260 research outputs found
The dark matter halo density profile, spiral arm morphology and black hole mass of M33
In this paper, we investigate the dark matter halo density profile of M33. We
find that the HI rotation curve of M33 is best described by a NFW dark matter
halo density profile model, with a halo concentration of cvir = 4.0\pm1.0 and a
virial mass of Mvir = (2.2\pm0.1)\times10^11 Msun. We go on to use the NFW
concentration (cvir)of M33, along with the values derived for other galaxies
(as found in the literature), to show that cvir correlates with both spiral arm
pitch angle and supermassive black hole mass.Comment: 18 pages, accepted for publicatio
The connection between shear and star formation in spiral galaxies
We present a sample of 33 galaxies for which we have calculated (i) the
average rate of shear from publish rotation curves, (ii) the far-infrared
luminosity from IRAS fluxes and (iii) The K-band luminosity from 2MASS. We show
that a correlation exists between the shear rate and the ratio of the
far-infrared to K-band luminosity. This ratio is essentially a measure of the
star formation rate per unit mass, or the specific star formation rate. From
this correlation we show that a critical shear rate exists, above which star
formation would turn off in the disks of spiral galaxies. Using the correlation
between shear rate and spiral arm pitch angle, this shear rate corresponds to
the lowest pitch angles typically measured in near-infrared images of spiral
galaxies.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS letters. 5 figures, 1 tabl
Determination of resonance locations in NGC 613 from morphological arguments
In this paper, we present BVRI imaging data of NGC 613. We use these data to
determine the corotation radius of the bar, using the photometric phase
crossing method. This method uses the phase angle of the spiral structure in
several wavebands, and looks for a crossing between the blue (B) light and the
redder wavebands (e.g., R or I). For NGC 613, we find two phase crossings, an
outer phase crossing at 136 +/- 8 arcsec and an inner phase crossing at 16 +/-
8 arcsec. We argue that the outer phase crossing is due to the bar corotation
radius, and from the bar length of arcsec we go on to
calculate a relative bar pattern speed of R = 1.5 +/- 0.1, which is consistent
with the results of previous methods described in the literature. For a better
understanding of the inner phase crossing, we have created structure maps in
all four wavebands and a B-R color map. All of our structure maps and our color
map highlight a nuclear ring of star formation at a radius of ~4 arcsec, which
had also been observed recently using ALMA. Furthermore, the radius of our
inner phase crossing appears to be consistent with the size of a nuclear disk
of star formation that has been recently detected and described in the
literature. We therefore suggest that the phase crossing method can be used to
detect the size of nuclear star formation regions as well as the location of
corotation resonances in spiral galaxies.Comment: 8 pages accepted for publication in MNRA
A test of arm-induced star formation in spiral galaxies from near-IR and H imaging
We have imaged a sample of 20 spiral galaxies in H and in the
near-infrared K band (2.2 um), in order to determine the location and strength
of star formation in these objects with respect to perturbations in the old
stellar population. We have found that star formation rates are significantly
enhanced in the vicinity of K band arms. We have also found that this
enhancement in star formation rate in arm regions correlates well with a
quantity that measures the relative strengths of shocks in arms. Assuming that
the K band light is dominated by emission from the old stellar population, this
shows that density waves trigger star formation in the vicinity of spiral arms.Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure, accpeted for publication in MNRA
Simple Fit of Data Relating Supermassive Black Hole Mass to Galaxy Pitch Angle
Seigar, et al, have recently demonstrated a new, tight correlation between
galactic central supermassive black hole (BH) mass and the pitch angle of the
spiral arm in disc galaxies which they attribute to other indirect
correlations. They fit a double power law, governed by five parameters, to the
BH mass as a function of pitch. Noting the features of their fitted curve, we
show that a simple linear proportion of the BH mass to the cotangent of the
pitch angle can obtain the same fit, within error. Such a direct, elegant fit
may help shed light on the nature of the correlation.Comment: 2 pages, 1 fi
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