36 research outputs found
A Morphological Method to Determine Co-Rotation Radii in Spiral Galaxies
Shock induced star formation in a stellar density wave scenario produces an
azimuthal gradient of ages across the spiral arms which has opposite signs on
either side of the corotation resonance (CR). We present a method based on the
Fourier analysis of azimuthal profiles, to locate the CR and determine the arm
character (trailing or leading) in spiral galaxies. Basically, we compare the
behavior of the phase angle of the two-armed spiral in blue and infrared colors
which pick out respectively young and older disk stellar population. We
illustrate the method using theoretical leading and trailing, spirals. We have
also applied the method to the spiral galaxies NGC 7479, for which we confirm
the reported leading arms, and NGC 1832. In these galaxies we find two and
three CRs respectively.Comment: 9 pages, accepted for publication in ApJL, figures 4 and 6 avaliables
at ftp://ftp.inaoep.mx/pub/salida/puerari, full paper also avaliable at
http://www.inaoep.mx/~puerar
Interactions in Barred Galaxies: Effects of a Companion on the Bar Pattern Speed
We study the effects of a companion in a parabolic co-planar orbit on the bar pattern speed. Unlike previous simulations, we use fully self-consistent 3D N-body simulations with live haloes, which are known to be important for bar evolutio
Colour jumps across the spiral arms of Hubble Ultra Deep Field galaxies
We have measured, at various wavelengths, the spiral arm pitch angles of a
sample of distant spiral galaxies from the Hubble Space Telescope eXtreme Deep
Field (XDF). According to density wave theory, we should detect colour jumps
from red-to-blue across the spiral arms. Colour jumps are a consequence of
large-scale shocks, which also generate the classic blue-to-red age/colour
gradients, and have only been detected until now in nearby spiral galaxies. Our
results indicate that colour jumps and gradients have been occurring in distant
galaxies for at least the last 8 Gyr, in agreement with density wave theory.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRA
ISM properties in hydrodynamic galaxy simulations: turbulence cascades, cloud formation, role of gravity and feedback
We study the properties of interstellar medium (ISM) substructure and turbulence in hydrodynamic [adaptive mesh refinement (AMR)] galaxy simulations with resolutions up to 0.8 pc and 5 × 103 M⊙. We analyse the power spectrum of the density distribution, and various components of the velocity field. We show that the disc thickness is about the average Jeans scalelength, and is mainly regulated by gravitational instabilities. From this scale of energy injection, a turbulence cascade towards small scale is observed, with almost isotropic small-scale motions. On scales larger than the disc thickness, density waves are observed, but there is also a full range of substructures with chaotic and strongly non-isotropic gas velocity dispersions. The power spectrum of vorticity in a Large Magellanic Cloud sized model suggests that an inverse cascade of turbulence might be present, although energy input over a wide range of scales in the coupled gaseous+stellar fluid could also explain this quasi-two-dimensional regime on scales larger than the disc scaleheight. Similar regimes of gas turbulence are also found in massive high-redshift discs with high gas fractions. Disc properties and ISM turbulence appear to be mainly regulated by gravitational processes, both on large scales and inside dense clouds. Star formation feedback is however essential to maintain the ISM in a steady state by balancing a systematic gas dissipation into dense and small clumps. Our galaxy simulations employ a thermal model based on a barotropic equation of state aimed at modelling the equilibrium of gas between various heating and cooling processes. Denser gas is typically colder in this approach, which is shown to correctly reproduce the density structures of a star-forming, turbulent, unstable and cloudy ISM down to scales of a few parsec
An extremely low gas-to-dust ratio in the dust-lane lenticular galaxy NGC 5485
Date of Acceptance: 21/07/2014Peer reviewe
Variation of Galactic Bar Length with Amplitude and Density as Evidence for Bar Growth over a Hubble Time
K_s-band images of 20 barred galaxies show an increase in the peak amplitude
of the normalized m=2 Fourier component with the R_25-normalized radius at this
peak. This implies that longer bars have higher amplitudes. The long bars
also correlate with an increased density in the central parts of the disks, as
measured by the luminosity inside 0.25R_25 divided by the cube of this radius
in kpc. Because denser galaxies evolve faster, these correlations suggest that
bars grow in length and amplitude over a Hubble time with the fastest evolution
occurring in the densest galaxies. All but three of the sample have early-type
flat bars; there is no clear correlation between the correlated quantities and
the Hubble type.Comment: ApJ Letters, 670, L97, preprint is 7 pages, 4 figure