827 research outputs found
An HI survey of the Centaurus and Sculptor Groups - Constraints on the space density of low mass galaxies
We present results of two 21-cm HI surveys performed with the Australia
Telescope Compact Array in the nearby Centaurus A and Sculptor galaxy groups.
These surveys are sensitive to compact HI clouds and galaxies with HI masses as
low as 3E+06 Msun, and are therefore among the most sensitive extragalactic HI
surveys to date. The surveys consist of sparsely spaced pointings that sample
approximately 2% of the groups' area on the sky. We detected previously known
group members, but we found no new HI clouds or galaxies down to the
sensitivity limit of the surveys. If the HI mass function had a faint end slope
of alpha = 1.5 below M_{HI} = 10^{7.5} Msun in these groups, we would have
expected ~3 new objects. Cold dark matter theories of galaxy formation predict
the existence of a large number low mass DM sub-halos that might appear as tiny
satellites in galaxy groups. Our results support and extend similar conclusions
derived from previous HI surveys that a HI rich population of these satellites
does not exist.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&
Star Formation and Tidal Encounters with the Low Surface Brightness Galaxy UGC 12695 and Companions
We present VLA H I observations of the low surface brightness galaxy UGC
12695 and its two companions, UGC 12687 and a newly discovered dwarf galaxy
2333+1234. UGC 12695 shows solid body rotation but has a very lopsided
morphology of the H I disk, with the majority of the H I lying in the southern
arm of the galaxy. The H I column density distribution of this very blue, LSB
galaxy coincides in detail with its light distribution. Comparing the H I
column density of UGC 12695 with the empirical (but not well understood) value
of Sigma_c = 10E21 atoms/cm^2 found in, i.e., Skillman's 1986 paper shows the
star formation to be a local affair, occurring only in those regions where the
column density is above this star formation threshold. The low surface
brightness nature of this galaxy could thus be attributed to an insufficient
gas surface density, inhibiting star formation on a more global scale.
Significantly, though, the Toomre criterion places a much lower critical
density on the galaxy (+/-10E20 atoms/cm^2), which is shown by the galaxy's low
SFR to not be applicable.
Within a projected distance of 300kpc/30kms of UGC 12695 lie two companion
galaxies - UGC 12687, a high surface brightness barred spiral galaxy, and
2333+1234, a dwarf galaxy discovered during this investigation. The close
proximity of the three galaxies, combined with UGC 12695's extremely blue color
and regions of localized starburst and UGC 12687's UV excess bring to mind
mutually induced star formation through tidal activity.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figures (2 color), To be published in A.J., May 2000
Comparing Galaxies and Lyman Alpha Absorbers at Low Redshift
A scenario is explored in which Lyman alpha absorbers at low redshift arise
from lines of sight through extended galaxy disks, including those of dwarf and
low surface brightness galaxies. A population of galaxies is simulated based
upon observed distributions of galaxy properties, and the gas disks are modeled
using pressure and gravity confinement. Some parameter values are ruled out by
comparing simulation results with the observed galaxy luminosity function, and
constraints may be made on the absorbing cross sections of galaxies. Simulation
results indicate that it is difficult to match absorbers with particular
galaxies observationally since absorption typically occurs at high impact
parameters (>200 kpc) from luminous galaxies. Low impact parameter absorption
is dominated by low luminosity dwarfs. A large fraction of absorption lines is
found to originate from low surface brightness galaxies, so that the absorbing
galaxy is likely to be misidentified. Low redshift Lyman alpha absorber counts
can easily be explained by moderately extended galaxy disks when low surface
brightness galaxies are included, and it is easily possible to find a scenario
which is consistent with observed the galaxy luminosity function, with low
redshift Lyman limit absorber counts, and with standard nucleosynthesis
predictions of the baryon density, Omega_Baryon.Comment: 17 pages, 8 figures, accepted to the Astrophysical Journa
Testing the Hypothesis of Modified Dynamics with Low Surface Brightness Galaxies and Other Evidence
The rotation curves of low surface brightness galaxies provide a unique data
set with which to test alternative theories of gravitation over a large dynamic
range in size, mass, surface density, and acceleration. Many clearly fail,
including any in which the mass discrepancy appears at a particular
length-scale. One hypothesis, MOND [Milgrom 1983, ApJ, 270, 371], is consistent
with the data. Indeed, it accurately predicts the observed behavior. We find no
evidence on any scale which clearly contradicts MOND, and a good deal which
supports it.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal. 35 pages
AAStex + 9 figures. This result surprised the bejeepers out of us, to
The Tully-Fisher relation for low surface brightness galaxies - implications for galaxy evolution
We present the B band Tully-Fisher relation for Low Surface Brightness (LSB)
galaxies. These LSB galaxies follow the same Tully-Fisher relation as normal
spiral galaxies. This implies that the mass-to-light ratio (M/L) of LSB
galaxies is typically a factor of 2 larger than that of normal galaxies of the
same total luminosity and morphological type. Since the dynamical mass of a
galaxy is related to the rotation velocity and scale length via M \propto V^2
h, at fixed linewidth LSB galaxies must be twice as large as normal galaxies.
This is confirmed by examining the relation between scale length and linewidth
for LSB and normal galaxies. The universal nature of the Tully-Fisher relation
can be understood if LSB galaxies are galaxies with low mass surface density,
\sigma. The mass surface density apparently controls the luminosity evolution
of a galaxy such as to keep the product \sigma M/L constant.Comment: 9 pages, PostScript. Accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of
the Royal Astronomical Societ
Tidal stirring and the origin of dwarf spheroidals in the Local Group
N-Body/SPH simulations are used to study the evolution of dwarf irregular
galaxies (dIrrs) entering the dark matter halo of the Milky Way or M31 on
plunging orbits. We propose a new dynamical mechanism driving the evolution of
gas rich, rotationally supported dIrrs, mostly found at the outskirts of the
Local Group (LG), into gas free, pressure supported dwarf spheroidals (dSphs)
or dwarf ellipticals (dEs), observed to cluster around the two giant spirals.
The initial model galaxies are exponential disks embedded in massive dark
matter halos and reproduce nearby dIrrs. Repeated tidal shocks at the
pericenter of their orbit partially strip their halo and disk and trigger
dynamical instabilities that dramatically reshape their stellar component.
After only 2-3 orbits low surface brightness (LSB) dIrrs are transformed into
dSphs, while high surface brightness (HSB) dIrrs evolve into dEs. This
evolutionary mechanism naturally leads to the morphology-density relation
observed for LG dwarfs. Dwarfs surrounded by very dense dark matter halos, like
the archetypical dIrr GR8, are turned into Draco or Ursa Minor, the faintest
and most dark matter dominated among LG dSphs. If disks include a gaseous
component, this is both tidally stripped and consumed in periodic bursts of
star formation. The resulting star formation histories are in good qualitative
agreement with those derived using HST color-magnitude diagrams for local
dSphs.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, to appear on ApJL. Simulation images and movies
can be found at the Local Group web page at
http://pcblu.uni.mi.astro.it/~lucio/LG/LG.htm
Skin microbiota analysis in patients with anorexia nervosa and healthy-weight controls reveals microbial indicators of healthy weight and associations with the antimicrobial peptide psoriasin
Anorexia nervosa (AN), a psychiatric condition defined by low body weight for age and height, is associated with numerous dermatological conditions. Yet, clinical observations report that patients with AN do not suffer from infectious skin diseases like those associated with primary malnutrition. Cell-mediated immunity appears to be amplified in AN; however, this proinflammatory state does not sufficiently explain the lower incidence of infections. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are important components of the innate immune system protecting from pathogens and shaping the microbiota. In Drosophila melanogaster starvation precedes increased AMP gene expression. Here, we analyzed skin microbiota in patients with AN and age-matched, healthy-weight controls and investigated the influence of weight gain on microbial community structure. We then correlated features of the skin microbial community with psoriasin and RNase 7, two highly abundant AMPs in human skin, to clarify whether an association between AMPs and skin microbiota exists and whether such a relationship might contribute to the resistance to cutaneous infections observed in AN. We find significant statistical correlations between Shannon diversity and the highly abundant skin AMP psoriasin and bacterial load, respectively. Moreover, we reveal psoriasin significantly associates with Abiotrophia, an indicator for the healthy-weight control group. Additionally, we observe a significant correlation between an individual’s body mass index and Lactobacillus, a microbial indicator of health. Future investigation may help clarify physiological mechanisms that link nutritional intake with skin physiology
High-resolution rotation curves of low surface brightness galaxies: Data
We present long slit Halpha observations of 50 low surface brightness
galaxies. Of these, 36 are of sufficient quality to form rotation curves. These
data provide a large increase in the number of low surface brightness galaxies
for which accurate rotation curves are available. They also represent an order
of magnitude improvement in spatial resolution over previous 21 cm studies (1"
to 2" instead of 13" to 45"). The improved resolution and accuracy of the data
extend and strengthen the scientific conclusions previously inferred from 21 cm
data.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astronomical Journal. Electronic
versions of the data are available at http://www.astro.umd.edu/~ssm/data &
http://www.atnf.csiro.au/~edeblok/dat
An Exploration of the Tully-Fisher Relation for Extreme Late-Type Spiral Galaxies
This paper explores the adherence of 47 extreme late-type galaxies to the B-
and V-band Tully-Fisher relations defined by a sample of local calibrators. In
both bands we find the mean luminosity at a given line width for extreme
late-type spirals to lie below that predicted by standard Tully-Fisher
relations. While many of the extreme late-type spirals do follow the
Tully-Fisher relation to within our observational uncertainties, most of these
galaxies lie below the normal, linear Tully-Fisher relation, and some are
underluminous by more than 2 sigma (i.e. >1.16 magnitudes in V). This suggests
a possible downward curvature of the Tully-Fisher relation for some of the
smallest and faintest rotationally supported disk galaxies. This may be a
consequence of the increasing prevalence of dark matter in these systems. We
find the deviation from the Tully-Fisher relation to increase with decreasing
luminosity and decreasing optical linear size in our sample, implying that the
physically smallest and faintest spirals may be a structurally and
kinematically distinct class of objects.Comment: 32 pages, 13 figures; to appear in the November A
The stellar disk thickness of LSB galaxies
We present surface photometry results for a sample of eleven edge-on galaxies
observed with the 6m telescope at the Special Astrophysical Observatory
(Russia). The photometric scale length, scale height, and central surface
brightness of the stellar disks of our sample galaxies are estimated. We show
that four galaxies in our sample, which are visually referred as objects of the
lowest surface brightness class in the Revised Flat Galaxies Catalog, have bona
fide low surface brightness (LSB) disks. We find from the comparison of
photometric scales that the stellar disks of LSB galaxies are thinner than
those of high surface brightness (HSB) ones. There is a clear correlation
between the central surface brightness of the stellar disk and its vertical to
radial scale ratio. The masses of spherical subsystems (dark halo + bulge) and
the dark halo masses are obtained for the sample galaxies based on the
thickness of their stellar disks. The LSB galaxies tend to harbor more massive
spherical subsystems than the HSB objects, whereas no systematic difference in
the dark halo masses between LSB and HSB galaxies is found. At the same time,
the inferred mass-to-luminosity ratio for the LSB disks appears to be
systematically higher than for HSB disks.Comment: 33 pages with 17 Postscript figures, uses aastex.cls, accepted by Ap
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