1,607 research outputs found
1.65mic (H-band) surface photometry of galaxies. VI: The history of star formation in normal late-type galaxies
We have collected a large body of NIR (H band), UV (2000 A) and Halpha
measurements of late-type galaxies. These are used, jointly with spectral
evolutionary synthesis models, to study the initial mass function (IMF) in the
mass range m > 2 Mo. For spirals (Sa-Sd), Magellanic irregulars (Im) and blue
compact dwarfs (BCD), our determination is consistent with a Salpeter IMF with
an upper mass cutoff M_up = 80 Mo. The history of star formation and the amount
of total gas (per unit mass) of galaxies are found to depend primarily on their
total masses (as traced by the H band luminosities) and only secondarily on
morphological type. The present star formation activity of massive spirals is
up to 100 times smaller than that average over their lifetime, while in low
mass galaxies it is comparable to or higher than that at earlier epochs. Dwarf
galaxies have presently larger gas reservoirs per unit mass than massive
spirals. The efficiency in transforming gas into stars and the time scale for
gas depletion (10 Gyrs) are independent of the luminosity and/or of the
morphological type. These evidences are consistent with the idea that galaxies
are coeval systems,that they evolved as closed-boxes forming stars following a
simple, universal star formation law whose characteristic time scale is small
(1 Gyr) in massive spirals and large (10 Gyr) in low mass galaxies. A similar
conclusion was drawn by Gavazzi and Scodeggio (1996) to explain the
colour-magnitude relation of late-type galaxies. The consequences of this
interpretation on the evolution of the star formation rate and of the gas
density per comoving volume of the Universe with look-back time are discussed.Comment: LaTex, 24 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication on Astronomical
Journa
The star formation properties of disk galaxies: Halpha imaging of galaxies in the Coma supercluster
We present integrated H alpha measurements obtained from imaging observations
of 98 late-type galaxies, primarily selected in the Coma supercluster. These
data, combined with H alpha photometry from the literature, include a magnitude
selected sample of spiral (Sa to Irr) galaxies belonging to the "Great Wall"
complete up to mp=15.4, thus composed of galaxies brighter than Mp=-18.8
(H0=100 km Mpc^-1 s^-1). The frequency distribution of the H alpha E.W.,
determined for the first time from an optically complete sample, is
approximately gaussian peaking at E.W. ~25 A. We find that, at the present
limiting luminosity, the star formation properties of spiral+Irr galaxies
members of the Coma and A1367 clusters do not differ significantly from those
of the isolated ones belonging to the Great Wall. The present analysis confirms
the well known increase of the current massive star formation rate (SFR) with
Hubble type. Moreover perhaps a more fundamental anticorrelation exists between
the SFR and the mass of disk galaxies: low-mass spirals and dwarf systems have
present SFRs ~50 times higher than giant spirals. This result is consistent
with the idea that disk galaxies are coeval, evolve as "closed systems" with
exponentially declining SFR and that the mass of their progenitor protogalaxies
is the principal parameter governing their evolution. Massive systems having
high initial efficiency of collapse, or a short collapse time-scale, have
retained little gas to feed the present epoch of star formation. These findings
support the conclusions of Gavazzi & Scodeggio (1996) who studyed the
color-mass relation of a local galaxy sample and agree with the analysis by
Cowie et al. (1996) who traced the star formation history of galaxies up to
z>1.Comment: 13 pages (LateX) + 24 figures + 4 tables. To appear in Astronomical
Journal, April 1998 issu
Introducing GOLDMine: A new Galaxy Database on the WEB
The new World Wide Web site "GOLDMine" (Galaxy On Line Database Milano
Network) (http://goldmine.mib.infn.it) contains a multiwavelength data-base of
an optically selected sample of 3267 galaxies in the Virgo cluster and in the
Coma Supercluster. It is designed for professional astronomers who wish to find
data and images for these galaxies.
Data, gathered in 15 years of observational campaigns by the authors or taken
from the literature include general parameters (catalogue names, celestial
coordinates, morphological type, recessional velocity etc.); multiwavelength
continuum photometry (total UV, U, B, V, J, H, K, FIR and radio magnitudes/flux
densities); line photometry (HI, H_2, H_alpha); dynamical parameters
(rotational velocity from the HI and H_alpha lines, velocity dispersion) and
structural parameters (light concentration index, effective radius and
brightness, asymptotic magnitude) in the optical (B and V) and Near Infrared (H
or K) bands. Images include finding charts, optical (B and V), H_alpha, Near
Infrared (H and/or K) and true color RGB frames (when available). Radial light
profiles obtained from the B, V, H or K band images are also available.
Integrated optical spectra along with broad Spectral Energy Distributions (SED)
from the UV to the radio domain are given. All images can be obtained in JPG
format, but the original (reduced) FITS images can be downloaded as well. The
database will be updated regularly and will be extended to other local clusters
and superclusters. Astronomers who wish to have their images included in
GOLDMine are strongly encouraged to send us their material.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, accepted for pubblication in Astronomy &
Astrophysic
Mid--IR emission of galaxies in the Virgo cluster: II. Integrated properties
We analyse the integrated properties of the Mid-IR emission of a complete,
optically selected sample of galaxies in the Virgo cluster observed with the
ISOCAM instrument on board the ISO satellite. The analysis shows that the
Mid-IR emission up to 15 mic of optically-selected, normal early-type galaxies
(E, S0 and S0a) is dominated by the Rayleigh-Jeans tail of the cold stellar
component. The Mid-IR emission of late-type galaxies is instead dominated by
the thermal emission from dust. The small dust grains emitting in the Mid-IR
have an excess of emission if compared to big grains emitting in the Far-IR.
While the Far-IR emission increases with the intensity of the interstellar
radiation field, their Mid-IR emission is non--linearly related to the UV
radiation field. The spectral energy distributions of the target galaxies
indicate that there is a linear relationship between the UV radiation field and
the Mid-IR emission of galaxies for low or intermediate activities of star
formation, while the emission from the hot dust seems to drop for strong UV
fields. The Mid-IR colour of late-type galaxies is not related to their
activity of star formation. The properties of the dust emission in the Mid-IR
seem more related to the mass than to the morphological type of the target
galaxy. Since the activity of star formation is anticorrelated to the mass of
galaxies, this reflects a relationship between the emission of dust in the
Mid-IR and the UV radiation field: galaxies with the lowest Mid-IR emission for
a given UV field are low mass, dwarf galaxies. These observational evidences
are easily explained if the carriers of the Unidentified Infrared Bands that
dominate the 6.75 mic emission are destroyed by the intense UV radiation field
of dwarf galaxies, although abundance effects can also play a role.Comment: 17 pages, Latex, 7 figures; to be published in Astronomy &
Astrophysics, Main Journal; Figure legend should be corrected in: 1 - 1a; 2 -
1b; 3 - 2; 4 - 3a; 5 - 3b; 6 - 3c; 7 - 3d; 8 - 3e; 9 - 4; 10 - 5; 11 - 6; 12
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Star formation and dust extinction in nearby star forming and starburst galaxies
We study the star formation rate and dust extinction properties of a sample
of nearby star forming galaxies as derived from Halpha and UV (2000 A)
observations and we compare them to those of a sample of starburst galaxies.
The dust extinction in Halpha is estimated from the Balmer decrement and the
extinction in UV using the FIR to UV flux ratio or the attenuation law for
starburst galaxies of Calzetti et al. The Halpha and UV emissions are strongly
correlated with a very low scatter for the star forming objects and with a much
higher scatter for the starburst galaxies. The Halpha to UV flux ratio is found
larger by a factor ~ 2 for the starburst galaxies. We compare both samples with
a purely UV selected sample of galaxies and we conclude that the mean Halpha
and UV properties of nearby star forming galaxies are more representative of UV
selected galaxies than starburst galaxies.
We emphasize that the Halpha to UV flux ratio is strongly dependent on the
dust extinction: the positive correlation found between F{Halpha}/F{UV}$ and
F{FIR}/F{UV} vanishes when the Halpha and UV flux are corrected for dust
extinction. The Halpha to UV flux ratios converted into star formation rate and
combined with the Balmer decrement measurements are tentatively used to
estimate the dust extinction in UV.Comment: accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysic
Mid-IR emission of galaxies in the Virgo cluster and in the Coma supercluster.IV. The nature of the dust heating sources
We study the relationship between the mid-IR (5-18 m) emission of
late-type galaxies and various other star formation tracers in order to
investigate the nature of the dust heating sources in this spectral domain. The
analysis is carried out using a sample of 123 normal, late-type, nearby
galaxies with available data at several frequencies. The mid-IR luminosity
(normalized to the H-band luminosity) correlates better with the far-IR
luminosity than with more direct tracers of the young stellar population such
as the H and the UV luminosity. The comparison of resolved images
reveals a remarkable similarity in the H and mid-IR morphologies, with
prominent HII regions at both frequencies. The mid-IR images, however, show in
addition a diffuse emission not associated with HII regions nor with the
diffuse H emission. This evidence indicates that the stellar population
responsible for the heating of dust emitting in the mid-IR is similar to that
heating big grains emitting in the far-IR, including relatively evolved stars
responsible for the non-ionizing radiation. The scatter in the mid-IR vs.
H, UV and far-IR luminosity relation is mostly due to metallicity
effects, with metal-poor objects having a lower mid-IR emission per unit star
formation rate than metal-rich galaxies. Our analysis indicates that the mid-IR
luminosity is not an optimal star formation tracer in normal, late-type
galaxies.Comment: accepted for publication on A&
UV to radio centimetric spectral energy distributions of optically-selected late-type galaxies in the Virgo cluster
We present a multifrequency dataset for an optically-selected,
volume-limited, complete sample of 118 late-type galaxies (>= S0a) in the Virgo
cluster. The database includes UV, visible, near-IR, mid-IR, far-IR, radio
continuum photometric data as well as spectroscopic data of Halpha, CO and HI
lines, homogeneously reduced, obtained from our own observations or compiled
from the literature. Assuming the energy balance between the absorbed stellar
light and that radiated in the IR by dust, we calibarte an empirical
attenuation law suitable for correcting photometric and spectroscopic data of
normal galaxies. The data, corrected for internal extinction, are used to
construct the spectral energy distribution (SED) of each individual galaxy, and
combined to trace the median SED of galaxies in various classes of
morphological type and luminosity. Low-luminosity, dwarf galaxies have on
average bluer stellar continua and higher far-IR luminosities per unit galaxy
mass than giant, early-type spirals. If compared to nearby starburst galaxies
such as M82 and Arp 220, normal spirals have relatively similar observed
stellar spectra but 10-100 times lower IR luminosities. The temperature of the
cold dust component increases with the far-IR luminosity, from giant spirals to
dwarf irregulars. The SED are used to separate the stellar emission from the
dust emission in the mid-IR regime. We show that the contribution of the
stellar emission at 6.75 micron to the total emission of galaxies is generally
important, from ~ 80% in Sa to ~ 20% in Sc.Comment: 31 pages, 12 figures, 12 tables. Fig 2 avaliable at
(http://goldmine.mib.infn.it/papers/isosed.html). Accepted for publication on
A&
{Chemo-spectrophotometric evolution of spiral galaxies: IV. Star formation efficiency and effective ages of spirals
We study the star formation history of normal spirals by using a large and
homogeneous data sample of local galaxies. For our analysis we utilise detailed
models of chemical and spectrophotometric galactic evolution, calibrated on the
Milky Way disc. We find that star formation efficiency is independent of
galactic mass, while massive discs have, on average, lower gas fractions and
are redder than their low mass counterparts; put together, these findings
convincingly suggest that massive spirals are older than low mass ones. We
evaluate the effective ages of the galaxies of our sample and we find that
massive spirals must be several Gyr older than low mass ones. We also show that
these galaxies (having rotational velocities in the 80-400 km/s range) cannot
have suffered extensive mass losses, i.e. they cannot have lost during their
lifetime an amount of mass much larger than their current content of gas+stars.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures, MNRAS in pres
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