1,106 research outputs found
Long slit spectroscopy of a sample of isolated spirals with and without an AGN
We present the kinematical data obtained for a sample of active (Seyfert) and
non active isolated spiral galaxies, based on long slit spectra along several
position angles in the Halpha line region and, in some cases, in the Ca triplet
region as well. Gas velocity distributions are presented, together with a
simple circular rotation model that allows to determine the kinematical major
axes. Stellar velocity distributions are also shown. The main result is that
active and control galaxies seem to be equivalent in all kinematical aspects.
For both subsamples, the departure from pure circular rotation in some galaxies
can be explained by the presence of a bar and/or of a spiral arm. They also
present the same kind of peculiarities, in particular, S-shape structures are
quite common near the nuclear regions. They define very similar Tully-Fisher
relations. Emission line ratios are given for all the detected HII regions; the
analysis of the [NII]/Halpha metallicity indicator shows that active and
non-active galaxies have indistinguishable disk metallicities. These results
argue in favour of active and non-active isolated spiral galaxies having
essentially the same properties, in agreement with our previous results based
on the analysis of near infrared images. It appears now necessary to confirm
these results on a larger sample.Comment: 35 pages, 54 figures, Accepted for publication in Astronomy &
Astrophysics The full paper with its figures is available on the anonymous
account of ftp.iap.fr in /home/ftp/pub/from_users/durret/marquez.ps.gz (999
kb
Gravo-thermal properties and formation of elliptical galaxies
We have analyzed a sample of galaxies belonging to three clusters: Coma, Abell 85, and Abell 496 (real galaxies) and a sample of simulated elliptical galaxies formed in a hierarchical merging scheme (virtual galaxies). We use the Sersic law to describe their light profile. The specific entropy (Boltzmann-Gibbs definition) is then calculated supposing that the galaxies behave as spherical, isotropic, one-component systems. We find that, to a good approximation (about 10%), both real and virtual galaxies have an almost unique specific entropy. Within this approximation the galaxies are distributed in a thin plane in the space defined by the three Sersic law parameters, which we call the Entropic Plane. A further analysis shows that both real and virtual galaxies are in fact located on a thin line, therefore indicating the existence of another - and yet unknown - physical property, besides the uniqueness of the specific entropy. A more careful examination of the virtual galaxies sample indicates a very small increase of their specific entropy with merging generation. In a hierarchical scenario, this implies a correlation between the specific entropy and the total mass, which is indeed seen in our data. The scatter and tilt of the Entropic Line, defined by Lima Neto et al. (1999a), are reduced when this correlation is taken into account. Although one cannot distinguish between various generations for real galaxies, the distribution of their specific entropy is similar to that in the virtual sample, suggesting that hierarchical merging processes could be an important mechanism in the building of elliptical galaxies
High-pressure Raman scattering in bulk HfS2: comparison of density functional theory methods in layered MS2 compounds (M = Hf, Mo) under compression
We report high-pressure Raman-scattering measurements on the transition-metal dichalcogenide (TMDC) compound HfS2. The aim of this work is twofold: (i) to investigate the high-pressure behavior of the zone-center optical phonon modes of HfS2 and experimentally determine the linear pressure coefficients and mode Grüneisen parameters of this material; (ii) to test the validity of different density functional theory (DFT) approaches in order to predict the lattice-dynamical properties of HfS2 under pressure. For this purpose, the experimental results are compared with the results of DFT calculations performed with different functionals, with and without Van der Waals (vdW) interaction. We find that DFT calculations within the generalized gradient approximation (GGA) properly describe the high-pressure lattice dynamics of HfS2 when vdW interactions are taken into account. In contrast, we show that DFT within the local density approximation (LDA), which is widely used to predict structural and vibrational properties at ambient conditions in 2D compounds, fails to reproduce the behavior of HfS2 under compression. Similar conclusions are reached in the case of MoS2. This suggests that large errors may be introduced if the compressibility and Grüneisen parameters of bulk TMDCs are calculated with bare DFT-LDA. Therefore, the validity of different approaches to calculate the structural and vibrational properties of bulk and few-layered vdW materials under compression should be carefully assessed
The detection of stellar velocity dispersion drops in the central regions of five isolated Seyfert spirals
We analyze the kinematics of the central regions of five isolated Seyfert
spiral galaxies from the DEGAS sample (four with new data presented in this
paper, IC184, UGC3223, NGC2639, NGC6814, and NGC6951 from our previous data),
by using long slit spectroscopy in the CaII triplet range (at ~ 8600 A)
obtained with a 4m-class telescope. A drop of the velocity dispersions in the
innermost 1-3 arcsec is observed in four of them, and hinted in the remaining
galaxy (NGC6814). The available HST images for our sample together with another
nine galaxies with reported velocity dispersion drops, are also used to
investigate the presence of morphological inner structures at the scales of the
kinematical drops. Evidence for disk-like shapes is found in 12 out of the 14
cases. The only exceptions are NGC6814 and NGC6951. Existing N-body simulations
including stars, gas and star formation predict that such a drop is most
probably due to a young stellar population born from dynamically cold gas
accreted in a circumnuclear disk formed during an episode of central gas
accretion driven by a bar. The equivalent widths of the Calcium triplet lines
for our 5 galaxies have been measured. Even if the profiles could be formally
consistent with constant EW(CaT) values, they seem to indicate the presence of
a local maximum in the regions corresponding spatially to the drops; if
confirmed, this would imply the presence of a different stellar population,
whose properties could help constraining the models.Comment: A&A accepted for publicatio
Quantum mechanical spectral engineering by scaling intertwining
Using the concept of spectral engineering we explore the possibilities of
building potentials with prescribed spectra offered by a modified intertwining
technique involving operators which are the product of a standard first-order
intertwiner and a unitary scaling. In the same context we study the iterations
of such transformations finding that the scaling intertwining provides a
different and richer mechanism in designing quantum spectra with respect to
that given by the standard intertwiningComment: 8 twocolumn pages, 5 figure
Molecular line emission in NGC1068 imaged with ALMA. I An AGN-driven outflow in the dense molecular gas
We investigate the fueling and the feedback of star formation and nuclear
activity in NGC1068, a nearby (D=14Mpc) Seyfert 2 barred galaxy, by analyzing
the distribution and kinematics of the molecular gas in the disk. We have used
ALMA to map the emission of a set of dense molecular gas tracers (CO(3-2),
CO(6-5), HCN(4-3), HCO+(4-3) and CS(7-6)) and their underlying continuum
emission in the central r ~ 2kpc of NGC1068 with spatial resolutions ~
0.3"-0.5" (~ 20-35pc). Molecular line and dust continuum emissions are detected
from a r ~ 200pc off-centered circumnuclear disk (CND), from the
2.6kpc-diameter bar region, and from the r ~ 1.3kpc starburst (SB) ring. Most
of the emission in HCO+, HCN and CS stems from the CND. Molecular line ratios
show dramatic order-of-magnitude changes inside the CND that are correlated
with the UV/X-ray illumination by the AGN, betraying ongoing feedback. The gas
kinematics from r ~ 50pc out to r ~ 400pc reveal a massive (M_mol ~ 2.7 (+0.9,
-1.2) x 10^7 Msun) outflow in all molecular tracers. The tight correlation
between the ionized gas outflow, the radio jet and the occurrence of outward
motions in the disk suggests that the outflow is AGN-driven. The outflow rate
estimated in the CND, dM/dt ~ 63 (+21, -37) Msun yr^-1, is an order of
magnitude higher than the star formation rate at these radii, confirming that
the outflow is AGN-driven. The power of the AGN is able to account for the
estimated momentum and kinetic luminosity of the outflow. The CND mass load
rate of the CND outflow implies a very short gas depletion time scale of <=1
Myr.Comment: Version accepted for publication in A&A (June 4th). Accepted version.
References (3) added and minor typos corrected. 24 pages, 20 figure
Spiral-like star-forming patterns in CALIFA early-type galaxies
Based on a combined analysis of SDSS imaging and CALIFA integral field
spectroscopy data, we report on the detection of faint (24 < {\mu}
mag/arcsec < 26) star-forming spiral-arm-like features in the periphery of
three nearby early-type galaxies (ETGs). These features are of considerable
interest because they document the still ongoing inside-out growth of some
local ETGs and may add valuable observational insight into the origin and
evolution of spiral structure in triaxial stellar systems. A characteristic
property of the nebular component in the studied ETGs, classified i+, is a
two-radial-zone structure, with the inner zone that displays faint
(EW(H\alpha)1{\AA}) low-ionization nuclear emission-line region (LINER)
properties, and the outer one (3{\AA}<EW(H\alpha)<~20{\AA}) HII-region
characteristics. This spatial segregation of nebular emission in two physically
distinct concentric zones calls for an examination of aperture effects in
studies of type i+ ETGs with single-fiber spectroscopic data.Comment: Accepted to A&A, 5 pages, 1 figur
Central star formation and metallicity in CALIFA interacting galaxies
We use optical integral-field spectroscopic (IFS) data from 103 nearby
galaxies at different stages of the merging event, from close pairs to merger
remnants provided by the CALIFA survey, to study the impact of the interaction
in the specific star formation and oxygen abundance on different galactic
scales. To disentangle the effect of the interaction and merger from internal
processes, we compared our results with a control sample of 80 non-interacting
galaxies. We confirm the moderate enhancement (2-3 times) of specific star
formation for interacting galaxies in central regions as reported by previous
studies; however, the specific star formation is comparable when observed in
extended regions. We find that control and interacting star-forming galaxies
have similar oxygen abundances in their central regions, when normalized to
their stellar masses. Oxygen abundances of these interacting galaxies seem to
decrease compared to the control objects at the large aperture sizes measured
in effective radius. Although the enhancement in central star formation and
lower metallicities for interacting galaxies have been attributed to tidally
induced inflows, our results suggest that other processes such as stellar
feedback can contribute to the metal enrichment in interacting galaxies.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figures. Accepted for publication in Astronomy &
Astrophysic
Spectroscopic aperture biases in inside-out evolving early-type galaxies from CALIFA
Integral field spectroscopy studies based on CALIFA data have recently
revealed the presence of ongoing low-level star formation (SF) in the periphery
of ~10% of local early-type galaxies (ETGs), witnessing a still ongoing
inside-out galaxy growth process. A distinctive property of the nebular
component in these ETGs, classified i+, is a two-radial-zone structure, with
the inner zone displaying LINER emission with a H\alpha equivalent width
EW~1{\AA}, and the outer one (3{\AA}<EW<~20{\AA}) showing HII-region
characteristics. Using CALIFA IFS data, we empirically demonstrate that the
confinement of nebular emission to the galaxy periphery leads to a strong
aperture (or, redshift) bias in spectroscopic single-fiber studies of type i+
ETGs: At low redshift (<~0.45), SDSS spectroscopy is restricted to the inner
(SF-devoid LINER) zone, thereby leading to their erroneous classification as
"retired" galaxies (systems lacking SF and whose faint emission is powered by
pAGB stars). Only at higher z's the SDSS aperture can encompass the outer SF
zone, permitting their unbiased classification as "composite SF/LINER". We also
demonstrate that the principal effect of a decreasing aperture on the
classification of i+ ETGs via standard BPT emission-line ratios consists in a
monotonic up-right shift precisely along the upper-right wing of the "seagull"
distribution. Motivated by these insights, we also investigate theoretically
these biases in aperture-limited studies of inside-out growing galaxies as a
function of z. To this end, we devise a simple model, which involves an
outwardly propagating SF process, that reproduces the radial extent and
two-zone EW distribution of i+ ETGs. By simulating on this model the
spectroscopic SDSS aperture, we find that SDSS studies at z<~1 are
progressively restricted to the inner LINER-zone, and miss an increasingly
large portion of the H\alpha-emitting periphery.Comment: Accepted to A&A, 6 pages, 4 figure
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