41 research outputs found
Reduction of the COSMOS Southern Sky galaxy survey data to the RC3 standard system
After having cross-identified a subsample of LEDA galaxies in the COSMOS
database, we defined the best relations to convert COSMOS parameters
(coordinates, position angle, diameter, axis ratio and apparent magnitude) into
RC3 system used in the LEDA database. Tiny secondary effects can be tested:
distance to plate cenetrs effect and air-mass effect. The converted COSMOS
parameters are used to add missing parameters on LEDA galaxies.
Key words: galaxies - catalogue - photometryComment: 5 pages, postcript including figures, to appear in MNRAS, reprint
requests: [email protected]
The LEDA galaxy distribution: I. Maps of the Local Universe
In order to investigate the properties of large-scale structures of galaxies
in the universe, we present an analysis of their spatial distribution at
z0.033. We used the LEDA extragalactic database containing over 1 million of
galaxies covering the all-sky and the SDSS data included in the public release
DR1, yielding to a sample of around 134,000 galaxies having a measured redshift
in two survey areas representing 690 sq. degrees. The results of the study are
2D, 3D maps and magnitude number counts of galaxies, drawn from B-band samples.
Movies and high resolution figures are available on
http://www-obs.univ-lyon1.fr/cosmologie/helene.htmlComment: Received November 30, 2003; accepted February 2004, in pres
Inclinations and black hole masses of Seyfert 1 galaxies
A tight correlation of black hole mass and central velocity dispersion has
been found recently for both active and quiescent galaxies. By applying this
correlation, we develop a simple method to derive the inclination angles for a
sample of 11 Seyfert 1 galaxies that have both measured central velocity
dispersions and black hole masses estimated by reverberation mapping. These
angles, with a mean value of 36 degree that agrees well with the result
obtained by fitting the iron K lines of Seyfert 1s observed with ASCA,
provide further support to the orientation-dependent unification scheme of AGN.
A positive correlation of the inclinations with observed FWHMs of H line
and a possible anti-correlation with the nuclear radio-loudness have been
found. We conclude that more accurate knowledge on inclinations and broad line
region dynamics is needed to improve the black hole mass determination of AGN
with the reverberation mapping technique.Comment: 12 pages including 4 figures, accepted for publication in The
Astrophysical Journal Letter
Extragalactic database. VII Reduction of astrophysical parameters
The Lyon-Meudon Extragalactic database (LEDA) gives a free access to the main
astrophysical parameters for more than 100,000 galaxies. The most common names
are compiled allowing users to recover quickly any galaxy. All these measured
astrophysical parameters are first reduced to a common system according to well
defined reduction formulae leading to mean homogeneized parameters. Further,
these parameters are also transformed into corrected parameters from widely
accepted models. For instance, raw 21-cm line widths are transformed into mean
standard widths after correction for instrumental effect and then into maximum
velocity rotation properly corrected for inclination and non-circular velocity.
This paper presents the reduction formulae for each parameter: coordinates,
morphological type and luminosity class, diameter and axis ratio, apparent
magnitude (UBV, IR, HI) and colors, maximum velocity rotation and central
velocity dispersion, radial velocity, mean surface brightness, distance modulus
and absolute magnitude, and group membership. For each of these parameters
intermediate quantities are given: galactic extinction, inclination,
K-correction etc..
All these parameters are available from direct connexion to LEDA (telnet
lmc.univ-lyon1.fr, login: leda, no passwd
OR http://www-obs.univ-lyon1.fr/leda ) and distributed on a standard CD-ROM
(PGC-ROM 1996) by the Observatoire de Lyon via the CNRS (mail to
[email protected]).Comment: 13 pages, 12 figures. The CDROM of the extragalactic database LEDA is
available by mailing to: [email protected]
AGN Black Hole Masses and Bolometric Luminosities
Black hole mass, along with mass accretion rate, is a fundamental property of
active galactic nuclei. Black hole mass sets an approximate upper limit to AGN
energetics via the Eddington limit. We collect and compare all AGN black hole
mass estimates from the literature; these 177 masses are mostly based on the
virial assumption for the broad emission lines, with the broad-line region size
determined from either reverberation mapping or optical luminosity. We
introduce 200 additional black hole mass estimates based on properties of the
host galaxy bulges, using either the observed stellar velocity dispersion or
using the fundamental plane relation to infer ; these methods assume
that AGN hosts are normal galaxies. We compare 36 cases for which black hole
mass has been generated by different methods and find, for individual objects,
a scatter as high as a couple of orders of magnitude. The less direct the
method, the larger the discrepancy with other estimates, probably due to the
large scatter in the underlying correlations assumed. Using published fluxes,
we calculate bolometric luminosities for 234 AGNs and investigate the relation
between black hole mass and luminosity. In contrast to other studies, we find
no significant correlation of black hole mass with luminosity, other than those
induced by circular reasoning in the estimation of black hole mass. The
Eddington limit defines an approximate upper envelope to the distribution of
luminosities, but the lower envelope depends entirely on the sample of AGN
included. For any given black hole mass, there is a range in Eddington ratio of
up to three orders of magnitude.Comment: 43 pages with 10 figures. Accepted for publication in Ap
Dust and the Infrared Kinematic Properties of Early-Type Galaxies
We have obtained spectra and measured the stellar kinematics in a sample of
25 nearby early-type galaxies (with velocity dispersions from less than 100
km/s to over 300 km/s) using the near-infrared CO absorption bandhead at 2.29
microns. Our median uncertainty for the dispersions is ~10%. We examine the
effects of dust on existing optical kinematic measurements. We find that the
near-infrared velocity dispersions are in general smaller than optical velocity
dispersions, with differences as large as 30%. The median difference is 11%
smaller, and the effect is of greater magnitude for higher dispersion galaxies.
The lenticular galaxies (18 out of 25) appear to be causing the shift to lower
dispersions while the classical ellipticals (7 out of 25) are consistent
between the two wavelength regimes. If uniformly distributed dust causes these
differences, we would expect to find a correlation between the relative amount
of dust in a galaxy and the fractional change in dispersion, but we do not find
such a correlation. We do see correlations both between velocity dispersion and
CO bandhead equivalent width, and velocity dispersion and Mg2 index. The
differences in dispersion are not well explained by current models of dust
absorption. The lack of correlation between the relative amount of dust and
shift in dispersion possibly suggets that dust does not have a similar
distribution from galaxy to galaxy. The CO equivalent widths of these galaxies
are quite high (>10 angstroms for almost all), requiring the light at these
wavelengths to be dominated by very cool stars.Comment: 17 pages, 14 figures, accepted to The Astronomical Journa
Evidence for a 3 x 10^8 solar mass black hole in NGC 7052 from HST observations of the nuclear gas disk
We present an HST study of the nuclear region of the E4 radio galaxy NGC
7052, which has a nuclear disk of dust and gas. The WFPC2 was used to obtain B,
V and I broad-band images and an H_alpha+[NII] narrow-band image. The FOS was
used to obtain H_alpha+[NII] spectra along the major axis, using a 0.26 arcsec
diameter circular aperture. The observed rotation velocity of the ionized gas
is V = 155 +/- 17 km/s at r = 0.2 arcsec from the nucleus. The Gaussian
dispersion of the emission lines increases from sigma = 70 km/s at r=1 arcsec,
to sigma = 400 km/s on the nucleus.
To interpret the gas kinematics we construct axisymmetric models in which the
gas and dust reside in a disk in the equatorial plane of the stellar body. It
is assumed that the gas moves on circular orbits, with an intrinsic velocity
dispersion due to turbulence. The circular velocity is calculated from the
combined gravitational potential of the stars and a possible nuclear black hole
(BH). Models without a BH predict a rotation curve that is shallower than
observed (V_pred = 92 km/s at r = 0.2 arcsec), and are ruled out at > 99%
confidence. Models with a BH of 3.3^{+2.3}_{-1.3} x 10^8 solar masses provide
an acceptable fit.
NGC 7052 can be added to the list of active galaxies for which HST spectra of
a nuclear gas disk provide evidence for the presence of a central BH. The BH
masses inferred for M87, M84, NGC 6251, NGC 4261 and NGC 7052 span a range of a
factor 10, with NGC 7052 falling on the low end. By contrast, the luminosities
of these galaxies are identical to within 25%. Any relation between BH mass and
luminosity, as suggested by independent arguments, must therefore have a
scatter of at least a factor 10.Comment: 39 pages, LaTeX, with 16 PostScript figures. Submitted to the
Astronomical Journal. Postscript version with higher resolution figures
available from http://sol.stsci.edu/~marel/abstracts/abs_R22.htm
Narrow Components within the Fe Kalpha Profile of NGC 3516: Evidence for the Importance of General Relativistic Effects?
We present results from a simultaneous Chandra HETG and XMM-Newton
observation of NGC 3516. We find evidence for several narrow components of Fe
Kalpha along with a broad line. We consider the possibility that the lines
arise in an blob of material ejected from the nucleus with velocity ~0.25c. We
also consider an origin in a neutral accretion disk, suffering enhanced
illumination at 35 and 175 gravitational radii, perhaps due to magnetic
reconnection. The presence of these narrow features indicates there is no
Comptonizing region along the line-of-sight to the nucleus. This in turn is
compelling support for the hypothesis that broad Fe Kalpha components are, in
general, produced by strong gravity.Comment: 12 pages, 3 color figures. LaTeX with postscript figures. Resubmitted
June 7 2002, to Astrophysical Journal Letter