660 research outputs found
High resolution imaging of the early-type galaxy NGC 1380: an insight into the nature of extended extragalactic star clusters
NGC 1380 is a lenticular galaxy located near the centre of the Fornax Cluster
northeast of NGC 1399. The globular cluster system of this galaxy was
previously studied only from the ground. Recent studies of similar early-type
galaxies, specially lenticular ones, reveal the existence of star clusters that
apparently break up the traditional open/globular cluster dichotomy. With
higher quality photometry from HST/WFPC2 we study the star clusters in NGC
1380, measuring their magnitudes, colours, sizes and projected distances from
the centre of the galaxy. We used deep archival HST/WFPC2 in the B and V bands.
We built colour magnitude diagrams from which we selected a sample of cluster
candidates. We also analysed their colour distribution and measured their
sizes. Based on their location in the luminosity-size diagram we estimated
probabilities of them being typical globular clusters as those found in the
Galaxy. A total of about 570 cluster candidates were found down to V=26.5. We
measured sizes for approximately 200 of them. The observed colour distribution
has three apparent peaks. Likewise for the size distribution. We identified the
smaller population as being mainly typical globular clusters, while the more
extended objects have small probabilities of being such objects. Different
correlations between absolute magnitudes, sizes, colours and location were
inferred for these cluster sub-populations. Most extended clusters (Reff > 4
pc) share similar properties to the diffuse star clusters reported to inhabit
luminous early-type galaxies in the Virgo galaxy cluster such as being of low
surface brightness and fainter than MV ~ -8. We also report on a small group of
(Reff ~ 10 pc), -8< MV < -6, red clusters located near the centre of NGC 1380,
which may be interpreted as faint fuzzies.Comment: accepted for publication in A&
Interaction effects on galaxy pairs with Gemini/GMOS- II: Oxygen abundance gradients
In this paper we derived oxygen abundance gradients from HII regions located
in eleven galaxies in eight systems of close pairs. Long-slit spectra in the
range 4400-7300A were obtained with the Gemini Multi-Object Spec- trograph at
Gemini South (GMOS). Spatial profiles of oxygen abundance in the gaseous phase
along galaxy disks were obtained using calibrations based on strong
emission-lines (N2 and O3N2). We found oxygen gradients signifi- cantly flatter
for all the studied galaxies than those in typical isolated spiral galaxies.
Four objects in our sample, AM1219A, AM1256B, AM 2030A and AM2030B, show a
clear break in the oxygen abundance at galactocentric radius R/R25 between 0.2
and 0.5. For AM1219A and AM1256B we found negative slopes for the inner
gradients, and for AM2030B we found a positive one. In all these three cases
they show a flatter behaviour to the outskirts of the galaxies. For AM2030A, we
found a positive-slope outer gradient while the inner one is almost compatible
with a flat behaviour. A decrease of star forma- tion efficiency in the zone
that corresponds to the oxygen abundance gradient break for AM1219A and AM2030B
was found. For the former, a minimum in the estimated metallicities was found
very close to the break zone that could be associated with a corotation radius.
On the other hand, AM1256B and AM2030A, present a SFR maximum but not an
extreme oxygen abundance value. All the four interacting systems that show
oxygen gradient breakes the extreme SFR values are located very close to break
zones. Hii regions lo- cated in close pairs of galaxies follow the same
relation between the ionization parameter and the oxygen abundance as those
regions in isolated galaxies.Comment: 30 pages, 14 figures, accepted MNRAS, (Figs. 1 and 2 are in low
resolution
Role of twin boundaries on the vortex dynamics in YBaCuO
By means of a novel technique of rotating the applied current we have
directly measured the influence of twin boundaries on the vortex motion in a
YBaCuO single crystal. The results indicate that the effect of twin
planes on the vortex dynamics starts to develop below a certain temperature,
being responsible for an anisotropic viscosity in the vortex liquid state and a
guided motion in the solid state.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
The first detection of near-infrared CN bands in active galactic nuclei: signature of star formation
We present the first detection of the near-infrared CN absorption band in the
nuclear spectra of active galactic nuclei (AGN). This feature is a recent star
formation tracer, being particularly strong in carbon stars. The equivalent
width of the CN line correlates with that of the CO at 2.3 microns, as expected
in stellar populations (SP) with ages between ~ 0.2 and ~ 2 Gyr. The presence
of the 1.1 microns CN band in the spectra of the sources is taken as an
unambiguous evidence of the presence of young/intermediate SP close to the
central source of the AGN. Near-infrared bands can be powerful age indicators
for star formation connected to AGN, the understanding of which is crucial in
the context of galaxy formation and AGN feedback.Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. 4
pages, 3 figure
A photometric and kinematic study of the stars and interstellar medium in the central two kpc of NGC 3379
HST images of NGC 3379 show that the V and I luminosity profiles in the inner
13 arcsec of this E1 galaxy are represented by two different components: a
stellar bulge following a Sersic Law with exponent n = 2.36, and a central core
(r < 0.7 arcsec) with a characteristic "cuspy" profile. Subtraction of the
underlying stellar component represented by the fitted Sersic profile revealed
the presence of a small (r ~ 105 pc) dust disk of about 150 solar masses,
oriented at PA = 125 degrees and inclined ~ 77 degrees with respect to the line
of sight. The same absorption structure is detected in the color-index (V-I)
image. The stellar rotation in the inner 20 arcsec is well represented by a
parametric planar disk model, inclined ~ 26 degrees relative to the plane of
the sky, and apparent major axis along PA ~ 67 degrees. The gas velocity curves
in the inner 5 arcsec show a steep gradient, indicating that the gas rotates
much faster than the stars, although in the same direction. The velocity field
of the gaseous system, however, is not consistent with the simple model of
Keplerian rotation sustained by the large (7 x 10E9 solar masses within a
radius of ~ 90 pc) central mass implied by the maximum velocity observed, but
the available data precludes a more detailed analysis.Comment: 23 pages, LaTeX(aaspp4.sty), 9 figures included. Figs. 1 and 5 are
colour plates. Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal (part 1
Multicolor photometry of ten Seyfert 1 galaxies
We present BVI photometry of ten Seyfert 1 galaxies and narrow band H-alpha
images for six of these objects as well. The results indicate that the
luminosity sample distribution has an amplitude of almost 4 magnitudes with an
average of M_B=-20.7. The observed morphologies are confined to early type
galaxies. A barred structure is found in only 2 objects. Despite that early
morphological types are dominant in this sample, integrated (B-V) colors are
very blue. For instance, the SO galaxies show, on average, a (B-V)=0.78. This
effect seems to be caused by the luminosity contribution of the active nucleus
and/or the disk to the total luminosity of the galaxy. In the B band, the
contribution of the active galactic nucleus to the total luminosity of the
galaxy varies from 3% to almost 60% and the bulge to disk luminosity ratio
(L_bulge/L_disk) ranges from 0.6 to 22. Signs of tidal interactions seems to be
a common characteristic since they are observed in 6 of the objects and one of
them seems to be located in a poor cluster not yet identified in the
literature. H_alpha extended emission is rare, with only 1 galaxy showing clear
evidence of it. Luminosity profile decomposition shows that the model Gauss +
bulge + disk properly reproduces the surface brightness of the galaxies.
However, in order to account for the luminosity profile, most of the disk
galaxies needs the inner truncated exponential form with a central cutoff
radius ranging from 3 to 10 kpc. This is interpreted in terms of reddened
regions that are well identified in the B-V color maps. These regions present
very similar colors among them, with (B-V)~1.2. This fact could be associated
to the presence of dust confined in the inner regions of the galaxies.Comment: 14 pages, 25 figures. Accepted to Astronomy & Astrophysic
Infrared FeII Emission in Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 Galaxies
We obtained 0.8-2.4 micron spectra at a resolution of 320 km/s of four
narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies in order to study the near-infrared properties
of these objects. We focus on the analysis of the FeII emission in that region
and the kinematics of the low-ionization broad lines. We found that the 1
micron FeII lines (9997 A, 10501 A, 10863 A and 11126 A) are the strongest FeII
lines in the observed interval. For the first time, primary cascade lines of
FeII arising from the decay of upper levels pumped by Ly-alpha fluorescence are
resolved and identified in active galactic nuclei. Excitation mechanisms
leading to the emission of the 1 micron FeII features are discussed. A
combination of Ly-alpha fluorescence and collisional excitation are found to be
the main contributors. The flux ratio between near-IR FeII lines varies from
object to object, in contrast to what is observed in the optical region. A good
correlation between the 1 micron and optical FeII emission is found. This
suggests that the upper z4Fo and z4Do levels from which the bulk of the optical
lines descend are mainly populated by the transitions leading to the 1 micron
lines. The width and profile shape of FeII 11127, CaII 8642 and OI 8446 are
very similar but significantly narrower than Pa-beta, giving strong
observational support to the hypothesis that the region where FeII, CaII and OI
are produced are co-spatial, interrelated kinematically and most probably
located in the outermost portion of the BLR.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ - 35 page
Columnar defects and vortex fluctuations in layered superconductors
We investigate fluctuations of Josephson-coupled pancake vortices in layered
superconductors in the presence of columnar defects. We study the
thermodynamics of a single pancake stack pinned by columnar defects and obtain
the temperature dependence of localization length, pinning energy and critical
current. We study the creep regime and compute the crossover current between
line-like creep and pancake-like creep motion. We find that columnar defects
effectively increase interlayer Josephson coupling by suppressing thermal
fluctuations of pancakes. This leads to an upward shift in the decoupling line
most pronounced around the matching field.Comment: 5 pages, REVTeX, no figure
Optical/NIR stellar absorption and emission-line indices from luminous infrared galaxies
We analyze a set of optical-to-near-infrared long-slit nuclear spectra of 16
infrared-luminous spiral galaxies. All of the studied sources present H
emission, which reflects the star-forming nature of our sample, and they
clearly display H I emission lines in the optical. Their continua contain many
strong stellar absorption lines, with the most common features due to Ca I, Ca
II, Fe I, Na I, Mg I, in addition to prominent absorption bands of TiO, VO,
ZrO, CN and CO. We report a homogeneous set of equivalent width (EW)
measurements for 45 indices, from optical to NIR species for the 16
star-forming galaxies as well as for 19 early type galaxies where we collected
the data from the literature. This selected set of emission and
absorption-feature measurements can be used to test predictions of the
forthcoming generations of stellar population models. We find correlations
among the different absorption features and propose here correlations between
optical and NIR indices, as well as among different NIR indices, and compare
them with model predictions. While for the optical absorption features the
models consistently agree with the observations,the NIR indices are much harder
to interpret. For early-type spirals the measurements agree roughly with the
models, while for star-forming objects they fail to predict the strengths of
these indices.Comment: accepted for publication in MNRA
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