348 research outputs found
The stellar content of brightest cluster galaxies
We present near-infrared K-band spectroscopy of 21 elliptical or cD Brightest
Cluster Galaxies (BCGs), for which we have measured the strength of the 2.293
micron CO stellar absorption feature. We find that the strength of this feature
is remarkably uniform among these galaxies, with a smaller scatter in
equivalent width than for the normal elliptical population in the field or
clusters. The scatter for BCGs is 0.156 nm, compared with 0.240 nm for Coma
cluster ellipticals, 0.337 nm for ellipticals from a variety of other clusters,
and 0.422 nm for field ellipticals. We interpret this homogeneity as being due
to a greater age, or more uniform history, of star formation in BCGs than in
other ellipticals; only a small fraction of the scatter can be due to
metallicity variations, even in the BCGs. Notwithstanding the small scatter,
correlations are found between CO strength and various galaxy properties,
including R-band absolute magnitude, which could improve the precision of these
galaxies as distance indicators in measurements of cosmological parameters and
velocity flows.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication by MNRA
Calibration of the distance scale from galactic Cepheids: I Calibration based on the GFG sample
New estimates of the distances of 36 nearby galaxies are presented based on
accurate distances of galactic Cepheids obtained by Gieren, Fouque and Gomez
(1998) from the geometrical Barnes-Evans method.
The concept of 'sosie' is applied to extend the distance determination to
extragalactic Cepheids without assuming the linearity of the PL relation. Doing
so, the distance moduli are obtained in a straightforward way.
The correction for extinction is made using two photometric bands (V and I)
according to the principles introduced by Freedman and Madore (1990). Finally,
the statistical bias due to the incompleteness of the sample is corrected
according to the precepts introduced by Teerikorpi (1987) without introducing
any free parameters (except the distance modulus itself in an iterative
scheme).
The final distance moduli depend on the adopted extinction ratio {R_V}/{R_I}
and on the limiting apparent magnitude of the sample. A comparison with the
distance moduli recently published by the Hubble Space Telescope Key Project
(HSTKP) team reveals a fair agreement when the same ratio {R_V}/{R_I} is used
but shows a small discrepancy at large distance.
In order to bypass the uncertainty due to the metallicity effect it is
suggested to consider only galaxies having nearly the same metallicity as the
calibrating Cepheids (i.e. Solar metallicity). The internal uncertainty of the
distances is about 0.1 magnitude but the total uncertainty may reach 0.3
magnitude.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures, access to a database of extragalactic Cepheids.
Astronomy & Astrophysics (in press) 200
Luminous Compact Blue Galaxies in Intermediate Redshift Galaxy Clusters: A Significant But Extreme Butcher-Oemler Population
We identify a population of Luminous Compact Blue Galaxies (LCBGs) in two
galaxy clusters: MS0451.6-0305 (z=0.54) and Cl1604+4304 (z=0.9). LCBGs are
identified via photometric characteristics and photometric redshifts derived
from broad and narrow band images taken with the WIYN telescope and the Hubble
Space Telescope. We analyze their surface densities and clustering properties
to find they compose a statistically significant portion (42% and 53%) of the
Butcher-Oemler galaxies in both clusters, and their spatial distributions are
best characterized by a shell model. The enhancement of the projected
space-density of LCBGs with M_B<-18.5 in the clusters relative to the field is
3-10 times higher than the BO population as a whole, but 2 times lower than the
red population, except in the core where LCBGs are absent. Assuming some
fading, a natural descendant would be small, low-luminosity galaxies found
preferentially in today's clusters, such as dEs.Comment: 10 Pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ Letter
Cluster detection from surface-brightness fluctuations in SDSS data
Galaxy clusters can be detected as surface brightness enhancements in
smoothed optical surveys. This method does not require individual galaxies to
be identifiable, and enables clusters to be detected out to surprisingly high
redshifts, as recently demonstrated by the Las Campanas Distant Cluster Survey
(LCDCS). Here, we investigate redshift limits for cluster detection in the
Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). Calibrating assumptions about the surface
brightness profile, the mass-to-light ratio, and the spectral energy
distribution of galaxy clusters using available observational data, we show
that it should be possible to detect galaxy groups out to redshifts of ~0.5,
and massive galaxy clusters out to redshifts of ~1.2 in summed r'+i'+z' SDSS
data. Redshift estimates can be derived from the SDSS magnitudes of brightest
cluster members out to redshifts near unity. Over the area of sky it covers,
SDSS should find >~98% of the clusters detectable by the Planck satellite
through the thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect. The few Planck clusters not
detected in SDSS will almost all be at z>~1.2.Comment: 7 pages, submitted to Astronomy & Astrophysic
Investigations of the optical fields of 3CR radio sources to faint limiting magnitudes - IV
A deep optical survey of the fields of 18 3CR radio sources has been carried out with the Hale 5-m telescope, using a prototype charged coupled device as a detector. These sources were among the few 3CR objects which were either previously unidentified or associated with very faint images
at the plate limit for which confirmation was required.
Ten new identifications are proposed (3C 65, 3C 68.2, 3C 175.1, 3C 239, 3C 241, 3C 267, 3C 272, 3C 289, 3C 469.1 and 3C 470), and candidates for the remaining eight sources are confirmed (3C 34, 3C 61.1, 3C 184, 3C 220.3, 3C 250, 3C 280, 3C 324, 3C 368). Of these identifications, those for 3C 68.2, 3C 175.1, 3C 250 and 3C 470 are considered provisional, since they are displaced from the radio source axes. In addition, the candidate for the 3C 61.1 is classed as a confirmed identification, although the optical field
is crowded and an unambiguous identification cannot be made on positional arguments alone. A subsample of 60 sources from the 3CR catalogue, considered by previous workers, is now (provisionally) completely identified. These new results
are used to construct luminosity distributions at S(l78) ≥ 20 Jy and S(178)≥ l0Jy, and the implications of the complete identification rate for models of source evolution formulated by other workers are examined
Isolated and non-isolated dwarfs in terms of modified Newtonian dynamics
Within the framework of modified Newtonian dynamics (MOND) we investigate the
kinematics of two dwarf spiral galaxies belonging to very different
environments, namely KK 246 in the Local Void and Holmberg II in the M81 group.
A mass model of the rotation curve of KK 246 is presented for the first time,
and we show that its observed kinematics are consistent with MOND. We re-derive
the outer rotation curve of Holmberg II, by modelling its HI data cube, and
find that its inclination should be closer to face-on than previously derived.
This implies that Holmberg II has a higher rotation velocity in its outer
parts, which, although not very precisely constrained, is consistent with the
MOND prediction.Comment: Accepted in A&A as a Research Note. 6 pages, 3 figure
3D Spectrophotometry of Planetary Nebulae in the Bulge of M31
We introduce crowded field integral field (3D) spectrophotometry as a useful
technique for the study of resolved stellar populations in nearby galaxies. As
a methodological test, we present a pilot study with selected extragalactic
planetary nebulae (XPN) in the bulge of M31, demonstrating how 3D spectroscopy
is able to improve the limited accuracy of background subtraction which one
would normally obtain with classical slit spectroscopy. It is shown that due to
the absence of slit effects, 3D is a most suitable technique for
spectrophometry. We present spectra and line intensities for 5 XPN in M31,
obtained with the MPFS instrument at the Russian 6m BTA, INTEGRAL at the WHT,
and with PMAS at the Calar Alto 3.5m Telescope. Using 3D spectra of bright
standard stars, we demonstrate that the PSF is sampled with high accuracy,
providing a centroiding precision at the milli-arcsec level. Crowded field 3D
spectrophotometry and the use of PSF fitting techniques is suggested as the
method of choice for a number of similar observational problems, including
luminous stars in nearby galaxies, supernovae, QSO host galaxies,
gravitationally lensed QSOs, and others.Comment: (1) Astrophysikalisches Institut Potsdam, (2) University of Durham.
18 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
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