660 research outputs found
Dynamics and star formation activity of CG J1720-67.8 unveiled through integral field spectroscopy and radio observations
CG J1720-67.8 is an ultra compact group of several galaxies with a low
velocity dispersion, and displaying the hallmarks of mutual interaction and
possible tidal dwarf galaxy formation. In hierarchical models, the system is a
possible precursor to a massive elliptical galaxy. In this paper, we use new
optical integral field spectroscopic and radio observations to investigate the
evolutionary status of the group in more detail: global star-formation rates
are estimated using H and 1.4 GHz radio continuum measurements; H {\sc
i} observations provide an upper limit to the global neutral gas content;
optical broadband colours and spectra provide ages and stellar mass estimates
for the tidal dwarf candidates; the bidimensional H velocity field is
used to trace the kinematics of the group and its members, which are compared
with numerical simulations of galaxy encounters. The observations suggest a
model in which multiple interactions have occurred, with the latest strong
encounter involving at least two major components within the last 200 Myr.
Debris from the encounter fuels ongoing star formation at the global level of
M yr, with self-gravity within the tidal tail
possibly providing a mechanism to enhance the star formation rate of the tidal
dwarf candidates, with bursts of star-formation in clumps of mass M appearing within the last 10 Myr. The amount of time required
for final merging of all group components remains uncertain.Comment: 22 pages, 16 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRA
Detection of Carbon Monoxide within the Magellanic Bridge
The Mopra 22m and SEST 15m telescopes have been used to detect and partially
map a region of 12CO(1-0) line emission within the Magellanic Bridge, a region
lying between the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds. The emission appears to be
embedded in a cloud of neutral hydrogen, and is in the vicinity of an IRAS
source. The CO emission region is found to have a 60um/100um flux density ratio
typical for 12CO(1-0) detections within the SMC, although it has a
significantly lower 12CO brightness and velocity width. These suggest that the
observed region is of a low metallicity, supporting earlier findings that the
Magellanic Bridge is not as evolved as the SMC and Magellanic Stream, which are
themselves of a lower metallicity than the Galaxy. Our observations, along with
empirical models based on SMC observations, indicate that the radius of the
detected CO region has an upper limit of ~16 pc. This detection is, to our
knowledge, the first detection of CO emission from the Magellanic Bridge and is
the only direct evidence of star formation through molecular cloud collapse in
this region.Comment: 8 pages, 6 Figures. LaTeX. Accepted for publication by MNRA
Cosmological surveys with the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder
This is a design study into the capabilities of the Australian Square
Kilometre Array Pathfinder in performing a full-sky low redshift neutral
hydrogen survey, termed WALLABY, and the potential cosmological constraints one
can attain from measurement of the galaxy power spectrum. We find that the full
sky survey will likely attain 0.6 million redshifts which, when combined with
expected Planck CMB data, will constrain the Dark Energy equation of state to
20%, representing a coming of age for radio observations in creating
cosmological constraints.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, accepted in PASA, updated to match published
versio
Extragalactic Zeeman Detections in OH Megamasers
We have measured the Zeeman splitting of OH megamaser emission at 1667 MHz
from five (ultra)luminous infrared galaxies ([U]LIRGs) using the 305 m Arecibo
telescope and the 100 m Green Bank Telescope. Five of eight targeted galaxies
show significant Zeeman-splitting detections, with 14 individual masing
components detected and line-of-sight magnetic field strengths ranging from
~0.5-18 mG. The detected field strengths are similar to those measured in
Galactic OH masers, suggesting that the local process of massive star formation
occurs under similar conditions in (U)LIRGs and the Galaxy, in spite of the
vastly different large-scale environments. Our measured field strengths are
also similar to magnetic field strengths in (U)LIRGs inferred from synchrotron
observations, implying that milligauss magnetic fields likely pervade most
phases of the interstellar medium in (U)LIRGs. These results provide a
promising new tool for probing the astrophysics of distant galaxies.Comment: 32 pages, 14 figures, 8 tables. Accepted for publication in The
Astrophysical Journal v680n2, June 20, 2008; corrected 2 typo
Evolution of damped Lyman alpha kinematics and the effect of spatial resolution on 21-cm measurements
We have investigated the effect of spatial resolution on determining
pencil-beam like velocity widths and column densities in galaxies. Three 21-cm
datasets are used, the HIPASS galaxy catalogue, a subset of HIPASS galaxies
with ATCA maps and a high-resolution image of the LMC. Velocity widths measured
from 21-cm emission in local galaxies are compared with those measured in
intermediate redshift Damped Lyman alpha (DLA) absorbers. We conclude that
spatial resolution has a severe effect on measuring pencil-beam like velocity
widths in galaxies. Spatial smoothing by a factor of 240 is shown to increase
the median velocity width by a factor of two. Thus any difference between
velocity widths measured from global profiles or low spatial resolution 21-cm
maps at z=0 and DLAs at z>1 cannot unambiguously be attributed to galaxy
evolution. The effect on column density measurements is less severe and the
values of dN/dz from local low-resolution 21-cm measurements are expected to be
overestimated by only ~10 per cent.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS letter
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