1,279 research outputs found
Constraining the Dark-matter Halo Mass of Isolated Low-surface-brightness Galaxies
Recent advancements in the imaging of low-surface-brightness objects revealed numerous ultra-diffuse galaxies in the local universe. These peculiar objects are unusually extended and faint: their effective radii are comparable to the Milky Way, but their surface brightnesses are lower than that of dwarf galaxies. Their ambiguous properties motivate two potential formation scenarios: the "failed" Milky Way, and the dwarf galaxy scenario. In this Letter, for the first time, we employ X-ray observations to test these formation scenarios on a sample of isolated, low-surface-brightness galaxies (LSBGs). Because hot gas X-ray luminosities correlate with the dark-matter halo mass, "failed" Milky-Way-type galaxies, which reside in massive dark-matter halos, are expected to have significantly higher X-ray luminosities than dwarf galaxies, which reside in low-mass dark-matter halos. We perform X-ray photometry on a subset of LSBGs identified in the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru survey, utilizing the XMM-Newton XXL North survey. We find that none of the individual galaxies show significant X-ray emission. By co-adding the signal of individual galaxies, the stacked galaxies remain undetected and we set an X-ray luminosity upper limit of L0.3-1 (2 keV) <= 6.2 x 10(37) (d/65 Mpc)(2) erg s(-1) for an average isolated LSBG. This upper limit is about 40 times lower than that expected in a galaxy with massive dark-matter halo, implying that the majority of isolated LSBGs reside in dwarf-size dark-matter halos
Ultra-diffuse galaxies in the Coma cluster: Probing their origin and AGN occupation fraction
Ultra-diffuse galaxies (UDGs) exhibit low surface brightness, but their
optical extent is comparable to Milky Way-type galaxies. Due to their peculiar
properties, it remains ambiguous whether UDGs are the descendants of massive
galaxies or they are puffed-up dwarf galaxies. In this work, we explore a
population of 404 UDGs in the Coma cluster to study their origin and AGN
occupation fraction. To constrain the formation scenario of UDGs, we probe the
X-ray emission originating from diffuse gas and from the population of
unresolved low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs) residing in globular clusters (GCs).
It is expected that both the luminosity of the hot gas and the number of
globular clusters and hence the luminosity from GC-LMXBs are proportional to
the total dark matter halo mass. We do not detect statistically significant
emission from the hot gas or from GC-LMXBs. The upper limits on the X-ray
luminosities suggest that the bulk of the UDGs reside in low-mass dark matter
halos, implying that they are genuine dwarf galaxies. This conclusion agrees
with our previous results obtained for isolated UDGs, arguing that UDGs are a
homogenous population of galaxies. To probe the AGN occupation fraction of
UDGs, we cross-correlate the position of detected X-ray sources in the Coma
cluster with the position of UDGs. We identify two UDGs that have a luminous
X-ray source at 3.0" and 3.2" from the center of the galaxies, which could be
off-center AGN. However, Monte Carlo simulations suggest that one of these
sources could be the result of spatial coincidence with a background AGN.
Therefore, we place an upper limit of on the AGN occupation
fraction of UDGs.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figures, ApJ in pres
Lessons from LIMK1 enzymology and their impact on inhibitor design
LIM domain kinase 1 (LIMK1) is a key regulator of actin dynamics. It is thereby a potential therapeutic target for the prevention of fragile X syndrome and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Herein, we use X-ray crystallography and activity assays to describe how LIMK1 accomplishes substrate specificity, to suggest a unique ‘rock-and-poke’ mechanism of catalysis and to explore the regulation of the kinase by activation loop phosphorylation. Based on these findings, a differential scanning fluorimetry assay and a RapidFire mass spectrometry activity assay were established, leading to the discovery and confirmation of a set of small-molecule LIMK1 inhibitors. Interestingly, several of the inhibitors were inactive towards the closely related isoform LIMK2. Finally, crystal structures of the LIMK1 kinase domain in complex with inhibitors (PF-477736 and staurosporine, respectively) are presented, providing insights into LIMK1 plasticity upon inhibitor binding
Hydrogen Two-Photon Continuum Emission from the Horseshoe Filament in NGC 1275
Far ultraviolet emission has been detected from a knot of Halpha emission in
the Horseshoe filament, far out in the NGC 1275 nebula. The flux detected
relative to the brightness of the Halpha line in the same spatial region is
very close to that expected from Hydrogen two-photon continuum emission in the
particle heating model of Ferland et al. (2009) if reddening internal to the
filaments is taken into account. We find no need to invoke other sources of far
ultraviolet emission such as hot stars or emission lines from CIV in
intermediate temperature gas to explain these data.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRA
X-ray bright active galactic nuclei in massive galaxy clusters III: New insights into the triggering mechanisms of cluster AGN
We present the results of a new analysis of the X-ray selected Active
Galactic Nuclei (AGN) population in the vicinity of 135 of the most massive
galaxy clusters in the redshift range of 0.2 < z < 0.9 observed with Chandra.
With a sample of more than 11,000 X-ray point sources, we are able to measure,
for the first time, evidence for evolution in the cluster AGN population beyond
the expected evolution of field AGN. Our analysis shows that overall number
density of cluster AGN scales with the cluster mass as .
There is no evidence for the overall number density of cluster member X-ray AGN
depending on the cluster redshift in a manner different than field AGN, nor
there is any evidence that the spatial distribution of cluster AGN (given in
units of the cluster overdensity radius r_500) strongly depends on the cluster
mass or redshift. The scaling relation we measure is
consistent with theoretical predictions of the galaxy merger rate in clusters,
which is expected to scale with the cluster velocity dispersion, , as or . This consistency suggests that AGN in
clusters may be predominantly triggered by galaxy mergers, a result that is
further corroborated by visual inspection of Hubble images for 23
spectroscopically confirmed cluster member AGN in our sample. A merger-driven
scenario for the triggering of X-ray AGN is not strongly favored by studies of
field galaxies, however, suggesting that different mechanisms may be primarily
responsible for the triggering of cluster and field X-ray AGN.Comment: 21 Pages, 8 figures, 5 tables. Submitted to MNRAS. Comments are
welcome, and please request Steven Ehlert for higher resolution figure
Cooling in the X-ray halo of the rotating, massive early-type galaxy NGC 7049
The relative importance of the physical processes shaping the thermodynamics
of the hot gas permeating rotating, massive early-type galaxies is expected to
be different from that in non-rotating systems. Here, we report the results of
the analysis of XMM-Newton data for the massive, lenticular galaxy NGC 7049.
The galaxy harbours a dusty disc of cool gas and is surrounded by an extended
hot X-ray emitting gaseous atmosphere with unusually high central entropy. The
hot gas in the plane of rotation of the cool dusty disc has a multi-temperature
structure, consistent with ongoing cooling. We conclude that the rotational
support of the hot gas is likely capable of altering the multiphase
condensation regardless of the ratio, which is here
relatively high, . However, the measured ratio of cooling time and
eddy turnover time around unity (-ratio ) implies significant
condensation, and at the same time, the constrained ratio of rotational
velocity and the velocity dispersion (turbulent Taylor number)
indicates that the condensing gas should follow non-radial orbits forming a
disc instead of filaments. This is in agreement with hydrodynamical simulations
of massive rotating galaxies predicting a similarly extended multiphase disc.Comment: 11 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA
Collisional excitation of [C II], [O I] and CO in Massive Galaxies
Many massive galaxies at the centres of relaxed galaxy clusters and groups
have vast reservoirs of cool (~10,000 K) and cold (~100 K) gas. In many low
redshift brightest group and cluster galaxies this gas is lifted into the hot
ISM in filamentary structures, which are long lived and are typically not
forming stars. Two important questions are how far do these reservoirs cool and
if cold gas is abundant what is the cause of the low star formation efficiency?
Heating and excitation of the filaments from collisions and mixing of hot
particles in the surrounding X-ray gas describes well the optical and near
infra-red line ratios observed in the filaments. In this paper we examine the
theoretical properties of dense, cold clouds emitting in the far infra-red and
submillimeter through the bright lines of [C II]157 \mu m , [O I]63 \mu m and
CO, exposed to these energetic ionising particles. While some emission lines
may be optically thick we find this is not sufficient to model the emission
line ratios. Models where the filaments are supported by thermal pressure
support alone also cannot account for the cold gas line ratios but a very
modest additional pressure support, either from turbulence or magnetic fields
can fit the observed [O I]/[C II] line ratios by decreasing the density of the
gas. This may also help stabilise the filaments against collapse leading to the
low rates of star formation. Finally we make predictions for the line ratios
expected from cold gas under these conditions and present diagnostic diagrams
for comparison with further observations. We provide our code as an Appendix.Comment: 17 pages, submitted to MNRA
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