Near-IR photometry of disk galaxies: search for nuclear isophotal twist and double bars

We present a near-IR, mainly H band, photometry of 72 nearby disk galaxies. The main goal of the survey was to search for isophotal twist inside their nuclear regions. As the twist can be due in some cases to projection effects, rather than resulting from a dynamical phenomenon, we deproject - under the simplifying assumption of a 2D geometry - all galaxies whose disk position angle and inclination are known, the latter not exceeding 75 degrees. We show the ellipticity, position angle and surface brightness radial profiles, and discuss how a projection of 2D and 3D bars can distort the isophotes, give an illusion of a non-existing double bar or mask a real one. We report 15 new double-barred galaxies and confirm 2 detected previously. We identify 14 additional twists not known before and we also find nuclear triaxial structures in three SA galaxies. The frequency of Seyferts among galaxies with nuclear bars or twists is high. As a secondary product, we publish structural parameters (length and axis ratio) of large-scale bars in order to extend still scarce data on bars in the near-IR.Comment: 11 pages of text (Astron. & Astroph. LaTeX l-aa macro) with 3 postscript figures, 7 additional pages of non-main-body postscript figures containing contour and ellipse fitting plots of 72 galaxies; accepted by Astronomy & Astrophysics Suppl. Se

Resource Rents, Democracy & the Eight Policy Lessons

We examine if resource revenues are likely to be managed more effectively with strong (or lack of) institutions and if so to contribute to economic development in resource abundant countries. We estimate a general model using evidence for the resource booms of the 1970-2012 period, resource rents, natural capital, socio-economic indicators and for institutions. Our results show 1) Countries with ample natural capital and subsoil wealth levels are associated to a healthier democracy which potentially mitigates the resource curse (RC); 2) High resource rents are negatively associated to weak institutional quality deepening the curse; 3) Long run economic growth is positively associated to natural capital but negatively associated for those countries that receive high resource rents. We recommend stronger transparency for revenue allocation, for sales of oil production, for the allocation of licences, and for revenue collection. One limitation is the lack of information: (energy) laws inducing economic growth. This paper contributes to explaining the long run impact of democratic change on managing resource revenue. Our three key conclusions are:1) Resource abundance across the world produces a strong income effect; 2) Institution quality emerges as the key mechanism from which the RC effect emanates; and 3)The RC effect does not appear in all countries at all times as some researchers argue.  Examinamos si las rentas de recursos naturales son probablemente mejor administradas bajo instituciones fuertes (o falta de estas), y de serlo así si eso contribuye al desarrollo económico de países con abundantes recursos naturales. Estimamos un modelo usando evidencia de booms (1970-2012) de recursos, rentas de recursos, capital natural, indicadores socio-económicos y de instituciones. Nuestros resultados son tres que 1) países con capital natural y riqueza del subsuelo están asociados a una sana democracia lo que mitiga la maldición de los recursos naturales (MRN); 2) altos niveles de renta están negativamente asociados a la baja calidad de instituciones lo que profundiza la maldición; 3) el crecimiento económico a largo plazo está asociado a el capital natural pero tal crecimiento esta negativamente asociado en países que registran altos percepciones de rentas. Recomendamos transparencia en: la distribución de rentas, las ventas de petróleo, distribución de licencias y la recaudación de rentas. Una limitación es la falta de información: leyes (sector energético) que produzcan el crecimiento. Explicamos el impacto de largo plazo de el cambio democrático sobre la gestión de la rentas. Nuestras tres conclusiones claves son: 1) La abundancia de recursos naturales en todo el mundo produce un fuerte efecto sobre los ingresos; 2) La calidad institucional emerge como un mecanismo clave del que emana el efecto MRN; y 3) El efecto MRN no aparece en todos los países en todo momento como argumentan algunos investigadores

The supermassive black hole of M87 and the kinematics of its associated gaseous disk

We have obtained long-slit observations of the circumnuclear region of M87 at three different locations, with a spatial sampling of 0.028" using the Faint Object Camera f/48 spectrograph on board HST. These data allow us to determine the rotation curve of the inner ~1" of the ionized gas disk in [OII]3727 to a distance as close as 0.07" (~5pc) to the dynamic center, thereby significantly improving on both the spatial resolution and coverage of previous FOS observations. We have modeled the kinematics of the gas under the assumption of the existence of both a central black hole and an extended central mass distribution, taking into account the effects of the instrumental PSF, the intrinsic luminosity distribution of the line, and the finite size of the slit. We find that the central mass must be concentrated within a sphere whose maximum radius is 0.05" (~3.5pc) and show that both the observed rotation curve and line profiles are consistent with a thin--disk in keplerian motion. We conclude that the most likely explanation for the observed motions is the presence of a supermassive black hole and derive a value of M_{BH} = (3.2+/-0.9) 10^9 M_{sun} for its mass

How Special are Brightest Cluster Galaxies? The Impact of Near-Infrared Luminosities on Scaling Relations for BCGs

Using the extended J, H and K magnitudes provided by the 2MASS data archive, we consider the position of brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) in the observed relations between inferred supermassive black hole (SMBH) mass and the host galaxy properties, as well as their position in the stellar velocity dispersion and luminosity (sigma-L) relation, compared to E and S0 galaxies. We find that SMBH masses (M) derived from near-infrared (NIR) magnitudes do not exceed 10e9.5Msol and that these masses agree well with the predictions made from sigma. In the NIR, there is no evidence that BCGs leave the sigma-L relation defined by less luminous galaxies. The higher SMBH masses predicted from V-band luminosities (M~10e10.5Msol) are attributed to the presence of extended envelopes around the BCGs, however, this will need to be confirmed using deeper multiwavelength imaging.Comment: 4 pages, 7 figures (4 color), uses emulateapj.cls. Replaced with ApJ Letters Accepted version. Conclusions are unchange

Hubble Space Telescope Near-infrared Snapshot Survey of 3CR Radio Source Counterparts. II. An Atlas and Inventory of the Host Galaxies, Mergers, and Companions

We present the second part of an H-band (1.6 μm) “atlas” of z \u3c 0.3 3CR radio galaxies, using the Hubble Space Telescope Near Infrared Camera and Multi- Object Spectrometer (HST NICMOS2). We present new imaging for 21 recently acquired sources, and host galaxy modeling for the full sample of 101 (including 11 archival) – an 87% completion rate. Two different modeling techniques are applied, following those adopted by the galaxy morphology and the quasar host galaxy communities. Results are compared, and found to be in excellent agreement, although the former breaks down in the case of strongly nucleated sources

Nuclear spirals as feeding channels to the Supermassive Black Hole: the case of the galaxy NGC 6951

We report the discovery of gas streaming motions along nuclear spiral arms towards the LINER nucleus of the galaxy NGC 6951. The observations, obtained using the GMOS integral field spectrograph on the Gemini North telescope, yielded maps of the flux distributions and gas kinematics in the Halpha, [NII]6584 and [SII]6717,31 emission lines of the inner 7x5 arcsec^2 of the galaxy. This region includes a circumnuclear star-forming ring with radius 500pc, a nuclear spiral inside the ring and the LINER nucleus. The kinematics of the ionized gas is dominated by rotation, but subtraction of a kinematic model of a rotating exponential disk reveals deviations from circular rotation within the nuclear ring which can be attributed to (1) streaming motions along the nuclear spiral arms and (2) a bipolar outflow which seems to be associated to a nuclear jet. On the basis of the observed streaming velocities and geometry of the spiral arms we estimate a mass inflow rate of ionized gas of 3x10^(-4) Msun/yr, which is of the order of the accretion rate necessary to power the LINER nucleus of NGC 6951. Similar streaming motions towards the nucleus of another galaxy with LINER nucleus -- NGC 1097 -- have been reported by our group in a previous paper. Taken together, these results support a scenario in which nuclear spirals are channels through which matter is transferred from galactic scales to the nuclear region to feed the supermassive black hole.Comment: 25 pages, 6 eps figures, accepted for publication in Ap

Supermassive Black Holes in the Sbc Spiral Galaxies NGC 3310, NGC 4303 and NGC 4258

We have undertaken an HST Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph survey of 54 late type spiral galaxies to study the scaling relations between black holes and their host spheroids at the low mass end. Our aim is to measure black hole masses or to set upper limits for a sizeable sample of spiral galaxies. In this paper we present new Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) observations of three spiral galaxies, NGC 4303, NGC 3310 and NGC 4258. The bright optical emission lines Hα λ 6564Å, [NII] λλ 6549, 6585Å and [SII] λλ 6718, 6732Å were used to study the kinematics of the ionized gas in the nuclear region of each galaxy with a ∼ 0.07′′ spatial resolution. Our STIS data for NGC 4258 were analyzed in conjunction with archival ones to compare the gas kinematical estimate of the black hole mass with the accurate value from H20-maser observations. In NGC 3310, the observed gas kinematics is well matched by a circularly rotating disk model but we are only able to set an upper limit to the BH mass which, taking into account the allowed disk inclinations, varies in the range 5.0 × 106 − 4.2 × 107M ⊙ at the 95% confidence level. In NGC 4303 the kinematical data require the presence of a BH with mass MBH = (5.0)+0.87 −2.26 × 106M ⊙ (for a disk inclination i = 70 deg) but the weak agreement between data and disk model does not allow us to consider this measurement completely reliable. If the allowed inclination values are taken into account, MBH varies in the range 6.0 × 105 − 1.6 × 107M ⊙ at the 95% confidence level. In NGC 4258, the observed kinematics require the presence of a black hole with MBH = (7.9)+6.2 −3.5 × 107M ⊙ (i = 60 deg) and, taking into account reasonable limits for the inclination, MBH is in the range 2.5× 107 – 2.6× 108M ⊙ at the 95% confidence level. This result is in good agreement with the published value (3.9 ± 0.1) × 107M ⊙ , derived from H2O-maser observations. As in the case of NGC 4303, the agreement between observed and model kinematics is not strong but this does not affect the recovery of the correct MBH value. Our attempt at measuring BH masses in these 3 late type Sbc spiral galaxies has shown that these measurements are very challenging and at the limit of the highest spatial resolution currently available. Nonetheless our estimates are in good agreement with the scaling relations between black holes and their host spheroids suggesting that (i) they are reliable and (ii) black holes in spiral galaxies follows the same scaling relations as those in more massive early-type galaxies. A crucial test for the gas kinematical method, the correct recovery of the known BH mass in NGC 4258, has been successful