309 research outputs found
On the Uncertainties of Stellar Mass Estimates via Colour Measurements
Mass-to-light versus colour relations (MLCRs), derived from stellar
population synthesis models, are widely used to estimate galaxy stellar masses
(M) yet a detailed investigation of their inherent biases and limitations
is still lacking. We quantify several potential sources of uncertainty, using
optical and near-infrared (NIR) photometry for a representative sample of
nearby galaxies from the Virgo cluster. Our method for combining multi-band
photometry with MLCRs yields robust stellar masses, while errors in M
decrease as more bands are simultaneously considered. The prior assumptions in
one's stellar population modelling dominate the error budget, creating a
colour-dependent bias of up to 0.6 dex if NIR fluxes are used (0.3 dex
otherwise). This matches the systematic errors associated with the method of
spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting, indicating that MLCRs do not suffer
from much additional bias. Moreover, MLCRs and SED fitting yield similar
degrees of random error (0.1-0.14 dex) when applied to mock galaxies and,
on average, equivalent masses for real galaxies with M 10
M. The use of integrated photometry introduces additional uncertainty
in M measurements, at the level of 0.05-0.07 dex. We argue that using
MLCRs, instead of time-consuming SED fits, is justified in cases with complex
model parameter spaces (involving, for instance, multi-parameter star formation
histories) and/or for large datasets. Spatially-resolved methods for measuring
M should be applied for small sample sizes and/or when accuracies less than
0.1 dex are required. An Appendix provides our MLCR transformations for ten
colour permutations of the filter set.Comment: Accepted to MNRAS. 43 pages, 12 figures, 3 table
The Tully-Fisher Zero Point Problem
A long standing problem for hierarchical disk galaxy formation models has
been the simultaneous matching of the zero point of the Tully-Fisher relation
and the galaxy luminosity function (LF). We illustrate this problem for a
typical disk galaxy and discuss three solutions: low stellar mass-to-light
ratios, low initial dark halo concentrations, and no halo contraction. We
speculate that halo contraction may be reversed through a combination of mass
ejection through feedback and angular momentum exchange brought about by
dynamical friction between baryons and dark matter during the disk formation
process.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, to appear in proceedings of "Formation and
Evolution of Galaxy Disks", Rome, October 2007, Eds. J.G. Funes, S.J. and
E.M. Corsin
M31's Heavy Element Distribution and Outer Disk
Hubble Space Telescope imaging of 11 fields in M31 were reduced to
color-magnitude diagrams. The fields were chosen to sample all galactocentric
radii to 50 kpc. Assuming that the bulk of the sampled stellar populations are
older than a few Gyr, the colors of the red giants map to an abundance
distribution with errors of order 0.1 dex in abundance. The radially sampled
abundance distributions are all about the same width, but show a mild abundance
gradient that flattens outside ~20 kpc. The various distributions were weighted
and summed with the aid of new surface brightness profile fits to obtain an
abundance distribution representative of the entirety of M31. M31 is a system
near chemical maturity. This ``observed closed box'' is compared to analytical
closed box models. M31 suffers from a lack of metal-poor stars and metal-rich
stars relative to the simplest closed-box model in the same way as the solar
neighborhood.Comparing to several simple chemical evolution models, neither
complete mixing of gas at all times nor zero mixing, inhomogeneous models give
the most convincing match to the data. As noted elsewhere, the outer disk of
M31 is a factor of ten more metal-rich than the Milky Way halo, ten times more
metal-rich than the dwarf spheroidals cospatial with it, and more metal-rich
than most of the globular clusters at the same galactocentric radius.
Difficulties of interpretation are greatly eased if we posit that the M31 disk
dominates over the halo at all radii out to 50 kpc. In fact, scaling from
current density models of the Milky Way, one should not expect to see halo
stars dominating over disk stars until beyond our 50 kpc limit. A corollary
conclusion is that most published studies of the M31 "halo" are actually
studies of its disk.Comment: 28 pages, 11 black-and-white figures, in press, Astrophysical Journa
High Angular Resolution JHK Imaging of the Centers of the Metal-Poor Globular Clusters NGC5272 (M3), NGC6205 (M13), NGC6287, and NGC6341 (M92)
The Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) Adaptive Optics Bonnette (AOB) has
been used to obtain high angular resolution JHK images of the centers of the
metal-poor globular clusters NGC5272 (M3), NGC6205 (M13), NGC6287, and NGC6341
(M92). The color-magnitude diagrams (CMDs) derived from these data include the
upper main sequence and most of the red giant branch (RGB), and the cluster
sequences agree with published photometric measurements of bright stars in
these clusters. The photometric accuracy is limited by PSF variations, which
introduce systematic errors of a few hundredths of a magnitude near the AO
reference star.
The clusters are paired according to metallicity, and the near-infrared CMDs
and luminosity functions are used to investigate the relative ages within each
pair. The near-infrared CMDs provide the tightest constraints on the relative
ages of the classical second parameter pair NGC5272 and NGC6205, and indicate
that these clusters have ages that differ by no more than +/- 1 Gyr. These
results thus support the notion that age is not the second parameter. We
tentatively conclude that NGC6287 and NGC6341 have ages that differ by no more
than +/- 2 Gyr. However, the near-infrared spectral energy distributions of
stars in NGC6287 appear to differ from those of stars in outer halo clusters,
bringing into question the validity of this age estimate.Comment: 22 pages, 17 figures. To be published in the Astronomical Journa
Stellar Populations and Radial Migrations in Virgo Disk Galaxies
We present stellar age profiles for 64 Virgo cluster disk galaxies whose
analysis poses a challenge for current galaxy formation models. Our results can
be summarized as follows: first, and contrary to observations of field
galaxies, these cluster galaxies are distributed almost equally amongst the
three main types of disk galaxy luminosity profiles (I/II/III), indicating that
the formation and/or survival of Type II breaks is suppressed within the
cluster environment. Second, we find examples of statistically-significant
inversions ("U-shapes") in the age profiles of all three disk galaxy types,
reminescent of predictions from high-resolution simulations of
classically-truncated Type II disks in the field. These features characterize
the age profiles for only about a third (<36%) of each disk galaxy type in our
sample. An even smaller fraction of cluster disks (~11% of the total sample),
exhibit age profiles which decrease outwards (i.e., negative age gradients).
Instead, flat and/or positive age gradients prevail (>50%) within our Type I,
II and III sub-samples. These observations thus suggest that while stellar
migrations and inside-out growth can play a significant role in the evolution
of all disk galaxy types, other factors contributing to the evolution of
galaxies can overwhelm the predicted signatures of these processes. We
interpret our observations through a scenario whereby Virgo cluster disk
galaxies formed initially like their bretheren in the field but which, upon
falling into the cluster, were transformed into their present state through
external processes linked to the environment. Current disk galaxy formation
models fail to reproduce these results, thus calling for adequate
hydrodynamical simulations of dense galaxy environments, for which the current
paper provides many constraints. [Abridged]Comment: 47 pages, 10 figures. ApJ, in press. Full resolution version
available at http://www.astro.queensu.ca/~courteau/papers/migrations2012.pd
Scaling Relations of Spiral Galaxies
We construct a large data set of global structural parameters for 1300 field
and cluster spiral galaxies and explore the joint distribution of luminosity L,
optical rotation velocity V, and disk size R at I- and 2MASS K-bands. The I-
and K-band velocity-luminosity (VL) relations have log-slopes of 0.29 and 0.27,
respectively with sigma_ln(VL)~0.13, and show a small dependence on color and
morphological type in the sense that redder, early-type disk galaxies rotate
faster than bluer, later-type disk galaxies for most luminosities. The VL
relation at I- and K-bands is independent of surface brightness, size and light
concentration. The log-slope of the I- and K-band RL relations is a strong
function of morphology and varies from 0.25 to 0.5. The average dispersion
sigma_ln(RL) decreases from 0.33 at I-band to 0.29 at K, likely due to the
2MASS selection bias against lower surface brightness galaxies. Measurement
uncertainties are sigma_ln(V)~0.09, sigma_ln(L)~0.14 and somewhat larger and
harder to estimate for ln(R). The color dependence of the VL relation is
consistent with expectations from stellar population synthesis models. The VL
and RL residuals are largely uncorrelated with each other; the RV-RL residuals
show only a weak positive correlation. These correlations suggest that scatter
in luminosity is not a significant source of the scatter in the VL and RL
relations. The observed scaling relations can be understood in the context of a
model of disk galaxies embedded in dark matter halos that invokes low mean spin
parameters and dark halo expansion, as we describe in our companion paper
(Dutton et al. 2007). We discuss in two appendices various pitfalls of standard
analytical derivations of galaxy scaling relations, including the Tully-Fisher
relation with different slopes. (Abridged).Comment: Accepted for publication at ApJ. The full document, with
high-resolution B&W and colour figures, is available at
http://www.astro.queensu.ca/~courteau/papers/VRL2007ApJ.pdf . Our data base
for 1303 spiral galaxies is also available at
http://www.astro.queensu.ca/~courteau/data/VRL2007.da
An N-body/SPH Study of Isolated Galaxy Mass Density Profiles
We investigate the evolution of mass density profiles in secular disk galaxy
models, paying special attention to the development of a two-component profile
from a single initial exponential disk free of cosmological evolution (i.e., no
accretion or interactions). As the source of density profile variations, we
examine the parameter space of the spin parameter, halo concentration, virial
mass, disk mass and bulge mass, for a total of 162 simulations in the context
of a plausible model of star formation and feedback (GADGET-2). The evolution
of the galaxy mass density profile, including the development of a
two-component profile with an inner and outer segment, is controlled by the
ratio of the disk mass fraction, , to the halo spin parameter,
. The location of the break between the two components and speed at
which it develops is directly proportional to ; the amplitude of
the transition between the inner and outer regions is however controlled by the
ratio of halo concentration to virial velocity. The location of the divide
between the inner and outer profile does not change with time. (Abridged)Comment: 27 pages, 31 figures. Accepted for publication at MNRAS. A
high-resolution version of the paper with figures can be found here
http://www.mpia-hd.mpg.de/~foyle/papers/MN-07-1491-MJ.R1.pd
A Revised Model for the Formation of Disk Galaxies: Low Spin and Dark-Halo Expansion
We use observed rotation velocity-luminosity (VL) and size-luminosity (RL)
relations to single out a specific scenario for disk galaxy formation in the
LCDM cosmology. Our model involves four independent log-normal random
variables: dark-halo concentration c, disk spin lam_gal, disk mass fraction
m_gal, and stellar mass-to-light ratio M/L_I. A simultaneous match of the VL
and RL zero points with adiabatic contraction requires low-c halos, but this
model has V_2.2~1.8 V_vir (where V_2.2 and V_vir are the circular velocity at
2.2 disk scale lengths and the virial radius, respectively) which will be
unable to match the luminosity function (LF). Similarly models without
adiabatic contraction but standard c also predict high values of V_2.2/V_vir.
Models in which disk formation induces an expansion rather than the commonly
assumed contraction of the dark-matter halos have V_2.2~1.2 V_vir which allows
a simultaneous fit of the LF. This may result from non-spherical, clumpy gas
accretion, where dynamical friction transfers energy from the gas to the dark
matter. This model requires low lam_gal and m_gal values, contrary to naive
expectations. However, the low lam_gal is consistent with the notion that disk
galaxies predominantly survive in halos with a quiet merger history, while a
low m_gal is also indicated by galaxy-galaxy lensing. The smaller than expected
scatter in the RL relation, and the lack of correlation between the residuals
of the VL and RL relations, respectively, imply that the scatter in lam_gal and
in c need to be smaller than predicted for LCDM halos, again consistent with
the idea that disk galaxies preferentially reside in halos with a quiet merger
history.Comment: 28 pages, 16 figures, ApJ accepted, minor changes from unpublished
version, uses emulateapj.cls, high-resolution version available at
http://www.ucolick.org/~dutton/65200/hi-res-version/ms.dutton.v2_hr.p
- …