Two-dimensional spectroscopy of double-barred galaxies

We describe the results of our spectroscopy for a sample of barred galaxies whose inner regions exhibit an isophotal twist commonly interpreted as a secondary bar. The line-of-sight velocity fields of the ionized gas and stars and the light-of-sight velocity dispersion fields of the stars were constructed from two-dimensional spectroscopy with the 6-m Special Astrophysical Observatory telescope. We detected various types of noncircular motions of ionized gas: radial flows within large-scale bars, counterrotation of the gas and stars at the center of NGC 3945, a polar gaseous disk in NGC 5850, etc. Our analysis of the optical and near-infrared galaxy images (both ground-based and those from the Hubble Space Telescope) revealed circumnuclear minispirals in five objects. The presence of an inner (secondary) bar in the galaxy images is shown to have no effect on the circumnuclear kinematics of the gas and stars. Thus, contrary to popular belief, the secondary bar is not a dynamically decoupled galactic structure. We conclude that the so-called double-barred galaxies are not a separate type of galaxy but are a combination of objects with distinctly different morphologies of their circumnuclear regions.     

Nearby galaxies. III. Gas–to–dust ratio in the interstellar medium of spiral and dwarf irregular galaxies

The gas-to-dust ratio in the interstellar medium of nearby spiral systems and dwarf irregular galaxies has been obtained by using mainly the compiled data by Schmidt and Boller (1992a). The gas-to-dust ratio of dwarf irregulars is larger by about one order of magnitude than for spiral galaxies, on the average. A relation between the gas-to-dust ratio and the metallicity, represented by the abundance of oxygen, has been detected.     

Global properties of nearby galaxies in various environments

We analyze a sample of the Local Volume that contains 451 galaxies within 10 Mpc. We compare the various global parameters of these galaxies with their tidal index that characterizes the local density of the environment. The closest correlation is observed between the density of the galaxy’s environment and its morphological type. The abundance of neutral hydrogen in the members of close groups was found to be, on average, a factor of 3 lower than that in isolated galaxies. However, much of this difference is attributable to different morphological composition for the group members and field galaxies. The total mass-to-luminosity ratio is virtually independent of the tidal index of the galaxy, which indirectly indicates a low percentage of tidal systems among dwarf galaxies. All of the galaxies with three or more companions in the Local Volume are shown to have masses above the threshold value of 10¹⁰M_⊙.     

On the nature of high luminosity ULIRGs

We present the preliminary results for a sample of 21 high luminosity ULIRGs (L_IR > 10^12.3 L⊙), selected from the 1Jy sample. Based on R band imaging we have performed an analysis of their morphologies. The main result obtained is that about half of the host galaxies are represented by spheroids and in the other half an exponential disk has been detected or they show still trace of a merging process going on. Regarding the relation between morphology and nuclear activity it seems that more advanced mergers appear in the most active galaxies. Hence the data support the evolutionary scheme proposed by Sanders 15 years ago that ULIRGs can be the earliest precursors of optical QSOs. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Diffuse radio emission from the Coma cluster of galaxies at decametre wavelengths

We have observed the region of the Coma cluster at 34.5 MHz with a resolution of 26 arcmin × 40 arcmin. A map of the diffuse halo (Coma C) is presented. The size of the halo is found to be 54 arcmin × 30 arcmin. The position angle is 50° ± 10° and the integrated flux is 60 ± 11 Jy. We have also found an extended source to the south of Coma A. The measured half-power widths of this source are 30 arcmin × 40 arcmin. The position angle is 135° and the integrated flux is ~ 15 Jy at 34.5 MHz. The spectral index in the frequency range 408 to 34.5 MHz is -1.0. It is suggested that this source also belongs to the Coma cluster.     

A quantitative determination of the AGN content in local ULIRGs through L-band spectroscopy

We present a quantitative estimate of the relative active galactic nucleus (AGN)/starburst content in a sample of 59 nearby  ( z < 0.15)  infrared bright ultraluminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs) taken from the 1-Jy sample, based on infrared L -band (3–4 μm) spectra. By using diagnostic diagrams and a simple deconvolution model, we show that at least 60 per cent of local ULIRGs contain an active nucleus, but the AGN contribution to the bolometric luminosity is relevant only in  ∼15–20  per cent of the sources. Overall, ULIRGs appear to be powered by the starburst process, responsible for >85 per cent of the observed infrared luminosity. The subsample of sources optically classified as low-ionization nuclear emission-line regions (LINERs; 31 objects) shows a similar AGN/starburst distribution as the whole sample, indicating a composite nature for this class of objects. We also show that a few ULIRGs, optically classified as starbursts, have L -band spectral features suggesting the presence of a buried AGN.     

Normal galaxies in the all-sky survey by the eROSITA X-ray telescope of the Spectrum-X-Gamma observatory

We analyze the statistical properties of normal galaxies to be detected in the all-sky survey by the eROSITA X-ray telescope of the Spectrum-X-Gamma observatory. With the current configuration and parameters of the eROSITA telescope, the sensitivity of a 4-year-long all-sky survey will be ≈10^?14 erg s^?1 in the 0.5–2 keV band. This will allow ～(1.5–2) × 10⁴ normal galaxies with approximately the same contribution of star-forming and elliptical galaxies to be detected. All galaxies of the X-ray survey are expected to enter into the existing far-infrared (IRAS) or near-infrared (2MASS) catalogs; the sample of star-forming galaxies will be approximately equivalent in sensitivity to the sample of star-forming galaxies in the IRAS catalog of infrared sources. Thus, a large homogeneous sample of normal galaxies with measured X-ray, near-infrared, and far-infrared fluxes will be formed. About 90% of the galaxies in the survey are located within ～200–400 Mpc. A typical (most probable) galaxy will have a luminosity log L _X ～ 40.5–41.0, will be located at a distance of ～70–90 Mpc, and will be either a star-forming galaxy with a star formation rate of ～20M _⊙ yr^?1 whose X-ray emission is produced by ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) or an elliptical galaxy with amass log M _* ～ 11.3 emitting through to a hot interstellar gas. The galaxies within 35 Mpc will collectively contain ～10² ULXs with luminosities log L _X > 40, ～80% of whichwill be the only luminous source in the galaxy. Thus, although the angular resolution of the eROSITA telescope is too low for the luminosity function of compact sources in galaxies to be studied in detail, the survey data will allow one to investigate its bright end and, possibly, to impose constraints on the maximum luminosity of ULXs.     

Dark haloes of spiral galaxies: ISO photometry

We exclude hydrogen-burning stars, of any mass above the hydrogen-burning limit and any metallicity, as significant contributors to the massive haloes deduced from rotation curves to dominate the outer parts of spiral galaxies. We present and analyse images of four nearly edge-on bulgeless spiral galaxies (UGC 711, NGC 2915, UGC 12426, UGC 1459) obtained with ISOCAM (The CAMera instrument on board the Infrared Space Observatory ) at 14.5 and 6.75 μm. Our sensitivity limit for detection of any diffuse infrared emission associated with the dark haloes in these galaxies is a few tens of μJy per 6 × 6 arcsec² pixel, with this limit currently set by remaining difficulties in modelling the non-linear behaviour of the detectors. All four galaxies show zero detected signal from extended non-disc emission, consistent with zero halo-like luminosity density distribution. The 95 per cent upper limit on any emission, for NGC 2915 in particular, allows us to exclude very low mass main-sequence stars ( M  > 0.08 M⊙) and young brown dwarfs (≲1 Gyr) as significant contributors to dark matter in galactic haloes. Combining our results with those of the Galactic microlensing surveys, which exclude objects with M  < 0.01 M⊙, excludes almost the entire possible mass range of compact baryonic objects from contributing to Galactic dark matter.     

The association between gas and galaxies – I. CFHT spectroscopy and pair analysis

We investigate the relative distribution of the gaseous contents of the Universe (as traced by a sample of Lyα absorbers), and the luminous baryonic matter (as traced by a redshift survey of galaxies in the same volume searched for Lyα absorbers), along 16 lines of sight (LOS) between redshifts 0 and 1. Our galaxy redshift survey was made with the multi-object spectrograph on the Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope and, when combined with galaxies from the literature in the same LOS, gives us a galaxy sample of 636 objects. By combining this with an absorption-line sample of 406 absorbing systems drawn from published works, we are able to study the relationship between gas and galaxies over the latter half of the age of the Universe. A correlation between absorbers and galaxies is detected out to separation of 1.5 Mpc. This correlation is weaker than the galaxy–galaxy correlation. There is also some evidence that the absorbing systems seen in C  iv are more closely related to galaxies, although this correlation could be with column density rather than metallicity. The above results are all consistent with the absorbing gas and the galaxies coexisting in dark matter filaments and knots as predicted by current models where the column density of the absorbing gas is correlated with the underlying matter density.     

Ram-pressure histories of cluster galaxies

Ram-pressure stripping can remove significant amounts of gas from galaxies that orbit in clusters and massive groups, and thus has a large impact on the evolution of cluster galaxies. In this paper, we reconstruct the present-day distribution of ram pressure and the ram-pressure histories of cluster galaxies. To this aim, we combine the Millennium Simulation and an associated semi-analytic model of galaxy evolution with analytic models for the gas distribution in clusters. We find that about one quarter of galaxies in massive clusters are subject to strong ram pressures that are likely to cause an expedient loss of all gas. Strong ram pressures occur predominantly in the inner core of the cluster, where both the gas density and the galaxy velocity are higher. Since their accretion on to a massive system, more than 64 per cent of galaxies that reside in a cluster today have experienced strong ram pressures of  >10⁻¹¹ dyn cm⁻²  which most likely led to a substantial loss of the gas.     

Integral field spectroscopy of QSO host galaxies

We describe a project to study the state of the ISM in ∼20 low redshift (z < 0.3) QSO host galaxies observed with the PMAS integral field spectrograph. We describe the development of the method to access the stellar and gas components of the spectrum without the strong nuclear emission, in order to access the host galaxy properties in the central region. It shows that integral field spectroscopy promises to be very efficient in studying the gas distribution and its velocity field, and also the spatially resolved stellar population in the host galaxies of luminous AGN. (© 2004 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Investigating the central engine and excitation mechanisms of ultraluminous infrared galaxies: near-infrared spectroscopy

We present near-infrared observations of a sample of mainly interacting ultraluminous infrared galaxies, comprising H - and K -band spectra. Our main aims are to investigate the power source of these extremely luminous objects and the various excitation mechanisms of the strong molecular hydrogen emission often seen in such objects. Broadened emission lines were only detected in one object, IRAS 23498, consistent with the previous results for this galaxy. The [Si  vi ] emission line was detected in IRAS 17179 and 20210, both classified as Sy2s. Two of the samples were unclassified, IRAS 00150 and 23420, which exhibit neither [Si  vi ] emission nor broadened H  i emission. However this does not rule out the presence of an obscured AGN. Analysis of the molecular hydrogen emission showed that the major excitation mechanism for most objects was thermal. Modelling of the more luminous objects indicates that for IRAS 20210 10 per cent, and for both IRAS 23365 and IRAS 23420 30 per cent, of the 1–0 S(1) line emission has a non-thermal origin.