Surface photometry of low surface brightness galaxies

Low surface brightness (LSB) galaxies are galaxies dominated by an exponential disc whose central surface brightness is much fainter than the value of mu(B)(0) = 21.65 +/- 0.30 mag arcsec(-2) found by Freeman. In this paper we present broadband photometry of a sample of 21 late-type LSB galaxies. The median central surface brightness of the sample is mu(B)(0) = 23.2 mag arcsec(-2) and the median scale length is 3.2 kpc, showing that LSB galaxies are normal-sized galaxies. We find colours that are comparable to or bluer than those of the more widely studied 'normal' high surface brightness (HSB) galaxies. LSB galaxies are therefore not faded discs that have no current star formation. The colours cannot on the other hand be ascribed entirely to metallicity effects, but we can explain them by assuming a sporadic star formation rate scenario. LSB galaxies hence appear to be unevolved and quiescent objects, which give us an insight into the evolution of galaxies in an unperturbed environment

The Chemical-Composition of Distant Globular-Clusters - Are There Any Metal-Poor Clusters

The authors report echelle spectroscopy of giants in the distant globular clusters N4147, M53, N5466, and N6229. Abundances are determined from model atmosphere analyses of the equivalent widths of the metal lines. The analyses yield [Fe/H] values in the range of -1.3 to -1.9. These values are moderately high for clusters at these galactocentric distances (R ≡ 20 kpc). The data argue against the existence of a strong metallicity gradient in the halo. They may also suggest that the cluster system of the Galaxy predates the formation of the bulge and halo system

Blueshifted galaxies in the Virgo Cluster

We examine a sample of 65 galaxies in the Virgo cluster with negative radial velocities relative to the Local Group. Some features of this sample are pointed out. All of these objects are positioned compactly within a virial zone of radius 6{\deg} in the cluster, but their centroid is displaced relative to the dynamic center of the cluster, M87, by 1.1{\deg} to the northwest. The dwarf galaxies in this sample are clumped on a scale of ~10' (50 kpc). The observed asymmetry in the distribution of the blueshifted galaxies may be caused by infall of a group of galaxies around M86 onto the main body of the cluster. We offer another attempt to explain this phenomenon, assuming a mutual tangential velocity of ~300 km/s between the Local Group and the Virgo cluster owing to their being repelled from the local cosmological void.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, 1 table. Published in Astrophysics, Vol. 53, No. 1, pp. 32-41, 201

Secular Evolution of Galaxy Morphologies

Today we have numerous evidences that spirals evolve dynamically through various secular or episodic processes, such as bar formation and destruction, bulge growth and mergers, sometimes over much shorter periods than the standard galaxy age of 10-15 Gyr. This, coupled to the known properties of the Hubble sequence, leads to a unique sense of evolution: from Sm to Sa. Linking this to the known mass components provides new indications on the nature of dark matter in galaxies. The existence of large amounts of yet undetected dark gas appears as the most natural option. Bounds on the amount of dark stars can be given since their formation is mostly irreversible and requires obviously a same amount of gas.Comment: 8 pages, Latex2e, crckapb.sty macros, 1 Postscript figure, replaced with TeX source; To be published in the proceeedings of the "Dust-Morphology" conference, Johannesburg, 22-26 January, 1996, D. Block (ed.), (Kluwer Dordrecht

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

Morphological Mutations of Dwarf Galaxies

Dwarf galaxies (DGs) are extremely challenging objects in extragalactic astrophysics. They are expected to originate as the first units in Cold Dark-Matter cosmology. They are the galaxy type most sensitive to environmental influences and their division into multiple types with various properties have invoked the picture of their variant morphological transformations. Detailed observations reveal characteristics which allow to deduce the evolutionary paths and to witness how the environment has affected the evolution. Here we review peculiarities of general morphological DG types and refer to processes which can deplete gas-rich irregular DGs leading to dwarf ellipticals, while gas replenishment implies an evolutionary cycling. Finally, as the less understood DG types the Milky Way satellite dwarf spheroidal galaxies are discussed in the context of transformation.Comment: 17 pages, 7 figures, Proceedings of Symposium 3 of JENAM 2010 "Dwarf Galaxies: Key to Galaxy Formation and Evolution", Polychronis Papaderos, Simone Recchi, Gerhard Hensler (Eds.), Springer Publisher, Heidelberg, ISBN 978-3-642-22017-

On the Origin of S0 Galaxies

I will review the basic properties of S0 galaxies in the local Universe in relation to both elliptical and spiral galaxies, their neighbours on the Hubble sequence, and also in relation to dwarf spheroidal (dSph) galaxies. This will include colours, luminosities, spectral features, information about the age and metallicity composition of their stellar populations and globular clusters, about their ISM content, as well as kinematic signatures and their implications for central black hole masses and past interaction events, and the number ratios of S0s to other galaxy types in relation to environmental galaxy density. I will point out some caveats as to their morphological discrimination against other classes of galaxies, discuss the role of dust and the wavelength dependence of bulge/disk light ratios. These effects are of importance for investigations into the redshift evolution of S0 galaxies -- both as individual objects and as a population. The various formation and transformation scenarios for S0 and dSph galaxies will be presented and confronted with the available observations.Comment: Invited Review, 18 pages, ``BARS 2004'' Conference, South Africa, June 2004, eds.: K. C. Freeman, D. L. Block, I. Puerari, R. Groess, Kluwer, in pres