The First CO Map of a Low Surface Brightness Galaxy

Using the Owens Valley Radio Observatory Millimeter-Wavelength Array (OVRO) we have obtained the first CO map of a low surface brightness (LSB) galaxy. The studied galaxy, UGC 01922, was chosen for these observations because both of its previous CO detection with the IRAM 30m telescope and its classification as a Malin 1 `cousin' - an LSB galaxy with M_HI > 10^10 Msol. The OVRO map detected approximately 65% of the CO(1-0) flux found earlier with the single dish measurements, giving a detected gas mass equivalent to M_H2 = 1.1X10^9 Msol. The integrated gas peak lies at the center of the galaxy and coincides with both the optical and 1.4 GHz continuum emission peaks. The molecular gas extends well beyond the OVRO beam size (~4'' or 3 kpc), covering ~25% of the optical bulge. In all, perhaps the most remarkable aspect of this map is its unexceptional appearance. Given that it took over ten years to successfully detect molecular gas in any low surface brightness system, it is surprising that the appearance and distribution of UGC 01922's CO is similar to what would be expected for a high surface brightness galaxy in the same morphological class.Comment: 5 pages, including 3 figures and 3 tables. also available online at http://www.gb.nrao.edu/~koneil. Accepted by ApJ

The bimodal spiral galaxy surface brightness distribution

We have assessed the significance of Tully and Verheijen's (1997) bimodal Ursa Major Cluster spiral galaxy near-infrared surface brightness distribution, focussing on whether this bimodality is simply an artifact of small number statistics. A Kolmogorov-Smirnov style of significance test shows that the total distribution is fairly represented by a single-peaked distribution, but that their isolated galaxy subsample (with no significant neighbours within a projected distance of around 80 kpc) is bimodal at the 96 per cent level. We have also investigated the assumptions underlying the isolated galaxy surface brightness distribution, finding that the (often large) inclination corrections used in the construction of this distribution reduce the significance of the bimodality. We conclude that the Ursa Major Cluster dataset is insufficient to establish the presence of a bimodal near-infrared surface brightness distribution: an independent sample of around 100 isolated, low inclination galaxies is required to establish bimodality at the 99 per cent level.Comment: 5 pages LaTeX; 2 embedded figures; re-submitted to MNRAS after replying to referee's comment

First Detection of CO in a Low Surface Brightness Galaxy

We report on the first attempts at searching for CO in red low surface brightness galaxies, and the first detection of molecular gas in a low surface brightness (mu_B(0)_{obs} > 23 mag arcsec^{-2}) galaxy. Using the IRAM 30m telescope, CO(1-0) and CO(2-1) lines were searched for in four galaxies -- P06-1, P05-5, C05-3, & C04-2. In three of the galaxies no CO was detected, to T_{MB} ~ 1.8mK (at the 3 sigma level). In the fourth galaxy, P06-1, both lines were detected. Comparing our findings with previous studies shows P06-1 to have a molecular-to-atomic mass ratio considerably lower than is predicted using theoretical models based on high surface brightness galaxy studies. This indicates the N(H_2)/(int{T(CO)dv}) conversion factor for low surface brightness galaxies may currently be consistently underestimated by a factor of 3 - 20.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, accepted by the ApJ

Saving energy: bringing down Europe's enery prices

In June 2011 the European Commission proposed a new Directive on Energy Efficiency. Its purpose is to put forward a framework to deliver the EU’s target of reducing its energy consumption by 20% by 2020. Currently, the EU is only on track to achieve half of those savings. Apart from the environmental benefits -notably, reducing greenhouse gas emissions- energy savings have significant economic benefits for European economies: (1) they reduce the amount of money businesses and consumers need to spend on energy, (2) they have positive effects on employment and (3) they decrease dependency on fossil fuel imports. But the actual scale of the benefits is often underestimated. In this paper, we show that energy savings do not only bring direct cost savings; they also indirectly reduce energy prices. Real cost savings resulting from meeting the 20% savings target are likely to be considerably higher than figures commonly cited. In other words, consumers would use fewer units of energy, and the price of the units they do use would be lower than they would otherwise be. Energy savings can reduce energy prices in the following ways: 1. Decreasing fossil fuel prices: international fossil fuel markets are under pressure because there is little reserve production capacity. This means prices are very sensitive to changes in energy demand. Because energy savings in Europe and the spillover effects of this action in other world regions will reduce global demand, we expect significant reductions in future energy prices. 2. Decreasing electricity prices: cheaper fossil fuel prices will reduce electricity prices (because roughly 50% of the EU’s electricity is produced from fossil fuels). In addition, a lower demand will impact the fuel mix in electricity production: it will occur more often that lower-priced fuels determine the marginal costs.This will have an additional reduction effect on electricity prices. 3. Decreasing energy prices in the longer term: meeting the EU’s 20% by 2020 energy saving target is expected to save tens of billions of Euros per year due to avoided investments in energy infrastructure (power generation and transmission, fuel import and storage facilities). Since it is usual practice to pass on investment costs to energy consumers, a reduction in these investments will lead to an additional cost saving. On the basis of the evidence examined in this report, we estimate that the indirect impact on energy prices will be of the same order as the direct impact of the energy savings. Put simply, for every €1 of energy cost saving, an additional €1 could be saved due to lower energy prices

Two distance-regular graphs

We construct two families of distance-regular graphs, namely the subgraph of the dual polar graph of type B_3(q) induced on the vertices far from a fixed point, and the subgraph of the dual polar graph of type D_4(q) induced on the vertices far from a fixed edge. The latter is the extended bipartite double of the former

A Structural and Dynamical Study of Late-Type, Edge-On Galaxies: I. Sample Selection and Imaging Data

We present optical (B & R) and infrared (K_s) images and photometry for a sample of 49 extremely late-type, edge-on disk galaxies selected from the Flat Galaxy Catalog of Karenchentsev et al. (1993). Our sample was selected to include galaxies with particularly large axial ratios, increading the likelihood that the galaxies in the sample are truly edge-on. We have also concentrated the sample on galaxies with low apparent surface brightness, in order to increase the representation of intrinisically low surface brightness galaxies. Finally, the sample was chosen to have no apprarent bulges or optical warps so that the galaxies represent undisturbed, ``pure disk'' systems. The resulting sample forms the basis for a much larger spectroscopic study designed to place constraints on the physical quantities and processes which shape disk galaxies. The imaging data presented in this paper has been painstakingly reduced and calibrated to allow accurate surface photometry of features as faint as 30 mag/sqr-arcsec in B and 29 mag/sqr-arcsec in R on scales larger than 10 arcsec. Due to limitations in sky subtraction and flat fielding, the infrared data can reach only to 22.5 mag/sqr-arcsec in K_s on comparable scales. As part of this work, we have developed a new method for quantifying the reliability of surface photometry, which provides useful diagnostics for the presence of scattered light, optical emission from infrared cirrus, and other sources of non-uniform sky backgrounds.Comment: scheduled to appear in the Astronomical Journal, LaTeX, 36 pages including 7 pages of figures (fig 1-2,4). A low resolution version of Figure 3 is included in JPEG format; contours are seriously degraded. A full resolution Postscript version of Figure 3 (10.6Mb,gzipped) is available through anonymous ftp at ftp://ftp.astro.washington.edu/pub/users/jd/FGC/dalcanton.f3.ps.g