13,204 research outputs found
The identification of physical close galaxy pairs
A classification scheme for close pairs of galaxies is proposed. The scheme
is motivated by the fact that the majority of apparent close pairs are in fact
wide pairs in three-dimensional space. This is demonstrated by means of
numerical simulations of random samples of binary galaxies and the scrutiny of
the resulting projected and spatial separation distributions.
Observational strategies for classifying close pairs according to the scheme
are suggested. As a result, physical (i.e., bound and spatially) close pairs
are identified.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in The Astronomical
Journal, added text corrections on proof
The Mass-to-Light Ratio of Binary Galaxies
We report on the mass-to-light ratio determination based on a newly selected
binary galaxy sample, which includes a large number of pairs whose separations
exceed a few hundred kpc. The probability distributions of the projected
separation and the velocity difference have been calculated considering the
contamination of optical pairs, and the mass-to-light ratio has been determined
based on the maximum likelihood method. The best estimate of in the B
band for 57 pairs is found to be 28 36 depending on the orbital
parameters and the distribution of optical pairs (solar unit, km
s Mpc). The best estimate of for 30 pure spiral pairs is
found to be 12 16. These results are relatively smaller than those
obtained in previous studies, but consistent with each other within the errors.
Although the number of pairs with large separation is significantly increased
compared to previous samples, does not show any tendency of increase, but
found to be almost independent of the separation of pairs beyond 100 kpc. The
constancy of beyond 100 kpc may indicate that the typical halo size of
spiral galaxies is less than kpc.Comment: 18 pages + 8 figures, to appear in ApJ Vol. 516 (May 10
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