Spatial distribution of Far infrared emission in spiral galaxies II. Heating sources and gas-to-dust ratio

We study the radial distribution of the temperature of the warm dust and gas-to-dust mass ratios in a sample of 22 spiral galaxies. The heating capabilities of the diffuse interstellar radiation field (ISRF), based on Desert et al. model, are investigated in 13 of the sample galaxies. In general, the temperature of the warm dust decreases away from the center, reaches a minimum value at the mid-disk and increases again in the outer parts of galaxies. Heating a mixture of small and big grains by the ISRF is able to explain the observed behavior qualitatively. However, ultraviolet photons from recent star formation events are necessary for a detailed matching of the warm dust temperature profiles. Very small grains contribute typically more than 50% to the observed flux at 60 micron beyond half the disk radius in galaxies. Optical depth profiles, derived from the observed 60 micron and warm dust temperature profiles, peak at or close to the galactic center. In 13 of the galaxies, where dust temperature profiles are modeled, we obtain gas-to-dust mass ratio profiles, after correction for the contaminating effects of very small grains. The gas-to-dust mass ratio decreases by a factor of 8 from the center to the optical isophotal radius, where the value approaches the local galactic value. We demonstrate that the observed steep gradient is a result of the over-estimation of the molecular mass, and can be flattened out to within a factor of 2, if the molecular hydrogen mass (H2) is recomputed assuming a metallicity dependent conversion factor from CO intensity to H2 column density. The flattened radial profiles indicate a global gas-to-dust ratio of around 300, which is within a factor of two of the local galactic value.Comment: Uses aas2pp4.sty and epsfig.sty, 27 pages. To appear in Astronomical Journal, September 199

Spatial distribution of far infrared emission in spiral galaxies I. Relation with radio continuum emission

We use high resolution IRAS and 20 cm radio continuum (RC) images of a sample of 22 spiral galaxies to study the correlation between the far infra-red (FIR) and RC emissions within the galactic disks. A combination of exponential and gaussian profiles rather than a single exponential profile is found to be a better representation of the observed intensity profiles in the two bands. The gaussian component, which we show is not due to the effects of limited beam-resolution, contains more than 60% of the total flux in majority of the galaxies. The dominance of the gaussian component suggests that the nuclear star forming regions and the bulge stars are more important contributors to the emission in the two bands, rather than the outer exponential stellar disks. The RC profile is flatter compared to the FIR profile, resulting in a decrease of their ratio, Q60, away from the center. However, the Q60 increases in the extreme outer parts, where the dispersion in the FIR and RC correlation is also higher than in the central regions. The global Q60 and its dispersion match those in the inner parts of the galaxies. These results imply that the observed tight correlation in the global quantities reflects processes in the inner regions only where OB stars and the associated Type II supernovae control the FIR and RC emission. In the outer parts heating of very small dust grains by the old disk stars provides a secondary component in the FIR emission, without associated RC emission. The edge-on galaxy NGC3079 shows extended FIR and RC emissions along its minor axis, probably associated with the nuclear starburst activity.Comment: Uses aas2pp4.sty and epsfig.sty, 21 pages. Figure 1 is spread over 22 pages and is available at http://www.inaoep.mx/~ydm/preprint.html To appear in Astronomical Journal, September 199

The Angular Momentum Distribution within Halos in Different Dark Matter Models

We study the angular momentum profile of dark matter halos for a statistical sample drawn from a set of high-resolution cosmological simulations of $256^3$ particles. Two typical Cold Dark Matter (CDM) models have been analyzed, and the halos are selected to have at least $3\times 10^4$ particles in order to reliably measure the angular momentum profile. In contrast with the recent claims of Bullock et al., we find that the degree of misalignment of angular momentum within a halo is very high. About 50 percent of halos have more than 10 percent of halo mass in the mass of negative angular momentum $j$. After the mass of negative $j$ is excluded, the cumulative mass function $M(<j)$ follows approximately the universal function proposed by Bullock et al., though we still find a significant fraction of halos ($\sim 50$) which exhibit systematic deviations from the universal function. Our results, however, are broadly in good agreement with a recent work of van den Bosch et al.. We also study the angular momentum profile of halos in a Warm Dark Matter (WDM) model and a Self-Interacting Dark Matter (SIDM) model. We find that the angular momentum profile of halos in the WDM is statistically indistinguishable from that in the CDM model, but the angular momentum of halos in the SIDM is reduced by the self-interaction of dark matter.Comment: 23 pages, 10 figures, 2 tables. Revised version, added a new table, accepted for publication in MNRA