Head-on Collision of Disk–Sphere Galaxies

Numerical simulations are performed to study the tidal effects of non-merging rapid head-on collision between a disk galaxy and a spherical galaxy. The disk consists of three components – a disk, a bulge and a halo – and the spherical galaxy is a Plummer model. The galaxies have the same dimensions with different mass ratios viz., 2, 1 and 0.5. They move in a rectilinear orbit with a relative velocity of 1000 km s⁻¹. None of the simulations leads to the merger of the galaxies by tidal capture. The results of our simulations indicate that although tidal effects are sensitive to both the mass ratio and the inclination of the disk to the orbital plane, it is the mass ratio which is more important in producing tidal damage to the less massive galaxy. The spherical galaxy undergoes considerable tidal effects if the mass of the disk is same or larger. On the other hand the collisions in which the mass of the spherical galaxy is more, result in the formation of a ring structure after the closest approach and the structure disappears by the end of the simulations.     

Collisions of galaxies of different masses, forms and sizes

We study the tidal effects of close collisions between two spherical galaxies of various mass and mass distributions by numerical simulations. The galaxies are represented by polytropes of indices n=4 and n=0 which denote cases of highcentral concentration and uniform mass distribution respectively.The initial relative velocity of the galaxies is chosen to be 700 km s^-1.The results indicate that the tidal effects are quite sensitive to both mass and mass distribution of the galaxies. The dependence oftidal capture and tidal disruption on the choice of the model and mass ratio is investigated. The classification of collisionis given for each simulation. The results also indicate that in a collision between two identical galaxies relatively more spin is imparted to the galaxies ifthey are centrally concentrated than if they are homogeneous.     

A classification of galactic collisions

The effects of collisions between two galaxies on the test galaxy considered are classified as follows — Type A: the changes in the size and mass of the test galaxy are both negligible; Type B: There is significant increase in the size (at least 10%) or decrease in the mass (at least 1%) of the test galaxy or in both; Type C: The test galaxy becomes a component of a double galaxy by tidal capture; Type D: The test galaxy is disrupted by the tidal forces of the field galaxy.The type of collision is given as a function of the distance and speed at closest approach and also as a function of the initial impact parameter and speed at infinite separation of the two galaxies for two density models of the galaxies. Collisions in which the two galaxies do not penetrate each other are generally of type A while slow interpenetrating collisions are generally of type B. Types C and D occur in head-on or nearly head-on collisions if the relative speed of the two galaxies is sufficiently small; the former is favoured if the two galaxies do not differ appreciably in mass and density distribution. If one of the two galaxies is considerably less massive or less centrally concentrated than the other, it will be disrupted in slow close collisions.     

Bulk motions of flat galaxies on 100-Mpc scales from new data

We use a new expanded and partially modified sample of 1501 thin edge-on spiral galaxies from the RFGC catalog to analyze the non-Hubble bulk motions of galaxies on the basis of a generalized multiparameter Tully-Fisher relation. The results obtained have confirmed and refined our previous conclusions (Parnovsky et al. 2001), in particular, the statistical significance of the quadrupole and octupole components of the galaxy bulk velocity field. The quadrupole component, which is probably produced by tidal forces from overdense regions, leads to a difference in the recession velocities of galaxies on scales of 8000–10000 km s^?1 up to 6% of their Hubble velocity. On Local Supercluster scales (3000 km s^?1), its contribution increases to about 20%. Including the octupole components in the model causes the dipole component to decrease to the 1σ level. In contrast, in the dipole model, the galaxy bulk velocity relative to the frame of reference of the cosmic microwave background is 310±75 km s^?1 toward the apex with l=311° and b=12°. We also consider a sample of 1493 galaxies that was drawn using a more stringent galaxy selection criterion. The difference between the results of our data analysis for this sample and for the sample of 1501 galaxies is primarily attributable to a decrease in the dipole velocity component (290±75 km s^?1 toward the apex with l=310° and b=12°) and a decrease in σ by about 2%.     

Inhomogeneous chemical evolution of dwarf spheroidal galaxies

Stellar abundance pattern of n-capture elements such as barium is used as a powerful tool to infer how the star formation proceeded in dwarf spheroidal (dSph) galaxies. It is found that the abundance correlation of barium with iron in stars belonging to dSph galaxies orbiting the Milky Way, i.e., Draco, Sextans, and Ursa Minor have a feature similar to that in Galactic metal-poor stars. The common feature of these two correlations can be realized by our in homogeneous chemical evolution model based on the supernova-driven star formation scenario if dSph stars formed from gas with a velocity dispersion of ∼ 26 km s^-1. This velocity dispersion together with the stellar luminosities strongly suggest that dark matter dominated dSph galaxies. The tidal force of the Milky Way links this velocity dispersion with the currently observed value ≲ 10 km s^-1 by stripping the dark matter in dSph galaxies. As a result, the total mass of each dSph galaxy is found to have been originally ∼ 25 times larger than at present. In this model, supernovae immediately after the end of the star formation can expel the remaining gas over the gravitational potential of the dSph galaxy. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Surveying the Local Supercluster Plane

We investigate the distribution and velocity field of galaxies situated in a band of 100 by 20 degrees centered on M87 and oriented along the Local supercluster plane. Our sample amounts 2158 galaxies with radial velocities less than 2000 km s^?1. Of them, 1119 galaxies (52%) have distance and peculiar velocity estimates. About 3/4 of early-type galaxies are concentrated within the Virgo cluster core, most of the late-type galaxies in the band locate outside the virial radius. Distribution of gas-rich dwarfs with M_HI >M_* looks to be insensitive to the Virgo cluster presence. Among 50 galaxy groups in the equatorial supercluster band 6 groups have peculiar velocities about 500–1000 km s^?1 comparable with virial motions in rich clusters. The most cryptic case is a flock of nearly 30 galaxies around NGC4278 (Coma I cloud), moving to us with the mean peculiar velocity of ?840 km s^?1. This cloud (or filament?) resides at a distance of 16.1 Mpc from us and approximately 5 Mpc away from the Virgo center. Galaxies around Virgo cluster exhibit Virgocentric infall with an amplitude of about 500 km s^?1. Assuming the spherically symmetric radial infall, we estimate the radius of the zero-velocity surface to be R₀ = (7.0±0.3) Mpc that yields the total mass of Virgo cluster to be (7.4 ± 0.9)× 10¹⁴M_⊙ in tight agreement with its virial mass estimates. We conclude that the Virgo outskirts does not contain significant amounts of dark mater beyond its virial core.     

Exchange of gravitational energy during a collision of galaxies

The problem of the change in internal energy of a colliding galaxy due to tidal effects is considered, assuming that the galaxies may be regarded as spherical stellar systems whose over-all structure remains unchanged during the collision and that the stars move in circular orbits. The numerical estimates thus made for the energy gained by the stars during the collision are compared with those derived on the basis of the assumption that the motions of the stars may be neglected during the encounter (the impulsive approximation) to test the adequacy of the latter approximation. If the two galaxies are of 10¹¹ M , of radii 10 kpc and of mass distribution that of a polytrope of indexn=4; and if the relative distance and velocity at their closest approach are taken as 2 kpc and 1000 km/sec respectively, the mass of escaping stars from a galaxy is estimated to be roughly 4% of the total mass of the galaxy and the total increase in the internal energy of a galaxy during the collision due to the tidal acceleration of all its stars is equal in magnitude to approximately 25% of its initial internal energy, about one-fifth of which is associated with the escaping stars.     

The Ks-band Tully-Fisher Relation — A determination of the Hubble parameter from 218 ScI galaxies and 16 galaxy clusters

The value of Hubble parameter (H₀) is determined using the morphologically type dependent Ks-band Tully-Fisher Relation (K-TFR). The slope and zero point are determined using 36 calibrator galaxies with ScI morphology. Calibration distances are adopted from direct Cepheid distances, and group or companion distances derived with the Surface Brightness Fluctuation Method or Type Ia Supernova. It is found that a small morphological type effect is present in the K-TFR such that ScI galaxies are more luminous at a given rotational velocity than Sa/Sb galaxies and Sbc/Sc galaxies of later luminosity classes. Distances are determined to 16 galaxy clusters and 218 ScI galaxies with minimum distances of 40.0 Mpc. From the 16 galaxy clusters a weighted mean Hubble parameter of H₀ = 84.2 ± 6 km s⁻¹ Mpc⁻¹ is found. From the 218 ScI galaxies a Hubble parameter of H₀ = 83.4 ± 8 km s⁻¹ Mpc⁻¹ is found. When the zero point of K-TFR is corrected to account for recent results that find a Large Magellanic Cloud distance modulus of 18.39±0.05, a Hubble parameter of 88.0 ± 6 km s⁻¹ Mpc⁻¹ is found. Effects from Malmquist bias are shown to be negligible in this sample as galaxies are restricted to a minimum rotational velocity of 150 km s⁻¹. It is also shown that the results of this study are negligibly affected by the adopted slope for the K-TFR, inclination binning, and distance binning. A comparison with the results of the Hubble Key Project (Freedman et al. 2001) is made. Discrepancies between the K-TFR distances and the HKP I-TFR distances are discussed. Implications for Λ-CDM cosmology are considered with H₀ = 84 km s⁻¹ Mpc⁻¹. It is concluded that it is very difficult to reconcile the value of H0 found in this study with ages of the oldest globular clusters and matter density of the universe derived from galaxy clusters in the context of Λ-CDM cosmology.     

The bulk motion of flat galaxies on scales of 100 Mpc in the quadrupole and octupole approximations

The peculiarities of non-Hubble bulk motions of galaxies are studied by analyzing a sample of 1271 thin edge-on spirals with distances determined using a multiparametric Tully-Fisher relation that includes the amplitude of the galaxy rotation, the blue and red diameters, surface brightness, and morphological type. In the purely dipole approximation, the bulk motion of galaxies relative to the cosmic microwave background frame can be described by the velocity of 336±96 km s^?1 in the direction l=321°, b=?1° within radius R _max =10000 km s^?1. An analysis of more complex velocity field models shows that the anisotropy of the Hubble expansion described by the quadrupole term is equal to ～5% on scale lengths R _max=6000–10000 km s^?1. The amplitude within the Local Supercluster (R _max=3000 km s^?1) is as high as ～20%. The inclusion of the octupole component reduces the dipole amplitude to 134±111 km s^?1 on scale lengths of ～8000 km s^?1. The most remarkable feature of the galaxy velocity field within R _max=8000 km s^?1 is the zone of minimum centered on l=80°, b=0° (the constellation of Cygnus) whose amplitude reaches 18% of the mean Hubble velocity.     

N-Body Simulation of a Deeply Penetrating Collision Between Unequal Galaxies

We study the tidal effects of a deeply penetrating collision between two spherical galaxies, one twice massive but less dense than the other, by numerical simulations. We consider the relative motion of the galaxies to be initially in a hyperbolic orbit. The collision parameters are so chosen that the primary (bigger) galaxy is just below the limit of disruption and the relative velocity of the pair is slightly in excess of the escape limit and the primary suffer greater tidal damage than the secondary. The primary develops a core halo structure and shows over all expansion while the secondary while the secondary shows contraction in the inner region and less significant expansion in the outer parts. The initially hyperbolic orbit is transformed into a parabolic orbit as a result of the collision. The result also indicate that the tidal interaction does not induce appreciable rotation in hyperbolic collision. We calculate the angle of deflection of the orbit and compare it with that computed using analytical work. The numerical work shows larger angle of deflection which is attributed to the large tidal effects of the bigger galaxy in the interpenetrating collision. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The NGC 1275 enigma

The following arguments suggest that NGC 1275 does not consist of a giant elliptical (E) galaxy that is colliding with (or is superimposed on) a late-type spiral (L):

• 1 The total diameter of the region containing young associations is 33 (100/H) kpc. This size is characteristic of ScI galaxies. Neither the morphology nor the integrated luminosity of the L component of NGC 1275 supports such a classification.
• 2 The chaotic appearance of the L component of NGC 1275 is unlikely to be due to tidal damage. This is so because: (a) the E and L components are still approaching each other, (b) their relative velocity is ≈︁ 3000 km s⁻¹, (c) no stripped galaxy core (which would survive a catastrophic tidal encounter) is seen near NGC 1275.
• 3 The core of the Perseus cluster contains only one (anemic) spiral. The a priori probability that NGC 1275 represents a chance superimposition (or collision) of a spiral and an elliptical galaxy is therefore low.
• 4 The assumption that the L component of NGC 1275 is superimposed on, but not interacting with, the E component does not account for (a) the presence of an active SEYFERT nucleus, (b) the peculiar filamentary HII shell, discovered by LYNDS , (c) the presence of recently-formed stars, (d) the X-ray emission and the radio emission of NGC1275.

     

A classification of galactic collisions for galaxies of unequal dimensions

The earlier work on classification of galactic collisions for identical galaxies is extended to the situations where the two colliding galaxies differ in mass and dimension. We consider collisions between galaxies of masses 10⁷, 10⁹, 10¹¹ and 10¹³ M and let their radii be 0.1, 1, 10 and 100 kpc, respectively. The density distribution in both galaxies is represented by that of a polytrope of indexn=4. The type of collision is determined for head-on collisions for initial relative velocities 500, 1000, 2000 and 3000 km s^–1. The corresponding final velocities are also indicated.     

A numerical hydrodynamic study of coalescence in head-on collisions of identical stars

A two-dimensional hydrodynamic code has been developed for numerical studies of stellar collisions. The motivation for the study has been the suggestion by Colgate that collisions among stars in a dense galactic core can lead to growth of stellar masses by coalescence and thus to an enhanced rate of supernova activity. The specific results reported here refer to head-on collisions between identical polytropes of index 3 having solar mass and radius. If the polytropes were initially at rest at infinity, then about five percent of the combined mass is lost by ejection following collision. The volatilized mass fraction rises to about 18% for an initial relative collision velocity of 1000 km s^–1 at infinite separation, and to about 60% for the 2000 km s^–1 case. Since the initial kinetic and gravitational energies balance for a relative velocity of 1512 km s^–1 at infinity, it may be seen that net coalescence persists to velocities somewhat in excess of this figure. Mass ejection takes place in two ways simultaneously: (1) by a rapid sideward expulsion of fluid in a massive lateral sheet normal to the collision axis, and (2) as a result of two recoil shocks which lead momentum flows backwards along this axis. The lateral effect has similarities to the expansion of gas into a vacuum; that is, shocks are not involved. However, the ejection of material from the rear colliding hemisphere due to the recoil shocks predominates at low collision velocities. As the velocity increases, both effects strengthen, but the lateral expulsion intensifies more rapidly than the recoil shocks.     

Galactic mergers and gravitationally unbound populations

Motivated by the observations on the intracluster light and intergalactic stellar populations, N -body simulations are used to model the galactic merging events as a goal to investigate the production and distribution of gravitational unbound populations (GUPs). Both the parabolic and hyperbolic mergers are considered, and each category includes six models with different relative orientations between two galaxies. Our results show that there are more (about a factor of 2) GUPs after a hyperbolic merging event than after a parabolic one. In general, depending on the relative orientation and also on the relative velocity of the two galaxies in a merging pair, a head-on collision of a galaxy pair would only make a tiny fraction (less than 1 per cent) of the initial stellar mass luminous GUP, but a considerable fraction (8–14 per cent) of the dark matter becomes dark GUP.     

The HI halo of spiral galaxies

A deep H I survey with the VLA of the spiral galaxy NGC 2403 has revealed the existence of a thick, low density layer of neutral gas surrounding the thin ‘cold’ disk. This layer has a mean rotation velocity 25–50 km s^-1 lower than that of the disk and a 10–20 km s^-1inflow towards the centre of the galaxy. In the central parts there are velocity differences from rotation of up to 150 km s^-1.Chandra observations of NGC 2403 show a diffuse, hot X-ray emitting gas component with a temperature of a few 10⁶ K. These results point at galactic fountain type of flows between disk and halo. ‘Halo’ gas with similar characteristics has also been observed in other spiral galaxies(e.g. NGC 6946, NGC 891). Such gas is probably similar to the IVCs and to some of the HVCs of the Milky Way.     

The formation of a ring galaxy during a head-on collision between a disk and a spherical galaxy

The tidal force effects of a spherical galaxy passing head-on through a disk galaxy have been studied at various regions of the disk galaxy and for various orientations of the disk galaxy with respect to the direction of relative motion of the two galaxies. The density distribution of the disk galaxy is taken to be, (r)=_ce^–4r/R , where _c is the central density andR is the radius of the disk. The density distribution of the spherical galaxy is taken to be that of a oolytrope of indexn=4. It is found that as a result of the collision, through the central parts and the outer parts of the disk galaxy remain intact, the region in between these two regions disrupts. Thus a ring galaxy with a nucleus embedded in the ring-i.e., a ring galaxy of the RN-type, is formed.     

Giant HVC’s and the Rotation Curves of the Milky Way and M31

We have modelled, for the cases of Milky Way and M31, the effects on the galactic discs, of the arrival at high velocity (≥150 km s⁻¹) of giant HI clouds, with masses of up to 10⁸M⊙. Predictions are compared with the detailed structure of the observed rotation curves for these two galaxies. The model explains the rises and falls observed at large distances from the centre of each galaxy, distributed with a degree of regularity in radius, in terms of a specific type of perturbations driven by the infall of the high velocity clouds (HVC's) arriving from the intracluster medium of the Local Group. The underlying rotation curve is explained conventionally via the distribution of the baryonic and dark matter components of the galaxy in question. This scenario, though tested here on the two major Local Group objects, is in principle applicable to galaxies undergoing minor mergers with subgalactic mass gas clouds.     

The isolated dSph galaxy KKs3 in the local Hubble flow

We present SALT spectroscopy of a globular cluster in the center of the nearby isolated dSph galaxy KKs3 situated at a distance of 2.12 Mpc. Its heliocentric radial velocity is 316 ± 7 km s^–1 that corresponds to V_LG = 112 km s^–1 in the Local Group (LG) reference frame. We use its distance and velocity along with the data on other 35 field galaxies in the proximity of the LG to trace the local Hubble flow. The following basic properties of the local field galaxies are briefly discusse: morphology, absolute magnitudes, average surface brightnesses, specific star formation rates, and hydrogen mass‐to‐stellar mass ratios. Surprisingly, the sample of the neighboring isolated galaxies displays no signs of compression under the influence of the expanding Local Void. (© 2015 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

A Catalogue of Galaxies within 10 MPC

A catalogue is given of the 179 known galaxies within 10 Mpc. The inclusion of a galaxy depends on its redshift (v₀ ≤ 500 km s⁻¹) or, in the case of 7 dwarf galaxies, on the fact that their distances are known to be small. The catalogue contains in addition 52 more distant galaxies with v₀ ≤ 500 km s⁻¹: 50 are bona fide Virgo cluster members and 2 are members of the Leo group. Positions, types, absorption-corrected luminosities, and velocities are given for the catalogue galaxies. The catalogue is believed to be nearly complete for galaxies brighter than ∽ – 18^m.5, but it contains also many considerably fainter galaxies. The galaxies within 10 Mpc form the Local Group with 28 members and seven additional groups with a total of 92 known members. 59 galaxies (33%) do not seem to belong to any group.     

The structure of clusters with bimodal distributions of galaxy radial velocities,I. A1035

The structure of the A1035 cluster of galaxies (10^h32^m + 40°13′, cz ～ 22000 kms^?1), which exhibits a bimodal distribution of galaxy radial velocities (ΔV ≈ 3000 kms^?1), is analyzed using three methods of determining the relative distances to clusters from early-type galaxies: the Kormendy relation corrected for the dependence of residuals on galaxy magnitude, the photometric plane, and the fundamental plane. We use the data obtained with the l-m telescope of the Special Astrophysical Observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences and SDSS (DR5) data to show that A1035 consists of two gravitationally unbound independent clusters. These clusters with the velocity dispersions of 566 km s^?1 and 610 km s^?1 and masses within R ₂₀₀ equal to 2.7 · 10¹⁴ and 3.5 · 10¹⁴ M _⊙, respectively, obey the Hubble law.