989 research outputs found
The tilt of the Fundamental Plane of Early-type galaxies: wavelength dependence
The photometric parameters R_e and mu_e of 74 early-type (E+S0+S0a) galaxies
in the Coma cluster are derived for the first time in the near IR H band. These
are used, coupled with measurements of the central velocity dispersion found in
the literature, to determine the H band Fundamental Plane (FP) relation of this
cluster. The same procedure is applied to previously available photometric data
in the B, V, r, I, and K bands, to perform a multi-wavelength study of the FP.
Because systematic uncertainties in the value of the FP parameters are
introduced both by the choice of the fitting algorithm, and by the presence of
statistical biases connected with the sample selection procedure, we emphasize
the importance of deriving the FP parameters in the six photometric bands using
an identical fitting algorithm, and appropriate corrections to eliminate the
effects of sample incompleteness. We find that the FP mu_e coefficient is
stable with wavelength, while the sigma coefficient increases significantly
with increasing wavelength, in agreement with an earlier result presented by
Pahre & Djorgovski. The slope of the FP relation, although changing with
wavelength, never approaches the virial theorem expectation. We also find that
the magnitude of the slope change can be entirely explained by the presence of
the well known relation between color and magnitude among early-type galaxies.
We conclude that the tilt of the Fundamental Plane is significant, and must be
due to some form of broken homology among early-type galaxies, while its
wavelength dependence derives from whatever mechanism (currently the preferred
one is the existence of a mass-metal content sequence) produces the
color-magnitude relation in those galaxies.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures, 6 tables; table 3 should be printed in landscape
mode, and inserted into the text. Accepted for publication in MNRA
Deepest Near-IR Surface Photometry of Galaxies in the Local Sphere of Influence
We present near-IR, deep (4 mag deeper than 2MASS) imaging of 56 Local Volume
galaxies. Global parameters such as total magnitudes and stellar masses have
been derived and the new near-IR data combined with existing 21cm and optical
B-band data. We present multiwavelength relations such as the HI mass-to-light
ratio and investigate the maximum total baryonic mass a galaxy can have.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, To be published in the proceedings of "Galaxies
in the Local Volume", ed. B. Koribalski, H. Jerje
The Sloan Lens ACS Survey. IX. Colors, Lensing and Stellar Masses of Early-type Galaxies
We present the current photometric dataset for the Sloan Lens ACS (SLACS)
Survey, including HST photometry from ACS, WFPC2, and NICMOS. These data have
enabled the confirmation of an additional 15 grade `A' (certain) lens systems,
bringing the number of SLACS grade `A' lenses to 85; including 13 grade `B'
(likely) systems, SLACS has identified nearly 100 lenses and lens candidates.
Approximately 80% of the grade `A' systems have elliptical morphologies while
~10% show spiral structure; the remaining lenses have lenticular morphologies.
Spectroscopic redshifts for the lens and source are available for every system,
making SLACS the largest homogeneous dataset of galaxy-scale lenses to date. We
have developed a novel Bayesian stellar population analysis code to determine
robust stellar masses with accurate error estimates. We apply this code to
deep, high-resolution HST imaging and determine stellar masses with typical
statistical errors of 0.1 dex; we find that these stellar masses are unbiased
compared to estimates obtained using SDSS photometry, provided that informative
priors are used. The stellar masses range from 10^10.5 to 10^11.8 M and
the typical stellar mass fraction within the Einstein radius is 0.4, assuming a
Chabrier IMF. The ensemble properties of the SLACS lens galaxies, e.g. stellar
masses and projected ellipticities, appear to be indistinguishable from other
SDSS galaxies with similar stellar velocity dispersions. This further supports
that SLACS lenses are representative of the overall population of massive
early-type galaxies with M* >~ 10^11 M, and are therefore an ideal
dataset to investigate the kpc-scale distribution of luminous and dark matter
in galaxies out to z ~ 0.5.Comment: 20 pages, 18 figures, 5 tables, published in Ap
The initial mass function of early-type galaxies
We determine an absolute calibration of the initial mass function (IMF) of
early-type galaxies, by studying a sample of 56 gravitational lenses identified
by the SLACS Survey. Under the assumption of standard Navarro, Frenk & White
dark matter halos, a combination of lensing, dynamical, and stellar population
synthesis models is used to disentangle the stellar and dark matter
contribution for each lens. We define an "IMF mismatch" parameter
\alpha=M*(L+D)/M*(SPS) as the ratio of stellar mass inferred by a joint lensing
and dynamical models (M*(L+D)) to the current stellar mass inferred from
stellar populations synthesis models (M*(SPS)). We find that a Salpeter IMF
provides stellar masses in agreement with those inferred by lensing and
dynamical models (=0.00+-0.03+-0.02), while a Chabrier IMF
underestimates them (=0.25+-0.03+-0.02). A tentative trend is
found, in the sense that \alpha appears to increase with galaxy velocity
dispersion. Taken at face value, this result would imply a non universal IMF,
perhaps dependent on metallicity, age, or abundance ratios of the stellar
populations. Alternatively, the observed trend may imply non-universal dark
matter halos with inner density slope increasing with velocity dispersion.
While the degeneracy between the two interpretations cannot be broken without
additional information, the data imply that massive early-type galaxies cannot
have both a universal IMF and universal dark matter halos.Comment: 10 pages 4 figures. Resubmitted to ApJ taking into account referee's
comment
The detection and photometric redshift determination of distant galaxies using SIRTF's Infrared Array Camera
We investigate the ability of the Space Infrared Telescope Facility's
Infrared Array Camera to detect distant (z ~ 3)galaxies and measure their
photometric redshifts. Our analysis shows that changing the original long
wavelength filter specifications provides significant improvements in
performance in this and other areas.Comment: 28 pages incl 12 figures; to appear in June 1999 PASP. Fig.12
replaced with corrected versio
The K-Band Galaxy Luminosity Function
We measured the K-band luminosity function using a complete sample of 4192
morphologically-typed 2MASS galaxies with 7 < K < 11.25 mag spread over 2.12
str. Early-type (T -0.5) galaxies have similarly
shaped luminosity functions, alpha_e=-0.92+/-0.10 and alpha_l=-0.87+/-0.09. The
early-type galaxies are brighter, M_*e=-23.53+/-0.06 mag compared to
M_*l=-22.98\pm0.06 mag, but less numerous, n_*e=(0.0045+/-0.0006)h^3/Mpc^3
compared to n_*l=(0.0101+/-0.0013)h^3/Mpc^3 for H_0=100h km/s Mpc, such that
the late-type galaxies slightly dominate the K-band luminosity density,
j_late/j_early=1.17+/-0.12. Our morphological classifications are internally
consistent, consistent with previous classifications and lead to luminosity
functions unaffected by the estimated uncertainties in the classifications.
These luminosity functions accurately predict the K-band number counts and
redshift distributions for K < 18 mag, beyond which the results depend on
galaxy evolution and merger histories.Comment: submitted to ApJ, 25 pages, 6 figures, complete redshift survey.
Table 1 included in sourc
Starbursts versus Truncated Star Formation in Nearby Clusters of Galaxies
We present long-slit spectroscopy, B and R bandpass imaging, and 21 cm
observations of a sample of early-type galaxies in nearby clusters which are
known to be either in a star-forming phase or to have had star formation which
recently terminated. From the long-slit spectra, obtained with the Blanco 4-m
telescope, we find that emission lines in the star-forming cluster galaxies are
significantly more centrally concentrated than in a sample of field galaxies.
The broadband imaging reveals that two currently star-forming early-type
galaxies in the Pegasus I cluster have blue nuclei, again indicating that
recent star formation has been concentrated. In contrast, the two galaxies for
which star formation has already ended show no central color gradient. The
Pegasus I galaxy with the most evident signs of ongoing star formation
(NGC7648), exhibits signatures of a tidal encounter. Neutral hydrogen
observations of that galaxy with the Arecibo radiotelescope reveal the presence
of ~4 x 10^8 solar masses of HI. Arecibo observations of other current or
recent star-forming early-type galaxies in Pegasus I indicate smaller amounts
of gas in one of them, and only upper limits in others.Comment: to be published in Astronomical Journa
The Sloan Lens ACS Survey. VIII. The relation between environment and internal structure of early-type galaxies
We study the relation between the internal structure of early-type galaxies
and their environment using 70 strong gravitational lenses from the Sloan ACS
Lens Survey. The Sloan database is used to determine two measures of
overdensity of galaxies around each lens: the projected number density of
galaxies inside the tenth nearest neighbor (\Sigma_{10}) and within a cone of
radius one h^{-1} Mpc (D_1). Our main results are: 1) The average overdensity
is somewhat larger than unity, consistent with lenses preferring overdense
environments as expected for massive early-type galaxies (12/70 lenses are in
known groups/clusters). 2) The distribution of overdensities is
indistinguishable from that of "twin" non-lens galaxies selected from SDSS to
have the same redshift and stellar velocity dispersion \sigma_*. Thus, within
our errors, lens galaxies are an unbiased population, and the SLACS results can
be generalized to the overall population of early-type galaxies. 3) Typical
contributions from external mass distribution are no more than a few per cent,
reaching 10-20% (~0.05-0.10 external convergence) only in the most extreme
overdensities. 4) No significant correlation between overdensity and slope of
the mass density profile of the lens is found. 5) Satellite galaxies (those
with a more luminous companion) have marginally steeper mass density profiles
than central galaxies (those without). This result suggests that tidal
stripping may affect the mass structure of early-type galaxies down to kpc
scales probed by strong lensing, when they fall into larger structures
[ABRIDGED].Comment: ApJ, in press; minor changes with respect to v
Revealing the interaction between the X-ray gas of starburst galaxy UGC 6697 and the hot intracluster medium of A1367
We present the result from a CHANDRA observation of an X-ray luminous
starburst galaxy UGC 6697, which is embedded in the northwest hot region of
A1367 (5 - 6 keV). A very sharp X-ray edge (~ 13 times of surface brightness
jump) at the southeast and a long tail (at least 60 kpc from the nucleus) at
the northwest of the galaxy are detected, as expected if the galaxy is moving
to the southeast. The X-ray edge, at the midway of the nucleus and the
southeast optical disk edge, is also at the same position where the Halpha
emission is truncated and a radio sharp edge is observed. The X-ray diffuse
emission is also enhanced at the southeast, implying ram pressure compression.
No extraplanar X-ray component is detected, probably due to the combining
effects of weaker outflow activity than that in nuclear starbursts, and
external confinement plus stripping. The diffuse thermal gas in UGC 6697 has a
temperature of ~ 0.7 keV and a low iron abundance (~0.1 - 0.2 solar). An X-ray
point source (L (0.5-10 keV) ~ 2.8 x 10^{40} ergs s^{-1}) is detected on the
nucleus, but not highly absorbed. Three off-center ultraluminous X-ray sources,
all with L (0.5-10 keV) > 10^{40} ergs s^{-1}, are also detected. Based on the
multi-wavelength data available, we favor that the interaction between the
interstellar medium (ISM) and the ICM plays a major role to trigger the
starburst in UGC 6697.Comment: 8 pages, emulateapj5.sty, ApJ accepted, for the version with
high-resolution figures (http://cxc.harvard.edu/~msun/ugc6697.ps.gz
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