X-ray halos in galaxies

A hot phase of the interstellar medium has now been detected and studiedin several objects through its X-ray emission. A proper assessment ofits characteristics is relevant for our understanding of several aspectsof galaxy properties, from the large scale distribution of matter to thestellar and galaxian evolution, to the dynamics of systems and tothe feeding of a central black hole. I will briefly summarizeour current understanding of some of the main issues related to the hot gaseouscomponent in galaxies that are fast evolving given the ever morestriking and interesting details provided by theX-ray satellites currently operating. I hope to convince you that the X-ray characteristicsof the hot gas are quite complex, both inmorphology and spectra, in a wide range of objects, which shouldpromote greater efforts in understanding the role playedby this component in all galaxies.     

Diffuse ionized gas in halos of spiral galaxies

The presence of gaseous halos in star forming disk galaxies is reviewed inthe context of a proposed disk-halo connection of the interstellar medium (ISM). Results from a new survey for H⁺ halos of edge-on galaxies are presented. The data confirm that thepresence of diffuse ionized gas (DIG) in the disk-halo interface of spiral galaxies is related to star formationprocesses in the underlying disk. A discussion allows us to establish a minimum energy release per unit area that is required to start the disk-halo mass exchange. By comparing some recent observational results for diagnostic emission lines with model predictions from photoionization we demonstratethat the origin and excitation of the ionized halo gas is still not completely understood and that a discussion gives important constraints formodels of the ISM. In comparison with similar findings for the Milky Way the need for an additional heating source is established. Special emphasis is given to some recent developments. In particular, newkinematical information for the DIG layer in NGC 5775 from ESO/VLT long-slitspectra is discussed in connection with the magnetic field structure in the halo of this object as deduced from VLA radio-continuum polarization data (Tüllmann et al., 2001). Finally, the rôle ofdust for the physical processes in the disk-halo interface is briefly addressed.     

Galactic halos,globular clusters and massive neutrinos

Within the framework of a Gamow cosmology with massive neutrinos a scenario is proposed in which both galactic halos and globular clusters are formed due to the existence of a critical injection mass. Galactic halos are formed at red shift z10–100 by self-gravitating neutrinos, and globular clusters atz10³ by a critical injection mass of primordial plasma (Gamow's Ylem).     

Edge‐on disk galaxies in the SDSS DR6: Fractions of bulgeless and other disk galaxies

The aim of this study is to determine the fractions of different spiral galaxy types, especially bulgeless disks, from a complete and homogeneous sample of 15 127 edge‐on disk galaxies extracted from the sixth data release from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. The sample is divided in broad morphological classes and sub types consisting of galaxies with bulges, intermediate types and galaxies which appear bulgeless. A small fraction of disky irregulars is also detected. The morphological separation is based on automated classification criteria which resemble the bulge sizes and the flatness of the disks. Each of these broad classes contains about 1/3 of the total sample. Using strict criteria for selecting pure bulgeless galaxies leads to a fraction of 15% of simple disk galaxies. We compare this fraction to other galaxy catalogs and find an excellent agreement of the observed frequency of bulgeless galaxies. Although the fraction of simple disk galaxies in this study does not represent a “cosmic” fraction of bulgeless galaxies, it shows that the relative abundance of pure disks is comparable to other studies and offers a profound value of the frequency of simple disks in the local Universe. This fraction of simple disks emphasizes the challenge for formation and evolution models of disk galaxies since these models are hard pressed to explain the observed frequency of these objects (© 2009 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

An empirical model to form and evolve galaxies in dark matter halos

Based on the star formation histories of galaxies in halos with different masses, we develop an empirical model to grow galaxies in dark matter halos. This model has very few ingredients, any of which can be associated with observational data and thus be efficiently assessed. By applying this model to a very high resolution cosmological N-body simulation, we predict a number of galaxy properties that are a very good match to relevant observational data. Namely, for both centrals and satellites, the galaxy stellar mass functions up to redshift z ≈ 4 and the conditional stellar mass functions in the local universe are in good agreement with observations. In addition, the two point correlation function is well predicted in the different stellar mass ranges explored by our model. Furthermore, after applying stellar population synthesis models to our stellar composition as a function of redshift, we find that the luminosity functions in the 0.1_u,0.1_g,0.1_r,0.1_i and 0.1_z bands agree quite well with the SDSS observational results down to an absolute magnitude at about –17.0. The SDSS conditional luminosity function itself is predicted well. Finally, the cold gas is derived from the star formation rate to predict the HI gas mass within each mock galaxy. We find a remarkably good match to observed HI-to-stellar mass ratios. These features ensure that such galaxy/gas catalogs can be used to generate reliable mock redshift surveys.     

The evolution of disk galaxies in clusters

We are carrying out a programme to measure the evolution of the stellar and dynamical masses and M/L ratios for a sizeable sample of morphologically-classified disk galaxies in rich galaxy clusters at 0.2 < z < 0.9. Using FORS2 at the VLT we are obtaining rotation curves for the cluster spirals so that their Tully-Fisher relation can be studied as a function of redshift and compared with that of field spirals. We already have rotation curves for ∼ 10 cluster spirals at z = 0.83, and 25 field spirals at lower redshifts and we plan to increase this sample by one order of magnitude. We present here the first results of our study, and discuss the implications of our data in the context of current ideas and models of galaxy formation and evolution. This revised version was published online in September 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Mass model of spiral galaxies disk

The study of rotation curves is the most powerful tool for determining mass distributions inside spiral galaxies. Since the first trial by Burbidgeet al. (1959), followed by Brandt (1960), few methods have been proposed for the determination of the masses of galaxies (Faber and Gallagher, 1979). Monnet and Simien (1977) recently proposed a method based on a two component model (bulge and disk) which permits to compute the total mass providing that the photometry is well-known. We suggest here a method based on a new simple parametrization of the optical rotation curve. This method indicates disk masses substantially higher than the provious estimates and suggests an exponential increase of theM/L ratio in the disk toward the outer parts of the Galaxies.     

Formation and evolution of disk galaxies

I review several of the current issues in the theory of disk galaxy formation. There is still much to be done, observationally and theoretically, before we can expect to approach an understanding of disk galaxies that is reliable enough to make robust predictions about the high redshift universe. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Leading spiral arms,retrograde galaxy encounters and massive halos

We study, theoretically and with N-body simulations, the formation of spiral patterns in retrograde galaxy encounters. A one-armed leading spiral dominates in a disk if the tidal perturbation from the companion is large and the disk is surrounded by a massive halo. Otherwise, a trailing pattern forms. The leading arm is made up of particles in slightly elongated orbits whose turning points outline the arm. The arm rotates opposite to the disk rotation. We have found one spiral galaxy, NGC4622, with a leading arm near its nucleus. From the literature, we find that very few spirals, if any, in a sample of strongly perturbed galaxies have leading arms. A possible reason for this is that few spiral galaxies have a halo with larger mass than the disk within the visible disk.     

Further investigations of clusters of galaxies

The number-density distributions of ten further clusters of galaxies were derived by counting galaxies on the red Polomar Sky Survey prints. For eight isolated clusters the radial number-density distributions and the radial cumulative galaxy distributions were calculated.     

Further investigations of clusters of galaxies

The number-density distribution in ten clusters of galaxies was derived by counting galaxies on the red Palomar Sky Survey prints. For seven isolated clusters the radial number-density distribution and the radial cumulative galaxy distribution were calculated.     

Potential energy of gravitationally interacting disk galaxies

Methods are developed for analysing the gravitational properties of disks having circularly symmetric distribution of matter. It is shown how this can be conveniently done by assuming that the surface density distribution may be approximated by a polynomial in ascending powers of the distance from the centre of the configuration. A theory has been developed to determine the gravitational potential of a single disk at any point in space in terms of the coefficients of the polynomial defining the surface distribution of matter, and the potential energy of two disks of arbitrary separation and orientation due to their mutual gravitational attraction. The basic functions, required for obtaining the potential in the plane of the disk and the mutual potential energy of two coplanar disks, have been tabulated. Two overlapping coplanar disks attract just like mass-points at a certain separation,r _c , of their centres. The force of attraction of disks is less than the force of attraction of mass-points having masses equal to the masses of the disks, if the separation of the centres is less thanr _c , and greater if the separation is greater thanr _c . For typical galaxies of equal radiiR,r _c ≈R.     

Effectively massive photons within Abelian Higgs galaxies

We demonstrate that photons emitted by spiral galaxies become effectively massive, if the latter are treated as macroscopic Abelian Higgs topological solitons. The rest mass of a photon is shown to be proportional to the squared amplitude of the Higgs field distribution representing a ‘background’ static cylindrically symmetric magnetic vorto-source (-sink). Because the amplitude increases in a monotonous fashion from zero at the center of a spiral to a fixed non-zero value at its outer boundary, the rest mass (group velocity) of photons emitted at shorter distances from the galaxy' s center is smaller (greater) when compared to that of photons originating at larger distances. A rough estimate shows that for a spiral with a diameter of 60 kpc the maximum attainable mass of photon is of the order of 10⁻⁶⁰ g.     

The formation and evolution of massive galaxies

The discovery of massive galaxies at high redshifts,especially the passive ones,poses a big challenge for the current standard galaxy formation models.Here we use the semi-analytic galaxy formation model developed by Henriques et al.to explore the formation and evolution of massive galaxies(MGs,stellar-mass M_* 10~(11) M_⊙).Different from previous works,we focus on the ones just formed(e.g.just reach?10~(11) M_⊙).We find that most of the MGs are formed around z=0.6,with the earliest formation at z 4.Interestingly,although most of the MGs in the local Universe are passive,we find that only 13% of the MGs are quenched at the formation time.Most of the quenched MGs at formation already host a very massive supermassive black hole(SMBH) which could power the very effective AGN feedback.For the star-forming MGs,the ones with more massive SMBH prefer to quench in shorter timescales;in particular,those with M_(SMBH) 10~(7.5) M_⊙ have a quenching timescale of～0.5 Gyr and the characteristic MSMBH depends on the chosen stellar mass threshold in the definition of MGs as a result of their co-evolution.We also find that the "in-situ" star formation dominates the stellar mass growth of MGs until they are formed.Over the whole redshift range,we find the quiescent MGs prefer to stay in more massive dark matter halos,and have more massive SMBH and less cold gas masses.Our results provide a new angle on the whole life of the growth of MGs in the Universe.     

The interaction of the stars with accretion disk around the massive black hole in the nuclei of active galaxies and quasars

We consider a passage of the stars through the accretion disk near the supermassive black hole in the nuclei of active galaxies and quasars. When a star penetrates the disk, a hydrodynamical track is formed behind it. The boundary of the track is a cylindric shock-wave. The region of the track is optically thick with respect to the true absorption. The transfer of the energy dissipated by the passage of the star with a radius ≈10¹² cm (the typical dimensions of a star in a galactic nucleus) across the disk provided by the radiative heat conduction. Each star passage through the intermediate region of the disk results in the appearance of a bright spot on its surface. The energy emitted by the spots lies inside the frequency range from visible to UV, exceeding the disk luminosity due to accretion in the range considered.     

Kinematics and stellar disk modeling of lenticular galaxies

We present the results of spectroscopic observations of three S0-Sa galaxies: NGC 338, NGC 3245, and NGC 5440 at the SAO RAS 6-m BTA telescope. The radial distributions of the line-ofsight velocities and radial velocity dispersions of stars and ionized gas were obtained, and rotation curves of galaxies were computed. We construct the numerical dynamic N-body galaxy models with N ?? 10⁶ points. The models include three components: a ??live?? bulge, a collisionless disk, dynamically evolving to the marginally stable state, and a pseudo-isothermal dark halo. The estimates of radial velocities and velocity dispersions of stars obtained from observations are compared with model estimates, projected onto the line of sight. We show that the disks of NGC 5440 and the outer regions of NGC 338 are dynamically overheated. Taking into account the previously obtained observations, we conclude that the dynamic heating of the disk is present in a large number of early-type disk galaxies, and it seems to ensue from the external effects. The estimates of the disk mass and relative mass of the dark halo are given, as well as the disk mass-to-luminosity ratio for seven galaxies, observed at the BTA.