335 research outputs found
Deconstructing double-barred galaxies in 2D and 3D. II. Two distinct groups of inner bars
The intrinsic photometric properties of inner and outer stellar bars within
17 double-barred galaxies are thoroughly studied through a photometric analysis
consisting of: i) two-dimensional multi-component photometric decompositions,
and ii) three-dimensional statistical deprojections for measuring the
thickening of bars, thus retrieving their 3D shape. The results are compared
with previous measurements obtained with the widely used analysis of integrated
light. Large-scale bars in single- and double-barred systems show similar
sizes, and inner bars may be longer than outer bars in different galaxies. We
find two distinct groups of inner bars attending to their in-plane length and
ellipticity, resulting in a bimodal behaviour for the inner/outer bar length
ratio. Such bimodality is related neither to the properties of the host galaxy
nor the dominant bulge, and it does not show a counterpart in the dimension off
the disc plane. The group of long inner bars lays at the lower end of the outer
bar length vs. ellipticity correlation, whereas the short inner bars are out of
that relation. We suggest that this behaviour could be due to either a
different nature of the inner discs from which the inner bars are dynamically
formed, or a different assembly stage for the inner bars. This last possibility
would imply that the dynamical assembly of inner bars is a slow process taking
several Gyr to happen. We have also explored whether all large-scale bars are
prone to develop an inner bar at some stage of their lives, possibility we
cannot fully confirm or discard.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figures, 1 table. Accepted for publication in MNRA
The intrinsic three-dimensional shape of galactic bars
We present the first statistical study on the intrinsic three-dimensional
(3D) shape of a sample of 83 galactic bars extracted from the CALIFA survey. We
use the galaXYZ code to derive the bar intrinsic shape with a statistical
approach. The method uses only the geometric information (ellipticities and
position angles) of bars and discs obtained from a multi-component photometric
decomposition of the galaxy surface-brightness distributions. We find that bars
are predominantly prolate-triaxial ellipsoids (68%), with a small fraction of
oblate-triaxial ellipsoids (32%). The typical flattening (intrinsic C/A
semiaxis ratio) of the bars in our sample is 0.34, which matches well the
typical intrinsic flattening of stellar discs at these galaxy masses. We
demonstrate that, for prolate-triaxial bars, the intrinsic shape of bars
depends on the galaxy Hubble type and stellar mass (bars in massive S0 galaxies
are thicker and more circular than those in less massive spirals). The bar
intrinsic shape correlates with bulge, disc, and bar parameters. In particular
with the bulge-to-total (B/T) luminosity ratio, disc g-r color, and central
surface brightness of the bar, confirming the tight link between bars and their
host galaxies. Combining the probability distributions of the intrinsic shape
of bulges and bars in our sample we show that 52% (16%) of bulges are thicker
(flatter) than the surrounding bar at 1 level. We suggest that these
percentages might be representative of the fraction of classical and disc-like
bulges in our sample, respectively.Comment: 18 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA
Stellar populations in the bulges of isolated galaxies
open7siWe present photometry and long-slit spectroscopy for 12 S0 and spiral galaxies selected
from the Catalogue of Isolated Galaxies. The structural parameters of the sample galaxies are
derived from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey i-band images by performing a two-dimensional
photometric decomposition of the surface brightness distribution. This is assumed to be the
sum of the contribution of a Sersic bulge, an exponential disc, and a Ferrers bar characterized
by elliptical and concentric isophotes with constant ellipticity and position angles. The rotation
curves and velocity dispersion profiles of the stellar component are measured from the spectra
obtained along the major axis of galaxies. The radial profiles of the Hβ, Mg and Fe line-
strength indices are derived too. Correlations between the central values of the Mg2
and Fe line-strength indices and the velocity dispersion are found. The mean age, total metallicity
and total α/Fe enhancement of the stellar population in the centre and at the radius, where the
bulge gives the same contribution to the total surface brightness as the remaining components,
are obtained using stellar population models with variable element abundance ratios. We
identify intermediate-age bulges with solar metallicity and old bulges with a large spread in
metallicity. Most of the sample bulges display supersolar α/Fe enhancement, no gradient in
age and negative gradients of metallicity and α/Fe enhancement. These findings support a
formation scenario via dissipative collapse where environmental effects are remarkably less
important than in the assembly of bulges of galaxies in groups and clusters.openMorelli, Lorenzo; Parmiggiani, Marco; Corsini, ENRICO MARIA; Costantin, Luca; DALLA BONTA', Elena; Méndez Abreu, J.; Pizzella, AlessandroMorelli, Lorenzo; Parmiggiani, Marco; Corsini, ENRICO MARIA; Costantin, Luca; DALLA BONTA', Elena; Méndez Abreu, J.; Pizzella, Alessandr
No evidence for small disk-like bulges in a sample of late-type spirals
About 20% of low-redshift galaxies are late-type spirals with a small or no
bulge component. Although they are the simplest disk galaxies in terms of
structure and dynamics, the role of the different physical processes driving
their formation and evolution is not yet fully understood. We investigated
whether small bulges of late-type spirals follow the same scaling relations
traced by ellipticals and large bulges and if they are disk-like or classical
bulges. We derived the photometric and kinematic properties of 9 nearby
late-type spirals. To this aim, we analyzed the surface brightness distribution
from the i-band images of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and obtained the
structural parameters of the galaxies from a two-dimensional photometric
decomposition. We measured the line-of-sight stellar velocity distribution
within the bulge effective radius from the long-slit spectra taken with high
spectral resolution at the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo. We used the
photometric and kinematic properties of the sample bulges to study their
location in the Fundamental Plane, Kormendy, and Faber-Jackson relations
defined for ellipticals and large bulges. We found that our sample bulges
satisfy some of the photometric and kinematic prescriptions for being
considered disk-like bulges such as small sizes and masses with nearly
exponential light profiles, small bulge-to-total luminosity ratios, low stellar
velocity dispersions, and ongoing star formation. However, each of them follows
the same scaling relations of ellipticals, massive bulges, and compact
early-type galaxies so they cannot be classified as disk-like systems. We find
a single population of galaxy spheroids that follow the same scaling relations,
where the mass seems to lead to a smooth transition in the photometric and
kinematic properties from less massive bulges to more massive bulges and
ellipticals.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A, 20 pages, 10 figure
On the observational diagnostics to separate classical and disk-like bulges
Flattened bulges with disk-like properties are considered to be the end
product of secular evolution processes at work in the inner regions of
galaxies. On the contrary, classical bulges are characterized by rounder shapes
and thought to be similar to low-luminosity elliptical galaxies. We aim at
testing the variety of observational diagnostics which are commonly adopted to
separate classical from disk-like bulges in nearby galaxies. We select a sample
of eight unbarred lenticular galaxies to be morphologically and kinematically
undisturbed with no evidence of other components than bulge and disk. We
analyze archival data of broad-band imaging from SDSS and integral-field
spectroscopy from the ATLAS survey to derive the photometric and
kinematic properties, line-strength indices, and intrinsic shape of the sample
bulges. We argue that the bulge S\'ersic index is a poor diagnostics to
discriminate different bulge types. We find that the combination of
line-strength with either kinematic or photometric diagnostics does not provide
a clear separation for half of the sample bulges. We include for the first time
the intrinsic three-dimensional shape of bulges as a possible discriminant of
their nature. All bulges turn out to be thick oblate spheroids, but only one
has a flattening consistent with that expected for outer disks. We conclude
that bulge classification may be difficult even adopting all observational
diagnostics proposed so far and that classical and disk-like bulges could be
more confidently identified by considering their intrinsic shape
Observational hints of radial migration in disc galaxies from CALIFA
Context. According to numerical simulations, stars are not always kept at their birth galactocentric distances but they have a tendency to migrate. The importance of this radial migration in shaping galactic light distributions is still unclear. However, if radial migration is indeed important, galaxies with different surface brightness (SB) profiles must display differences in their stellar population properties.
Aims: We investigate the role of radial migration in the light distribution and radial stellar content by comparing the inner colour, age, and metallicity gradients for galaxies with different SB profiles. We define these inner parts, avoiding the bulge and bar regions and up to around three disc scale lengths (type I, pure exponential) or the break radius (type II, downbending; type III, upbending).
Methods: We analysed 214 spiral galaxies from the CALIFA survey covering different SB profiles. We made use of GASP2D and SDSS data to characterise the light distribution and obtain colour profiles of these spiral galaxies. The stellar age and metallicity profiles were computed using a methodology based on full-spectrum fitting techniques (pPXF, GANDALF, and STECKMAP) to the Integral Field Spectroscopic CALIFA data.
Results: The distributions of the colour, stellar age, and stellar metallicity gradients in the inner parts for galaxies displaying different SB profiles are unalike as suggested by Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Anderson-Darling tests. We find a trend in which type II galaxies show the steepest profiles of all, type III show the shallowest, and type I display an intermediate behaviour.
Conclusions: These results are consistent with a scenario in which radial migration is more efficient for type III galaxies than for type I systems, where type II galaxies present the lowest radial migration efficiency. In such a scenario, radial migration mixes the stellar content, thereby flattening the radial stellar properties and shaping different SB profiles. However, in light of these results we cannot further quantify the importance of radial migration in shaping spiral galaxies, and other processes, such as recent star formation or satellite accretion, might play a role
Physics of ULIRGs with MUSE and ALMA: The PUMA project: III. Incidence and properties of ionised gas disks in ULIRGs, associated velocity dispersion, and its dependence on starburstiness
CONTEXT:
A classical scenario suggests that ultra-luminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs) transform colliding spiral galaxies into a spheroid-dominated early-type galaxy. Recent high-resolution simulations have instead shown that, under some circumstances, rotation disks can be preserved during the merging process or rapidly regrown after coalescence. Our goal is to analyse in detail the ionised gas kinematics in a sample of ULIRGs to infer the incidence of gas rotational dynamics in late-stage interacting galaxies and merger remnants.
AIMS:
We analysed integral field spectrograph MUSE data of a sample of 20 nearby (z < 0.165) ULIRGs (with 29 individual nuclei) as part of the Physics of ULIRGs with MUSE and ALMA (PUMA) project. We used multi-Gaussian fitting techniques to identify gaseous disk motions and the 3D-Barolo tool to model them.
METHODS:
We found that 27% (8 out of 29) individual nuclei are associated with kiloparsec-scale disk-like gas motions. The rest of the sample displays a plethora of gas kinematics, dominated by winds and merger-induced flows, which makes the detection of rotation signatures difficult. On the other hand, the incidence of stellar disk-like motions is ∼2 times larger than gaseous disks, as the former are probably less affected by winds and streams. The eight galaxies with a gaseous disk present relatively high intrinsic gas velocity dispersion (σ0 ∈ [30 − 85] km s−1), rotationally supported motions (with gas rotation velocity over velocity dispersion vrot/σ0 ∼ 1 − 8), and dynamical masses in the range (2 − 7)×1010 M⊙. By combining our results with those of local and high-z disk galaxies (up to z ∼ 2) from the literature, we found a significant correlation between σ0 and the offset from the main sequence (δMS), after correcting for their evolutionary trends.
RESULTS:
Our results confirm the presence of kiloparsec-scale rotating disks in interacting galaxies and merger remnants in the PUMA sample, with an incidence going from 27% (gas) to ≲50% (stars). Their gas σ0 is up to a factor of ∼4 higher than in local normal main sequence galaxies, similar to high-z starbursts as presented in the literature; this suggests that interactions and mergers enhance the star formation rate while simultaneously increasing the velocity dispersion in the interstellar medium
- …