72 research outputs found
Phase Lags in the Optical-Infrared Light Curves of AGB Stars
To search for phase lags in the optical-infrared light curves of asymptotic
giant branch stars, we have compared infrared data from the COBE DIRBE
satellite with optical light curves from the AAVSO and other sources. We found
17 examples of phase lags in the time of maximum in the infrared vs. that in
the optical, and 4 stars with no observed lags. There is a clear difference
between the Mira variables and the semi-regulars in the sample, with the
maximum in the optical preceding that in the near-infrared in the Miras, while
in most of the semi-regulars no lags are observed. Comparison to published
theoretical models indicates that the phase lags in the Miras are due to strong
titanium oxide absorption in the visual at stellar maximum, and suggests that
Miras pulsate in the fundamental mode, while at least some semi-regulars are
first overtone pulsators. There is a clear optical-near-infrared phase lag in
the carbon-rich Mira V CrB; this is likely due to C2 and CN absorption
variations in the optical.Comment: AJ, in pres
Extended Ultraviolet Disks and Ultraviolet-bright Disks in Low-mass E/S0 Galaxies
We have identified 15 extended ultraviolet (XUV) disks in a largely field sample of 38 E/S0 galaxies that have stellar masses primarily below ~4 × 10^(10) M_☉ and comparable numbers on the red and blue sequences. We use a new purely quantitative XUV-disk definition designed with reference to the "Type 1" XUV-disk definition found in the literature, requiring UV extension relative to a UV-defined star formation threshold radius. The 39% ± 9% XUV-disk frequency for these E/S0s is roughly twice the ~20% reported for late-type galaxies (although differences in XUV-disk criteria complicate the comparison), possibly indicating that XUV disks are preferentially associated with galaxies experiencing weak or inefficient star formation. Consistent with this interpretation, we find that the XUV disks in our sample do not correlate with enhanced outer-disk star formation as traced by blue optical outer-disk colors. However, UV-Bright (UV-B) disk galaxies with blue UV colors outside their optical 50% light radii do display enhanced optical outer-disk star formation as well as enhanced atomic gas content. UV-B disks occur in our E/S0s with a 42^(+9)_–8% frequency and need not coincide with XUV disks; thus their combined frequency is 61% ± 9%. For both XUV and UV-B disks, UV colors typically imply <1 Gyr ages, and most such disks extend beyond the optical R_(25) radius. XUV disks occur over the full sample mass range and on both the red and blue sequences, suggesting an association with galaxy interactions or another similarly general evolutionary process. In contrast, UV-B disks favor the blue sequence and may also prefer low masses, perhaps reflecting the onset of cold-mode gas accretion or another mass-dependent evolutionary process. Virtually all blue E/S0s in the gas-rich regime below stellar mass M_t ~ 5 × 10^9 M_☉ (the "gas-richness threshold mass") display UV-B disks, supporting the previously suggested association of this population with active disk growth
ECO and RESOLVE: Galaxy Disk Growth in Environmental Context
We study the relationships between galaxy environments and galaxy properties
related to disk (re)growth, considering two highly complete samples that are
approximately baryonic mass limited into the high-mass dwarf galaxy regime, the
Environmental COntext (ECO) catalog (data release herein) and the B-semester
region of the REsolved Spectroscopy Of a Local VolumE (RESOLVE) survey. We
quantify galaxy environments using both group identification and smoothed
galaxy density field methods. We use by-eye and quantitative morphological
classifications plus atomic gas content measurements and estimates. We find
that blue early-type (E/S0) galaxies, gas-dominated galaxies, and UV-bright
disk host galaxies all become distinctly more common below group halo mass
~10^11.5 Msun, implying that this low group halo mass regime may be a preferred
regime for significant disk growth activity. We also find that blue early-type
and blue late-type galaxies inhabit environments of similar group halo mass at
fixed baryonic mass, consistent with a scenario in which blue early types can
regrow late-type disks. In fact, we find that the only significant difference
in the typical group halo mass inhabited by different galaxy classes is for
satellite galaxies with different colors, where at fixed baryonic mass red
early and late types have higher typical group halo masses than blue early and
late types. More generally, we argue that the traditional
morphology-environment relation (i.e., that denser environments tend to have
more early types) can be largely attributed to the morphology-galaxy mass
relation for centrals and the color-environment relation for satellites.Comment: 26 pages and 28 figures; v2 contains minor figure and text updates to
match final published version in ApJ; ECO data table release now available at
http://resolve.astro.unc.edu/pages/data.ph
The Origin of Faint Tidal Features Around Galaxies in the RESOLVE Survey
We study tidal features (TFs) around galaxies in the REsolved Spectroscopy of a Local VolumE (RESOLVE) survey. Our sample consists of 1048 RESOLVE galaxies that overlap with the DECam Legacy Survey, which reaches an r-band 3σ depth of ∼27.9 mag arcsec−2 for a 100 arcsec2 feature. Images were masked, smoothed, and inspected for TFs like streams, shells, or tails/arms. We find TFs in 17±2% of our galaxies, setting a lower limit on the true frequency. The frequency of TFs in the gas-poor (gas-to-stellar mass ratio < 0.1) subsample is lower than in the gas-rich subsample (13±3% vs. 19±2%). Within the gas-poor subsample, galaxies with TFs have higher stellar and halo masses, ∼3× closer distances to nearest neighbors (in the same group), and possibly fewer group members at fixed halo mass than galaxies without TFs, but similar specific star formation rates. These results suggest TFs in gas-poor galaxies are typically streams/shells from dry mergers or satellite disruption. In contrast, the presence of TFs around gas-rich galaxies does not correlate with stellar or halo mass, suggesting these TFs are often tails/arms from resonant interactions. Similar to TFs in gas-poor galaxies, TFs in gas-rich galaxies imply 1.7x closer nearest neighbors in the same group; however, TFs in gas-rich galaxies are associated with diskier morphologies, higher star formation rates, and higher gas content. In addition to interactions with known neighbors, we suggest that TFs in gas-rich galaxies may arise from accretion of cosmic gas and/or gas-rich satellites below the survey limit
The SAMI Galaxy Survey: Global stellar populations on the size-mass plane
We present an analysis of the global stellar populations of galaxies in the
SAMI Galaxy Survey. Our sample consists of 1319 galaxies spanning four orders
of magnitude in stellar mass and includes all morphologies and environments. We
derive luminosity-weighted, single stellar population equivalent stellar ages,
metallicities and alpha enhancements from spectra integrated within one
effective radius apertures. Variations in galaxy size explain the majority of
the scatter in the age--mass and metallicity--mass relations. Stellar
populations vary systematically in the plane of galaxy size and stellar mass,
such that galaxies with high stellar surface mass density are older, more
metal-rich and alpha-enhanced than less dense galaxies. Galaxies with high
surface mass densities have a very narrow range of metallicities, however, at
fixed mass, the spread in metallicity increases substantially with increasing
galaxy size (decreasing density). We identify residual correlations with
morphology and environment. At fixed mass and size, galaxies with late-type
morphologies, small bulges and low Sersic n are younger than early-type, high
n, high bulge-to-total galaxies. Age and metallicity both show small residual
correlations with environment; at fixed mass and size, galaxies in denser
environments or more massive halos are older and somewhat more metal rich than
those in less dense environments. We connect these trends to evolutionary
tracks within the size--mass plane.Comment: 25 pages, 18 figures, MNRAS in press Corrected typo in author lis
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