photon production rate of (1.9$\pm$0.3)$\times$10$^{52}$ s$^{-1}$ and an SFR of 0.087$\pm$0.013 M$_\odot$ yr$^{-1}$ based on conversions that account for the low metallicity of the galaxy and for stellar rotation. Among the other star formation metrics we examined, the SFR calculated from the total infrared flux was statistically equivalent to the values from the H30$\alpha$ data. The SFR based on previously-published versions of the H$\alpha$ flux that were extinction corrected using Pa$\alpha$ and Pa$\beta$ lines were lower than but also statistically similar to the H30$\alpha$ value. The mid-infrared (22 $\mu$m) flux density and the composite star formation tracer based on H$\alpha$ and mid-infrared emission give SFRs that were significantly higher because the dust emission appears unusually hot compared to typical spiral galaxies. Conversely, the 70 and 160 $\mu$m flux densities yielded SFR lower than the H30$\alpha$ value, although the SFRs from the 70 $\mu$m and H30$\alpha$ data were within 1-2$\sigma$ of each other. While further analysis on a broader range of galaxies are needed, these results are instructive of the best and worst methods to use when measuring SFR in low metallicity dwarf galaxies like NGC 5253.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

Orbital Parameters of Merging Dark Matter Halos

In order to specify cosmologically motivated initial conditions for major galaxy mergers (mass ratios $\leq$ 4:1) that are supposed to explain the formation of elliptical galaxies we study the orbital parameters of major mergers of cold dark matter halos using a high-resolution cosmological simulation. Almost half of all encounters are nearly parabolic with eccentricities $e \approx 1$ and no correlations between the halo spin planes or the orbital planes. The pericentric argument $\omega$ shows no correlation with the other orbital parameters and is distributed randomly. In addition we find that 50 % of typical pericenter distances are larger than half the halo's virial radii which is much larger than typically assumed in numerical simulations of galaxy mergers. In contrast to the usual assumption made in semi-analytic models of galaxy formation the circularities of major mergers are found to be not randomly distributed but to peak around a value of $\epsilon \approx 0.5$. Additionally all results are independent of the minimum progenitor mass and major merger definitions (i.e. mass ratios $\leq$ 4:1; 3:1; 2:1).Comment: 11 pages, 20 figures, replaced by version accepted to A&A, figure 1 low re

Star formation in the centre of NGC 1808 as observed by ALMA

We present Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) observations of 85.69 and 99.02 GHz continuum emission and H42$\alpha$ and H40$\alpha$ lines emission from the central 1~kpc of NGC 1808. These forms of emission are tracers of photoionizing stars but unaffected by dust obscuration that we use to test the applicability of other commonly star formation metrics. An analysis of the spectral energy distributions shows that free-free emission contributes about 60 to 90 per cent of the continuum emission in the 85-100 GHz frequency range, dependent on the region. The star formation rate (SFR) derived from the ALMA free-free emission is $3.1\pm0.3$~M$_\odot$~yr$^{-1}$. This is comparable to the SFRs measured from the infrared emission, mainly because most of the bolometric energy from the heavily obscured region is emitted as infrared emission. The radio 1.5~GHz emission yields a SFR 25 per cent lower than the ALMA value, probably because of the diffusion of the electrons producing the synchrotron emission beyond the star-forming regions. The SFRs measured from the extinction-corrected H$\alpha$ line emission are about 40 to 65 per cent of the SFR derived from the ALMA data, likely because this metric was not calibrated for high extinction regions. Some SFRs based on extinction-corrected ultraviolet emission are similar to those from ALMA and infrared data, but given that the ultraviolet terms in the extinction correction equations are very small, these metrics seem inappropriate to apply to this dusty starburst.Comment: 18 pages, 7 figures, 10 tables, accepted for publication in MNRA

A Multi-Wavelength Infrared Study of NGC 891

We present a multi-wavlength infrared study of the nearby, edge-on, spiral galaxy NGC 891. We have examined 20 independent, spatially resolved IR images of this galaxy, 14 of which are newly reduced and/or previously unpublished images. These images span a wavelength regime from 1.2 microns in which the emission is dominated by cool stars, through the MIR, in which emission is dominated by PAHs, to 850 microns, in which emission is dominated by cold dust in thermal equilibrium with the radiation field. The changing morphology of the galaxy with wavelength illustrates the changing dominant components. We detect extra-planar dust emission in this galaxy, consistent with previously published results, but now show that PAH emission is also in the halo, to a vertical distance of z >= 2.5 kpc. We compare the vertical extents of various components and find that the PAHs (from 7.7 and 8 micron data) and warm dust (24 microns) extend to smaller z heights than the cool dust (450 microns). For six locations in the galaxy for which the S/N was sufficient, we present SEDs of the IR emission, including two in the halo - the first time a halo SED in an external galaxy has been presented. We have modeled these SEDs and find that the PAH fraction is similar to Galactic values (within a factor of two), with the lowest value at the galaxy's center, consistent with independent results of other galaxies. In the halo environment, the fraction of dust exposed to a colder radiation field, is of order unity, consistent with an environment in which there is no star formation. The source of excitation is likely from photons escaping from the disk.Comment: 24 pages, 17 figures, 7 tables, accepted for publication in MNRA

The Herschel Virgo Cluster Survey: X.The relationship between cold dust and molecular gas content in Virgo spirals

Using the far-infrared emission, as observed by the Herschel Virgo Cluster Survey (HeViCS), and the integrated HI and CO brightness, we infer the dust and total gas mass for a magnitude limited sample of 35 metal rich spiral galaxies in Virgo. The CO flux correlates tightly and linearly with far-infrared fluxes observed by Herschel. Molecules in these galaxies are more closely related to cold dust rather than to dust heated by star formation or to optical/NIR brightness. We show that dust mass establishes a stronger correlation with the total gas mass than with the atomic or molecular component alone. The dust-to-gas ratio increases as the HI deficiency increases, but in highly HI deficient galaxies it stays constant. Dust is in fact less affected than atomic gas by weak cluster interactions, which remove most of the HI gas from outer and high latitudes regions. Highly disturbed galaxies, in a dense cluster environment, can instead loose a considerable fraction of gas and dust from the inner regions of the disk keeping constant the dust-to-gas ratio. There is evidence that the molecular phase is also quenched. This quencing becomes evident by considering the molecular gas mass per unit stellar mass. Its amplitude, if confirmed by future studies, highlights that molecules are missing in Virgo HI deficient spirals, but to a somewhat lesser extent than dust.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures. Accepted for publication in A&