8,248 research outputs found
Distortion of Globular Clusters by Galactic Bulges
One of the external fields that influences the population of globular
clusters is that due to galactic bulges. In extreme situations, perigalactic
distances pc, globular clusters could suffer total disruption in
a single passage. A more common scenario is that for cluster orbits with pc. We investigate the effects of tidal forces from a bulge on the
shape of globular clusters for this type of encounters. We find distortions
characterized by ``twisting isophotes'' and consider the potential for
observability of this effect. In the Milky Way, a typical globular cluster must
pass within several hundred pc of the center to experience substantial
distortion, and it is possible that this has happened recently to one or two
present day clusters. We estimate that this distortion could be observed even
for globulars in dense fields toward the bulge. In more extreme environments
such as giant ellipticals or merger products with newly formed globulars, this
effect could be more common, extending out to orbits that pass within 1 kpc of
the bulge center. This would lead to a substantial shift in the eccentricity
distribution of globulars in those galaxies.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figure
The Revealing Dust: Mid-Infrared Activity in Hickson Compact Group Galaxy Nuclei
We present a sample of 46 galaxy nuclei from 12 nearby (z<4500 km/s) Hickson
Compact Groups (HCGs) with a complete suite of 1-24 micron 2MASS+Spitzer
nuclear photometry. For all objects in the sample, blue emission from stellar
photospheres dominates in the near-IR through the 3.6 micron IRAC band.
Twenty-five of 46 (54%) galaxy nuclei show red, mid-IR continua characteristic
of hot dust powered by ongoing star formation and/or accretion onto a central
black hole. We introduce alpha_{IRAC}, the spectral index of a power-law fit to
the 4.5-8.0 micron IRAC data, and demonstrate that it cleanly separates the
mid-IR active and non-active HCG nuclei. This parameter is more powerful for
identifying low to moderate-luminosity mid-IR activity than other measures
which include data at rest-frame lambda<3.6 micron that may be dominated by
stellar photospheric emission. While the HCG galaxies clearly have a bimodal
distribution in this parameter space, a comparison sample from the Spitzer
Nearby Galaxy Survey (SINGS) matched in J-band total galaxy luminosity is
continuously distributed. A second diagnostic, the fraction of 24 micron
emission in excess of that expected from quiescent galaxies, f_{24D}, reveals
an additional 3 nuclei to be active at 24 micron. Comparing these two mid-IR
diagnostics of nuclear activity to optical spectroscopic identifications from
the literature reveals some discrepancies, and we discuss the challenges of
distinguishing the source of ionizing radiation in these and other lower
luminosity systems. We find a significant correlation between the fraction of
mid-IR active galaxies and the total HI mass in a group, and investigate
possible interpretations of these results in light of galaxy evolution in the
highly interactive system of a compact group environment.Comment: 20 pages, 17 figures (1 color), uses emulateapj. Accepted for
publication by Ap
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