Environment status of blue compact galaxies and trigger of star formation

(abridged) The work studies active star formation (SF) and a possible trigger of SF bursts due to gravitational interaction. Following the study by Taylor et al. we extend the search for possible disturbing galaxies of various masses to a much larger sample of 86 BCGs from the sky region of Second Byurakan survey. The sample under study is separated by the criteria: EW([O III]5007 > 45 A and V < 6,000 km/s and should be representative of all low-mass galaxies which experience SF bursts. We argue that the moderate tidal disturbers should be taken into account, and incorporate the respective range of distances in the search for disturbing neighbours. The majority of the neighbours in the vicinity of the studied BCGs are found through the study of their environment among UZC galaxies, and the follow-up careful search of the fainter galaxies in the NED database. For the remaining BCGs, the neighbouring galaxies are found based on the results of the 6-m telescope spectroscopy. By studing the data on the radial velocities of galaxies in the vicinity of BCGs we found: 1) 33 of the studied BCGs (38.5 %) are associated with significantly brighter galaxies (DB > 1.5 mag); 2) 23 BCGs (26.5%) have neighbours either of comparable or significantly lower brightness; 3) 14 of the studied BCGs (16%) with no evident associated galaxy are either certain, or probable, mergers. We conclude that in \~80% (or more) BCGs from the studied sample, the SF bursts are triggered either by tidal action of various strengths from other galaxies, or due to mergers of low-mass galaxies. We briefly discuss the implications of our main conclusion for evolutionary links of BCGs to other types of low-mass galaxies. Among the ``isolated'' BCGs (without a bright neighbour) 43+-10% are probably disturbed by dwarf galaxies and 26+-8% have a merger morphology.Comment: 22 pages, 7 figures, accepted to A&A on March 26, 200

The Hamburg/SAO Survey for Emission-Line Galaxies. III. The Third List of 81 Galaxies

We present the third list with results {Tables 2 to 6 are available only in electronic form at the CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/Abstract.html. Figures A1 to A9 will be made available only in the electronic version of the journal.} of the Hamburg/SAO Survey for Emission-Line Galaxies (HSS therein, SAO - Special Astrophysical Observatory, Russia). This survey is based on the digitized objective-prism photoplate database of the Hamburg Quasar Survey (HQS). Here, we present new spectroscopic results of candidates which were obtained in 1998 with the 2.1 m KPNO and the 2.2 m Calar Alto telescopes. All candidates are selected in the declination band +35$^{\circ}$ to +40$^{\circ}$. The follow-up spectroscopy with the 2 m class telescopes confirmed 85 emission-line objects out of 113 observed candidates and allowed their quantitative spectral classification. For 80 of them, the redshifts are determined for the first time. For 5 previously known ELGs, line ratios are presented for the first time. We could classify 55 out of the 85 emission-line objects as BCG/H{\sc ii} galaxies or probable BCGs, 4 - as QSOs, 6 - as Seyfert galaxies, 1 - as super-association in a subluminous spiral galaxy, and 11 are low-excitation objects - either starburst nuclear (SBN), or dwarf amorphous nuclear starburst galaxies (DANS). We could not classify 8 ELGs. Further, for 8 more galaxies we did not detect any significant emission lines.Comment: A&A latex file with 8 tables and one figure. Astron. Astrophys. Suppl. accepted 200

Prevalence of Tidal Interactions among Local Seyfert Galaxies: The Control Experiment

We test whether there is a relation between the observed tidal interactions and Seyfert activity by imaging in HI twenty inactive galaxies at the same spatial resolution and detection threshold as the Seyfert sample. This control sample of inactive galaxies were closely matched in Hubble type, range in size and inclination, and have roughly comparable galaxy optical luminosity to the Seyfert galaxies. We find that only ~15% of the galaxies in our control sample are disturbed in HI, whereas the remaining ~85% show no disturbances whatsoever in HI. Even at a spatial resolution of ~10 kpc, none of the latter galaxies show appreciable HI disturbances reminiscent of tidal features. In a companion paper (Kuo et al. 2008), we report results from the first systematic imaging survey of Seyfert galaxies in atomic hydrogen (HI) gas. We find that only ~28% of the eighteen Seyfert galaxies in that sample are visibly disturbed in optical starlight. By contrast, ~94% of the same Seyfert galaxies are disturbed spatially and usually also kinematically in HI gas on galactic scales of >~20 kpc. In at least ~67% and up to perhaps ~94% of cases, the observed disturbances can be traced to tidal interactions with neighboring galaxies detected also in HI. The dramatic contrast between the observed prevalence of HI disturbances in the Seyfert and control samples implicates tidal interactions in initiating events that lead to luminous Seyfert activity in a large fraction of local disk galaxies.Comment: 38 pages, 27 figures, Accepted for publication in ApJ. Changes from previous version: The title of the previous version of this paper appeared in Astroph was incorrect. It has been replaced with the correct on