80 research outputs found
Robust H I kinematics of gas-rich ultra-diffuse galaxies:Hints of a weak-feedback formation scenario
HI in four star-forming low-luminosity E/S0 and S0 galaxies
We present HI data cubes of four low-luminosity early-type galaxies which are
currently forming stars. These galaxies have absolute magnitudes in the range
M_B=-17.9 to -19.9 (H_o=50 km/s/Mpc). Their HI masses range between a few times
10^8 and a few times 10^9 M_sun and the corresponding values for M_HI/L_B are
between 0.07 and 0.42, so these systems are HI rich for their morphological
type. In all four galaxies, the HI is strongly centrally concentrated with high
central HI surface densities, in contrast to what is typically observed in more
luminous early-type galaxies. In two galaxies (NGC 802 and ESO 118-G34), the
kinematics of the HI suggests that the gas is in a strongly warped disk, which
we take as evidence for recent accretion of HI. In the other two galaxies (NGC
2328 and ESO 027-G21) the HI must have been part of the systems for a
considerable time. The HI properties of low-luminosity early-type galaxies
appear to be systematically different from those of many more luminous
early-type galaxies, and we suggest that these differences are due to a
different evolution of the two classes. The star formation history of these
galaxies remains unclear. Their UBV colours and Halpha emission-line strengths
are consistent with having formed stars at a slowly-declining rate for most of
the past 10^10 years. However, the current data do not rule out a small burst
of recent star formation overlaid on an older stellar population.Comment: To appear in AJ, LateX, figures in gif format, paper also available
at http://www.nfra.nl/~morganti/LowLu
Cold gas and young stars in tidally-disturbed ellipticals at z=0
We present an analysis of the neutral hydrogen and stellar populations of
elliptical galaxies in the Tal et al. (2009) sample. Our aim is to test their
conclusion that the continuing assembly of these galaxies at z~0 is essentially
gas-free and not accompanied by significant star formation. In order to do so,
we make use of HI data and line-strength indices available in the literature.
We look for direct and indirect evidence of the presence of cold gas during the
recent assembly of these objects and analyse its relation to galaxy
morphological fine structure.
We find that >25% of ellipticals contain HI at the level of M(HI)>10^8
M(Sun), and that M(HI) is of the order of a few percent of the total stellar
mass. Available data are insufficient to establish whether galaxies with a
disturbed stellar morphology are more likely to contain HI. However, HI
interferometry reveals very disturbed gas morphology/kinematics in all but one
of the detected systems, confirming the continuing assembly of many ellipticals
but also showing that this is not necessarily gas-free. We also find that all
very disturbed ellipticals have a single-stellar-population-equivalent age <4
Gyr. We interpret this as evidence that ~0.5-5% of their stellar mass is
contained in a young population formed during the past ~1 Gyr. Overall, a large
fraction of ellipticals seem to have continued their assembly over the past few
Gyr in the presence of a mass of cold gas of the order of 10% of the galaxy
stellar mass. This material is now observable as neutral hydrogen and young
stars.Comment: 5 pages, 1 table, 3 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRAS
Letter
The Warped Disk of Centaurus A from a Radius of 2 to 6500pc
We compile position and inclination angles for tilted ring fits to the warped dusty and gaseous disk of Cen A, spanning a radius of 1.8 to 6500 pc, from recent observations. For radii exterior to 1 kpc, tilted-ring orientations lie on an arc, on a plot of polar-inclination versus position-angle, suggesting that precession following a merger can account for the ring morphology. Three kinks in the ring orientations are seen on the polar plot, the one at radius of about 1.3 kpc we suspect corresponds to the location where self-gravity in the disk affects the ring precession rate. Another at a radius of about 600 pc may be associated with a gap in the gas distribution. A third kink is seen at a radius of 100 pc. A constant inclination tilted disk precessing about the jet axis may describe the disk between 100 and 20 pc but not interior to this. A model with disk orientation matching the molecular circumnuclear disk at 100 pc that decays at smaller radii to an inner flat disk perpendicular to the jet may account for disk orientations within 100 pc. Neither model would account for the cusps or changes in disk orientation at 100 or 600 pc
Cooling Flow Star Formation and the Apparent Stellar Ages of Elliptical Galaxies
Observational constraints and theoretical arguments indicate that cooled
interstellar gas in bright elliptical galaxies forms into a young stellar
population throughout the region within the half-light radius. The young
population has a bottom-heavy, but optically luminous IMF extending to 1 - 2
M_sun. When the colors and spectral features of this young population are
combined with those of the underlying old stellar population, the apparent ages
are significantly reduced, similar to the relatively young apparent ages
observed in many ellipticals. Galactic mergers are not required to resupply
young stars. The sensitivity of continuous star formation to L_B and L_x/L_B is
likely to account for the observed spread in apparent ages among elliptical
galaxies. Local star formation is accompanied by enhanced stellar H_beta
equivalent widths, stronger optical emission lines, enhanced thermal X-ray
emission and lower apparent temperatures in the hot gas. The young stars should
cause M/L to vary with galactic radius, perturbing the fundamental plane
occupied by the old stars.Comment: 6 pages with 2 figures; accepted by Astrophysical Journal Letter
Strong molecular hydrogen emission and kinematics of the multiphase gas in radio galaxies with fast jet-driven outflows
Observations of ionized and neutral gas outflows in radio-galaxies (RGs)
suggest that AGN radio jet feedback has a galaxy-scale impact on the host ISM,
but it is still unclear how the molecular gas is affected. We present deep
Spitzer IRS spectroscopy of 8 RGs that show fast HI outflows. All of these
HI-outflow RGs have bright H2 mid-IR lines that cannot be accounted for by UV
or X-ray heating. This suggests that the radio jet, which drives the HI
outflow, is also responsible for the shock-excitation of the warm H2 gas. In
addition, the warm H2 gas does not share the kinematics of the ionized/neutral
gas. The mid-IR ionized gas lines are systematically broader than the H2 lines,
which are resolved by the IRS (with FWHM up to 900km/s) in 60% of the detected
H2 lines. In 5 sources, the NeII line, and to a lesser extent the NeIII and NeV
lines, exhibit blue-shifted wings (up to -900km/s with respect to the systemic
velocity) that match the kinematics of the outflowing HI or ionized gas. The H2
lines do not show broad wings, except tentative detections in 3 sources. This
shows that, contrary to the HI gas, the H2 gas is inefficiently coupled to the
AGN jet-driven outflow of ionized gas. While the dissipation of a small
fraction (<10%) of the jet kinetic power can explain the dynamical heating of
the molecular gas, our data show that the bulk of the warm molecular gas is not
expelled from these galaxies.Comment: 26 pages, 15 figures, Accepted for ublication in Ap
Why Are Rotating Elliptical Galaxies Less Elliptical at X-ray Frequencies?
If mass and angular momentum were conserved in cooling flows associated with
luminous, slowly rotating elliptical galaxies, the inflowing hot gas would spin
up, resulting in disks of cold gas and X-ray images that are highly flattened
along the equatorial plane out to several effective radii. Such X-ray
flattening is not observed at the spatial resolution currently available to
X-ray observations. Evidently mass and angular momentum are not in fact
conserved. If cooling flows are depleted by localized radiative cooling at
numerous sites distributed throughout the flows, then disks of cooled gas do
not form and the X-ray images appear nearly circular. However, the distribution
of young stars formed from the cooled gas is still somewhat flattened relative
to the stellar light. X-ray images of galactic cooling flows can also be
circularized by the turbulent diffusion of angular momentum away from the axis
of rotation, but the effective viscosity of known processes -- stellar mass
loss, supernovae, cooling site evolution, etc. -- is insufficient to
appreciably circularize the X-ray images. Radial gradients in the interstellar
iron abundance are unaffected by the expected level of interstellar turbulence
since these gradients are continuously re-established by Type Ia supernovae.Comment: 17 pages with 6 figures; accepted by Astrophysical Journa
Formation of Low Mass Stars in Elliptical Galaxy Cooling Flows
X-ray emission from hot (T = 10^7 K) interstellar gas in massive elliptical
galaxies indicates that 10^{10} M_sun has cooled over a Hubble time, but
optical and radio evidence for this cold gas is lacking. We provide detailed
theoretical support for the hypothesis that this gas has formed into low
luminosity stars. Within several kpc of the galactic center, interstellar gas
first cools to T = 10^4 K where it is heated by stellar UV and emits the
observed diffuse optical line emission. This cooling occurs at a large number
(10^6) of isolated sites. After less than a solar mass of gas has accumulated
(10^{-6} M_sun/yr) at a typical cooling site, a neutral (HI or H_2) core
develops in the HII cloud where gas temperatures drop to T = 15 K and the
ionization level (from thermal X-rays) is very low (x = 10^{-6}). We show that
the maximum mass of cores that become gravitationally unstable is only about 2
M_sun. No star can exceed this mass. Fragmentation of collapsing cores produces
a population of low mass stars with a bottom-heavy IMF and radial orbits.
Gravitational collapse and ambipolar diffusion are rapid. The total mass of
star-forming (dust-free) HI or H_2 cores in a typical bright elliptical is only
10^6 M_sun, below current observational thresholds.Comment: 23 pages in AASTEX LaTeX with 8 figures; accepted by Astrophysical
Journa
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