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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1992

Molecular gas in elliptical galaxies with dust lanes

We have searched for CO(1-0) line emission in eight dust lane elliptical and lenticular galaxies using the Nobeyama 45 m telescope. Five of the eight galaxies, including the well-studied elliptical NGC 1052, have CO emission at above the 5-sigma level, with inferred molecular gas masses ranging from 10 exp 8 to a few times 10 exp 9 solar masses. Our selection criterion differs from previous surveys in that it does not depend on the FIR fluxes, and thus is less sensitive to the sizes and distances of the host galaxies or to the degree to which dust is heated. The relatively high detection rate of CO in these ellipticals suggests a close correlation between molecular mass and cold dust. Compared with previously studied samples of FIR selected early-type galaxies, our sample has on average four times more CO emission per unit FIR (40-120 microns) luminosity. If the intrinsic gas-to-dust ratio of these galaxies as similar to that of the Milky Way, then only about 5 percent of the dust mass in dust lane ellipticals radiates substantially at 60 and 100 microns, and the remaining dust must be colder than about 30 K.

Wang, Zhong↗
NASA NTRS1988

Continuum radio emission from Virgo galaxies

The paper presents single-antenna measurements of radio emission from 120 galaxies in the Virgo cluster at 2380 MHz using a 2.6 arc min beam (half-power beam width). It also presents interferometric measurements at the same frequency for 48 galaxies with less than or equal to 1 arc sec resolution. The relative concentration of the radio emission for these galaxies, particularly the emission from the galactic disk compared with that from the nucleus is discussed. It is found that the disk emission dominates in most cases. Some indications that the flux concentration is greater in elliptical and lenticular galaxies than it is in spirals are also found.

Turner, Kenneth C.↗
NASA NTRS2003

Enhancing and Archiving the APS Catalog of the POSS I

We have worked on two different projects: 1) Archiving the APS Catalog of the POSS I for distribution to NASA's NED at IPAC, SIMBAD in France, and individual astronomers and 2) The automated morphological classification of galaxies. We have completed archiving the Catalog into easily readable binary files. The database together with the software to read it has been distributed on DVD's to the national and international data centers and to individual astronomers. The archived Catalog contains more than 89 million objects in 632 fields in the first epoch Palomar Observatory Sky Survey. Additional image parameters not available in the original on-line version are also included in the archived version. The archived Catalog is also available and can be queried at the APS web site (URL: http://aps.umn.edu) which has been improved with a much faster and more efficient querying system. The Catalog can be downloaded as binary datafiles with the source code for reading it. It is also being integrated into the SkyQuery system which includes the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, 2MASS, and the FIRST radio sky survey. We experimented with different classification algorithms to automate the morphological classification of galaxies. This is an especially difficult problem because there are not only a large number of attributes or parameters and measurement uncertainties, but also the added complication of human disagreement about the adopted types. To solve this problem we used 837 galaxy images from nine POSS I fields at the North Galactic Pole classified by two independent astronomers for which they agree on the morphological types. The initial goal was to separate the galaxies into the three broad classes relevant to issues of large scale structure and galaxy formation and evolution: early (ellipticals and lenticulars), spirals, and late (irregulars) with an accuracy or success rate that rivals the best astronomer classifiers. We also needed to identify a set of parameters derived from the digitized images that separate the galaxies by type. The human eye can easily recognize complicated patterns in images such as spiral arms which can be spotty, blotchy affairs that are difficult for automated techniques. A galaxy image can potentially be described by hundreds of parameters, all of which may have some relation to the morphological type. In the set of initial experiments we used 624 such parameters, in two colors, blue and red. These parameters include the surface brightness and color measured at different radii, ratios of these parameters at different radii, concentration indices, Fourier transforms and wavelet decomposition coefficients. We experimented with three different classes of classification algorithms; decision trees, k-nearest neighbors, and support vector machines (SVM). A range of experiments were conducted and we eventually narrowed the parameters to 23 selected parameters. SVM consistently outperformed the other algorithms with both sets of features. By combining the results from the different algorithms in a weighted scheme we achieved an overall classification success of 86%.

Humphreys, Roberta M.↗
NASA NTRS1983

Velocity field and physical conditions in the active lenticular galaxy NGC 3998

A rotating and expanding flattened distribution of gas is suggested by measurements of the emission line velocity field for the line elliptical/lenticular galaxy NGC 3998, using seven long slit spectrograms in five position angles. Expanding material kinetic energy values of 10 to the 53rd to 10 to the 54th ergs, together with the flat spectrum radio source and nucleus X-ray emission, indicate pronounced nuclear activity. Spectrophotometry of the galactic nucleus shows emission line strengths typical of shocks rather than of photoionization, and line ratios indicate a postshock temperature of 60,000 K and a preshock density of 25 particles/cu cm. Both the stars and the ionized gas of the galaxy have central velocity dispersions of 260 km/s. In view of the high rotational velocity of the stars, NGC 3998 is a lenticular rather than elliptical galaxy.

Blackman, C. P.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Current star formation in S0 galaxies: NGC 4710

Elliptical (E) and lenticular (S0) galaxies lack the substantial interstellar medium (ISM) found in the star-forming spiral galaxies. However, significant numbers of E and S0 galaxies are known to contain detectable amounts of interstellar matter (e.g., Jura 1988). Thus, it is worth investigating whether these galaxies are currently able to form stars from their ISM, or whether they should be consigned to the dustbin of inert objects (Thronson and Bally 1987). The results strongly imply that current star formation is responsible for NGC 4710's far infrared and radio continuum properties. If this is indeed the case, then one expects this star formation to be fueled by molecular gas, which is presumably dominated by H2 and can be traced by the CO-12 J=1 to 0 line. Both Kenney and Young (1988) and Sage and Wrobel (1989) have detected such an emission line from NGC 4710, and infer the presence of more than 10(exp 8) solar mass of H2. The origin of the molecular gas in NGC 4710 remains a mystery. The galaxy is very deficient in HI (Kenney and Young, in preparation), suggesting that it originally was a spiral galaxy from which the outer, mainly atomic, gas was stripped by the ram pressure of the Virgo Cluster's intracluster medium, leaving only a central interstellar medium (ISM) rich in molecular gas. Alternatively, the CO may have originated via stellar mass loss with subsequent cooling, cooling flows, or capture from a gas-rich companion. Information on the morphology and kinematics of the CO can be compared with that of the galaxy's other gases and stars to distinguish among these various possible origins for the molecular gas. Major axis CO mapping with single dishes indicate an unresolved source. Thus, a millimeter array is currently being used to image NGC 4710 in CO to provide the needed morphological and kinematical data.

Wrobel, J. M.↗
NASA NTRS2006

The Sloan Lens ACS Survey. I. A Large Spectroscopically Selected Sample of Massive Early-Type Lens Galaxies

The Sloan Lens ACS (SLACS) Survey is an efficient Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Snapshot imaging survey for new galaxy-scale strong gravitational lenses. The targeted lens candidates are selected spectroscopically from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) database of galaxy spectra for having multiple nebular emission lines at a redshift significantly higher than that of the SDSS target galaxy. The SLACS survey is optimized to detect bright early-type lens galaxies with faint lensed sources in order to increase the sample of known gravitational lenses suitable for detailed lensing, photometric, and dynamical modeling. In this paper, the first in a series on the current results of our HST Cycle 13 imaging survey, we present a catalog of 19 newly discovered gravitational lenses, along with nine other observed candidate systems that are either possible lenses, nonlenses, or nondetections. The survey efficiency is thus >=68%. We also present Gemini 8 m and Magellan 6.5 m integral-field spectroscopic data for nine of the SLACS targets, which further support the lensing interpretation. A new method for the effective subtraction of foreground galaxy images to reveal faint background features is presented. We show that the SLACS lens galaxies have colors and ellipticities typical of the spectroscopic parent sample from which they are drawn (SDSS luminous red galaxies and quiescent MAIN sample galaxies), but are somewhat brighter and more centrally concentrated. Several explanations for the latter bias are suggested. The SLACS survey provides the first statistically significant and homogeneously selected sample of bright early-type lens galaxies, furnishing a powerful probe of the structure of early-type galaxies within the half-light radius. The high confirmation rate of lenses in the SLACS survey suggests consideration of spectroscopic lens discovery as an explicit science goal of future spectroscopic galaxy surveys.

galaxies↗
NASA NTRS2008

Spatially Resolved Imaging at 350 Micrometers of Cold Dust in Nearby Elliptical Galaxies

Continuum observations at 350 micrometers of seven nearby elliptical galaxies for which CO gas disks have recently been resolved with interferometry mapping are presented. These SHARC II mapping results provide the first clearly resolved far-infrared (FIR)-to-submillimeter continuum emission from cold dust (with temperatures 31 K is approximately greater than T approximately greater than 23 K) of any elliptical galaxy at a distance greater than 40 Mpc. The measured FIR excess shows that the most likely and dominant heating source of this dust is not dilute stellar radiation or cooling flows, but rather star formation that could have been triggered by an accretion or merger event and fueled by dust-rich material that has settled in a dense region cospatial with the central CO gas disks. The dust is detected even in two cluster ellipticals that are deficient in H (sub I), showing that, unlike H (sub I), cold dust and CO in ellipticals can survive in the presence of hot X-ray gas, even in galaxy clusters. No dust cooler than 20 K, either distributed outside the CO disks or cospatial with and heated by the entire dilute stellar optical galaxy (or very extended H (sub I)), is currently evident.

photometry↗
NASA NTRS2013

Uv-bright Nearby Early-type Galaxies Observed in the Mid-infrared: Eidence for a Multi-stage Formation History by Way of WISE and GALEX Imaging

In the local universe, 10% of massive elliptical galaxies are observed to exhibit a peculiar property: a substantial excess of ultraviolet emission than what is expected from their old, red stellar populations. Several origins for this ultraviolet excess (UVX) have been proposed including a population of hot young stars and a population of old, blue horizontal branch or extended horizontal branch (BHB or EHB) stars that have undergone substantial mass loss from their outer atmospheres. We explore the radial distribution of UVX in a selection of 49 nearby E/S0-type galaxies by measuring their extended photometry in the UV through mid-infrared (mid-IR) with the Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX), the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, and the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE). We compare UV/optical and UV/mid-IR colors with the Flexible Stellar Population Synthesis models, which allow for the inclusion of EHB stars. We find that combined WISE mid-IR and GALEX UV colors are more effective in distinguishing models than optical colors, and that the UV/mid-IR combination is sensitive to the EHB fraction. There are strong color gradients, with the outer radii bluer than the inner half-light radii by approx.1 mag. This color difference is easily accounted for with an increase in the BHB fraction of 0.25 with radius. We estimated that the average ages for the inner and outer radii are 7.0 +/- 0.3 Gyr, and 6.2 +/- 0.2 Gyr, respectively, with the implication that the outer regions are likely to have formed approx. 1 Gyr after the inner regions. Additionally, we find that metallicity gradients are likely not a significant factor in the color difference. The separation of color between the inner and outer regions, which agrees with a specific stellar population difference (e.g., higher EHB populations), and the approx. 0.5-2 Gyr age difference suggests multi-stage formation. Our results are best explained by inside-out formation: rapid star formation within the core at early epochs (>4 Gyr ago) and at least one later stage starburst event coinciding with z approx. 1.

galaxies: elliptical and lenticular↗
NASA NTRS2017

Testing the Universality of the Stellar IMF with Chandra and HST

The stellar initial mass function (IMF), which is often assumed to be universal across unresolved stellar populations, has recently been suggested to be bottom-heavy for massive ellipticals. In these galaxies, the prevalence of gravity-sensitive absorption lines (e.g., Na I and Ca II) in their near-IR spectra implies an excess of low-mass (m < or approx. = 0.5 Stellar Mass) stars over that expected from a canonical IMF observed in low-mass ellipticals. A direct extrapolation of such a bottom-heavy IMF to high stellar masses (m > or approx. = 8 Stellar Mass) would lead to a corresponding deficit of neutron stars and black holes, and therefore of low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs), per unit near-IR luminosity in these galaxies. Peacock et al. searched for evidence of this trend and found that the observed number of LMXBs per unit K-band luminosity (N/LK) was nearly constant. We extend this work using new and archival Chandra X-ray Observatory and Hubble Space Telescope observations of seven low-mass ellipticals where N/LK is expected to be the largest and compare these data with a variety of IMF models to test which are consistent with the observed N/LK. We reproduce the result of Peacock et al., strengthening the constraint that the slope of the IMF at m > or approx. = 8 Stellar Mass must be consistent with a Kroupa-like IMF. We construct an IMF model that is a linear combination of a Milky Way-like IMF and a broken power-law IMF, with a steep slope (alpha1 = 3.84) for stars < 0.5 Stellar Mass (as suggested by near-IR indices), and that flattens out (alpha2 = 2.14) for stars > 0.5 Stellar Mass, and discuss its wider ramifications and limitations.

galaxies: elliptical and lenticular↗
NASA NTRS1990

What is the number of spiral galaxies in compact groups

The distribution of morphological types of galaxies in compact groups is studied on plates from the 6 m telescope. In compact groups there are 57 percent galaxies of late morphological types (S + Irr), 23 percent lenticulars (SO) and 20 percent elliptical galaxies. The morphological content of compact groups is very nearly the same as in loose groups. There is no dependence of galaxy morphology on density in all compact groups (and possibly in loose groups). Genuine compact groups form only 60 percent of Hickson's list.

Tikhonov, N. A.↗
NASA NTRS1984

IRAS observations of Shapley-Ames galaxies

A preliminary discussion of the infrared properties of a representative subsample of galaxies in the Revised Shapley-Ames Catalog (B less than about 13 mag) is presented. Of the 165 galaxies in the sample, 108 predominantly spiral galaxies, are detected in the infrared by IRAS. None of the elliptical galaxies and only about 25 percent of the lenticular galaxies scanned were detected. The range of infrared-to-blue luminosity ratios, a measure of the infrared excess of galaxies, is large, varying from roughly 0.1 to roughly 5. The data suggest that weakly infrared emitting galaxies are cool (100-60 micron color temperatures of about 25 K), while the more infrared luminous ones tend to be warmer (about 50 K). The rate of star formation in barred spiral galaxies is apparently higher than in normal spirals. About 1 solar mass/year of interstellar matter is converted into massive stars in the typical spiral galaxy.

De Jong, T.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Statistics of galaxy orientations - Morphology and large-scale structure

Using the Uppsala General Catalog of bright galaxies and the northern and southern maps of the Lick counts of galaxies, statistical evidence of a morphology-orientation effect is found. Major axes of elliptical galaxies are preferentially oriented along the large-scale features of the Lick maps. However, the orientations of the major axes of spiral and lenticular galaxies show no clear signs of significant nonrandom behavior at a level of less than about one-fifth of the effect seen for ellipticals. The angular scale of the detected alignment effect for Uppsala ellipticals extends to at least theta of about 2 deg, which at a redshift of z of about 0.02 corresponds to a linear scale of about 2/h Mpc.

Lambas, Diego G.↗