7,286 research outputs found
Early-type Galaxies in the Cluster Abell 2390 at z=0.23
To examine the evolution of the early-type galaxy population in the rich
cluster Abell 2390 at z=0.23 we have gained spectroscopic data of 51 elliptical
and lenticular galaxies with MOSCA at the 3.5 m telescope on Calar Alto
Observatory. This investigation spans both a broad range in luminosity
(-19.3>M_B>-22.3) and uses a wide field of view of 10'x10', therefore the
environmental dependence of different formation scenarios can be analysed in
detail as a function of radius from the cluster centre. Here we present results
on the surface brightness modelling of galaxies where morphological and
structural information is available in the F814W filter aboard the Hubble Space
Telescope (HST) and investigate for this subsample the evolution of the
Fundamental Plane.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, to appear in "Carnegie Observatories Astrophysics
Series, Vol. 3: Clusters of Galaxies: Probes of Cosmological Structure and
Galaxy Evolution", ed. J. S. Mulchaey, A. Dressler, and A. Oemler (Pasadena:
Carnegie Observatories,
http://www.ociw.edu/ociw/symposia/series/symposium3/proceedings.html
Bimodal AGNs in Bimodal Galaxies
By their star content, the galaxies split out into a red and a blue
population; their color index peaked around u-r=2.5 or u-r=1, respectively,
quantifies the ratio of the blue stars newly formed from cold galactic gas, to
the redder ones left over by past generations. On the other hand, upon
accreting substantial gas amounts the central massive black holes energize
active galactic nuclei (AGNs); here we investigate whether these show a
similar, and possibly related, bimodal partition as for current accretion
activity relative to the past. To this aim we use an updated semianalytic
model; based on Monte Carlo simulations, this follows with a large statistics
the galaxy assemblage, the star generations and the black hole accretions in
the cosmological framework over the redshift span from z=10 to z=0. We test our
simulations for yielding in close detail the observed split of galaxies into a
red, early and a blue, late population. We find that the black hole accretion
activities likewise give rise to two source populations: early, bright quasars
and later, dimmer AGNs. We predict for their Eddington parameter --
the ratio of the current to the past black hole accretions -- a bimodal
distribution; the two branches sit now under (mainly
contributed by low-luminosity AGNs) and around . These
not only mark out the two populations of AGNs, but also will turn out to
correlate strongly with the red or blue color of their host galaxies.Comment: 7 pages, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa
SPITZER IRS spectra of Virgo early type galaxies: detection of stellar silicate emission
We present high signal to noise ratio Spitzer Infrared Spectrograph
observations of 17 Virgo early-type galaxies. The galaxies were selected from
those that define the colour-magnitude relation of the cluster, with the aim of
detecting the silicate emission of their dusty, mass-losing evolved stars. To
flux calibrate these extended sources we have devised a new procedure that
allows us to obtain the intrinsic spectral energy distribution and to
disentangle resolved and unresolved emission within the same object. We have
found that thirteen objects of the sample (76%) are passively evolving galaxies
with a pronounced broad silicate feature which is spatially extended and likely
of stellar origin, in agreement with model predictions. The other 4 objects
(24%) are characterized by different levels of activity. In NGC 4486 (M 87) the
line emission and the broad silicate emission are evidently unresolved and,
given also the typical shape of the continuum, they likely originate in the
nuclear torus. NGC 4636 shows emission lines superimposed on extended (i.e.
stellar) silicate emission, thus pushing the percentage of galaxies with
silicate emission to 82%. Finally, NGC 4550 and NGC 4435 are characterized by
polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) and line emission, arising from a central
unresolved region. A more detailed analysis of our sample, with updated models,
will be presented in a forthcoming paper.Comment: 6 pages; ApJ Letters, accepte
Explaining the entropy excess in clusters and groups of galaxies without additional heating
The X-ray luminosity and temperature of clusters and groups of galaxies do
not scale in a self-similar manner. This has often been interpreted as a sign
that the intracluster medium has been substantially heated by non-gravitational
sources. In this paper, we propose a simple model which, instead, uses the
properties of galaxy formation to explain the observations. Drawing on
available observations, we show that there is evidence that the efficiency of
galaxy formation was higher in groups than in clusters. If confirmed, this
would deplete the low-entropy gas in groups, increase their central entropy and
decrease their X-ray luminosity. A simple, empirical, hydrostatic model appears
to match both the luminosity-temperature relation of clusters and properties of
their internal structure as well.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, accepted in ApJL; added one reference, otherwise
unchange
Gamma-ray emission from dark matter wakes of recoiled black holes
A new scenario for the emission of high-energy gamma-rays from dark matter
annihilation around massive black holes is presented. A black hole can leave
its parent halo, by means of gravitational radiation recoil, in a merger event
or in the asymmetric collapse of its progenitor star. A recoiled black hole
which moves on an almost-radial orbit outside the virial radius of its central
halo, in the cold dark matter background, reaches its apapsis in a finite time.
Near or at the apapsis passage, a high-density wake extending over a large
radius of influence, forms around the black hole. It is shown that significant
gamma-ray emission can result from the enhancement of neutralino annihilation
in these wakes. At its apapsis passage, a black hole is shown to produce a
flash of high-energy gamma-rays whose duration is determined by the mass of the
black hole and the redshift at which it is ejected. The ensemble of such black
holes in the Hubble volume is shown to produce a diffuse high-energy gamma-ray
background whose magnitude is compared to the diffuse emission from dark matter
haloes alone.Comment: version to appear in Astrophysical Journal letters (labels on Fig. 3
corrected
A Robust Age Indicator for Old Stellar Populations
We derive new spectral H_gamma index definitions which are robust age
indicators for old and relatively old stellar populations and thus have great
potential for solving the age-metallicity degeneracy of galaxy spectra. To
study H_gamma as a function of age, metallicity and resolution, we used a new
spectral synthesis model which predicts SEDs of single-age, single-metallicity
stellar populations at resolution FWHM=1.8A (which can be smoothed to different
resolutions), allowing direct measurements of the equivalent widths of
particular absorption features. We find that the H_gamma strong age
disentangling power strongly depends strongly on the adopted resolution and
galaxy velocity dispersion. We propose a system of indices which are completely
insensitive to metallicity and stable against resolution, allowing the study of
galaxies up to ~300 km/s. Observational spectra of very high S/N and relatively
high dispersion, are required to gain this unprecedented age discriminating
power. Once such spectra are obtained, accurate and reliable estimates for the
luminosity-weighted average stellar ages of these galaxies will become possible
for the first time, without assessing their metallicities. We measured this
index for two globular clusters, a number of low-luminosity elliptical galaxies
and a standard S0 galaxy. We find a large spread in the average stellar ages of
a sample of low-luminosity ellipticals. In particular these indices yield 4 Gyr
for M32, in agreement with the age provided by an extraordinary fit to the full
spectrum of this galaxy that we achieve here.Comment: 22 pages, 4 figures. ApJ, in press. Models and details can be found
at http://www.ioa.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp/~vazdekis
Towards a Holistic View of the Heating and Cooling of the Intracluster Medium
(Abridged) X-ray clusters are conventionally divided into two classes: "cool
core" (CC) clusters and "non-cool core" (NCC) clusters. Yet relatively little
attention has been given to the origins of this dichotomy and, in particular,
to the energetics and thermal histories of the two classes. We develop a model
for the entropy profiles of clusters starting from the configuration
established by gravitational shock heating and radiative cooling. At large
radii, gravitational heating accounts for the observed profiles and their
scalings well. However, at small and intermediate radii, radiative cooling and
gravitational heating cannot be combined to explain the observed profiles of
either type of cluster. The inferred entropy profiles of NCC clusters require
that material is preheated prior to cluster collapse in order to explain the
absence of low entropy (cool) material in these systems. We show that a similar
modification is also required in CC clusters in order to match their properties
at intermediate radii. In CC clusters, this modification is unstable, and an
additional process is required to prevent cooling below a temperature of a few
keV. We show that this can be achieved by adding a self-consistent AGN feedback
loop in which the lowest-entropy, most rapidly cooling material is heated so
that it rises buoyantly to mix with material at larger radii. The resulting
model does not require fine tuning and is in excellent agreement with a wide
variety of observational data. Some of the other implications of this model are
briefly discussed.Comment: 27 pages, 13 figures, MNRAS accepted. Discussion of cluster heating
energetics extended, results unchange
- âŠ