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 Lifetime of nuclear velocity dispersion drops in barred galaxiesWe have made hydro/N-body simulations with and without star formation toshed some light on the conditions under which a central kinematicallycold stellar component (characterized by a velocity dispersion drop orσ-drop) could be created in a hot medium (e.g. a bulge) andsurvive enough time to be observed. We found that the time-scale for aσ-drop formation could be short (less than 500 Myr), whereas itslifetime could be long (more than 1 Gyr) provided that the centralregion is continuously or regularly fed by fresh gas which leads to acontinuous star formation activity. Star formation in the centralregion, even at a low rate as 1Msolaryr-1, ismandatory to sustain a permanent σ-drop by replacing heatedparticles by new low-σ ones. We moreover show that as soon as starformation is switched off, the σ-drop begins to disappear. A Comparison of Hα and Stellar Scale Lengths in Virgo and Field SpiralsThe scale lengths of the old stars and ionized gas distributions arecompared for similar samples of Virgo Cluster members and field spiralgalaxies via Hα and broad R-band surface photometry. While theR-band and Hα scale lengths are, on average, comparable for thecombined sample, we find significant differences between the field andcluster samples. While the Hα scale lengths of the field galaxiesare a factor of 1.14+/-0.07 longer, on average, than their R-band scalelengths, the Hα scale lengths of Virgo Cluster members are, onaverage, 20% smaller than their R-band scale lengths. Furthermore, inVirgo, the scale length ratios are correlated with the size of thestar-forming disk: galaxies with smaller overall Hα extents alsoshow steeper radial falloff of star formation activity. At the sametime, we find no strong trends in scale length ratio as a function ofother galaxy properties, including galaxy luminosity, inclination,morphological type, central R-band light concentration, or bar type. Ourresults for Hα emission are similar to other results for dustemission, suggesting that Hα and dust have similar distributions.The environmental dependence of the Hα scale length placesadditional constraints on the evolutionary process(es) that cause gasdepletion and a suppression of the star formation rate in clusters ofgalaxies. The Hα Galaxy Survey . III. Constraints on supernova progenitors from spatial correlations with Hα emissionAims.We attempt to constrain progenitors of the different types ofsupernovae from their spatial distributions relative to star formationregions in their host galaxies, as traced by Hα + [Nii] lineemission. Methods: .We analyse 63 supernovae which have occurredwithin galaxies from our Hα survey of the local Universe. Threestatistical tests are used, based on pixel statistics, Hα radialgrowth curves, and total galaxy emission-line fluxes. Results:.Many type II supernovae come from regions of low or zero emission lineflux, and more than would be expected if the latter accurately traceshigh-mass star formation. We interpret this excess as a 40% "Runaway"fraction in the progenitor stars. Supernovae of types Ib and Ic doappear to trace star formation activity, with a much higher fractioncoming from the centres of bright star formation regions than is thecase for the type II supernovae. Type Ia supernovae overall show a weakcorrelation with locations of current star formation, but there isevidence that a significant minority, up to about 40%, may be linked tothe young stellar population. The radial distribution of allcore-collapse supernovae (types Ib, Ic and II) closely follows that ofthe line emission and hence star formation in their host galaxies, apartfrom a central deficiency which is less marked for supernovae of typesIb and Ic than for those of type II. Core-collapse supernova ratesoverall are consistent with being proportional to galaxy totalluminosities and star formation rates; however, within this total thetype Ib and Ic supernovae show a moderate bias towards more luminoushost galaxies, and type II supernovae a slight bias towardslower-luminosity hosts. How large are the bars in barred galaxies?I present a study of the sizes (semimajor axes) of bars in discgalaxies, combining a detailed R-band study of 65 S0-Sb galaxies withthe B-band measurements of 70 Sb-Sd galaxies from Martin (1995). As hasbeen noted before with smaller samples, bars in early-type (S0-Sb)galaxies are clearly larger than bars in late-type (Sc-Sd) galaxies;this is true both for relative sizes (bar length as fraction ofisophotal radius R25 or exponential disc scalelength h) andabsolute sizes (kpc). S0-Sab bars extend to ~1-10 kpc (mean ~ 3.3 kpc),~0.2-0.8R25 (mean ~ 0.38R25) and ~0.5-2.5h (mean ~1.4h). Late-type bars extend to only ~0.5-3.5 kpc,~0.05-0.35R25 and 0.2-1.5h their mean sizes are ~1.5 kpc, ~0.14R25 and ~0.6h. Sb galaxies resemble earlier-type galaxiesin terms of bar size relative to h; their smallerR25-relative sizes may be a side effect of higher starformation, which increases R25 but not h. Sbc galaxies form atransition between the early- and late-type regimes. For S0-Sbcgalaxies, bar size correlates well with disc size (both R25and h); these correlations are stronger than the known correlation withMB. All correlations appear to be weaker or absent forlate-type galaxies; in particular, there seems to be no correlationbetween bar size and either h or MB for Sc-Sd galaxies.Because bar size scales with disc size and galaxy magnitude for mostHubble types, studies of bar evolution with redshift should selectsamples with similar distributions of disc size or magnitude(extrapolated to present-day values); otherwise, bar frequencies andsizes could be mis-estimated. Because early-type galaxies tend to havelarger bars, resolution-limited studies will preferentially find bars inearly-type galaxies (assuming no significant differential evolution inbar sizes). I show that the bars detected in Hubble Space Telescope(HST) near-infrared(IR) images at z~ 1 by Sheth et al. have absolutesizes consistent with those in bright, nearby S0-Sb galaxies. I alsocompare the sizes of real bars with those produced in simulations anddiscuss some possible implications for scenarios of secular evolutionalong the Hubble sequence. Simulations often produce bars as large as(or larger than) those seen in S0-Sb galaxies, but rarely any as smallas those in Sc-Sd galaxies. The stellar populations of low-luminosity active galactic nuclei - III. Spatially resolved spectral propertiesIn a recently completed survey of the stellar population properties oflow-ionization nuclear emission-line regions (LINERs) and LINER/HIItransition objects (TOs), we have identified a numerous class ofgalactic nuclei which stand out because of their conspicuous108-9 yr populations, traced by high-order Balmer absorptionlines and other stellar indices. These objects are called young-TOs',because they all have TO-like emission-line ratios. In this paper weextend this previous work, which concentrated on the nuclear properties,by investigating the radial variations of spectral properties inlow-luminosity active galactic nuclei (LLAGNs). Our analysis is based onhigh signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) long-slit spectra in the 3500-5500Å interval for a sample of 47 galaxies. The data probe distancesof typically up to 850 pc from the nucleus with a resolution of ~100 pc(~1 arcsec) and S/N ~ 30. Stellar population gradients are mapped by theradial profiles of absorption-line equivalent widths and continuumcolours along the slit. These variations are further analysed by meansof a decomposition of each spectrum in terms of template galaxiesrepresentative of very young (<=107 yr), intermediate age(108-9 yr) and old (1010 yr) stellar populations.This study reveals that young-TOs also differ from old-TOs andold-LINERs in terms of the spatial distributions of their stellarpopulations and dust. Specifically, our main findings are as follows.(i) Significant stellar population gradients are found almostexclusively in young-TOs. (ii) The intermediate age population ofyoung-TOs, although heavily concentrated in the nucleus, reachesdistances of up to a few hundred pc from the nucleus. Nevertheless, thehalf width at half-maximum of its brightness profile is more typically100 pc or less. (iii) Objects with predominantly old stellar populationspresent spatially homogeneous spectra, be they LINERs or TOs. (iv)Young-TOs have much more dust in their central regions than otherLLAGNs. (v) The B-band luminosities of the central <~1 Gyr populationin young-TOs are within an order of magnitude of MB=-15,implying masses of the order of ~107-108Msolar. This population was 10-100 times more luminous in itsformation epoch, at which time young massive stars would have completelyoutshone any active nucleus, unless the AGN too was brighter in thepast. The Hα Galaxy Survey. II. Extinction and [NII] corrections to Hα fluxesWe study the two main corrections generally applied to narrow-bandHα fluxes from galaxies in order to convert them to star formationrates, namely for [NII] contamination and for extinction internal to thegalaxy. From an imaging study using carefully chosen narrow-bandfilters, we find the [NII] and Hα emission to be differentlydistributed. Nuclear measurements are likely to overestimate thecontribution of [NII] to total narrow-band fluxes. We find that in moststar formation regions in galaxy disks the [NII] fraction is small ornegligible, whereas some galaxies display a diffuse central componentwhich can be dominated by [NII] emission. We compare these results withrelated studies in the literature, and consider astrophysicalexplanations for variations in the [NII]/Hα ratio, includingmetallicity variations and different excitation mechanisms. We proceedto estimate the extinction towards star formation regions in spiralgalaxies, firstly using Brγ/Hα line ratios. We find thatextinction values are larger in galaxy nuclei than in disks, that diskextinction values are similar to those derived from opticalemission-line studies in the literature, and that there is no evidencefor heavily dust-embedded regions emerging in the near-IR, which wouldbe invisible at Hα. The numbers of galaxies and individual regionsdetected in Brγ are small, however, and we thus exploit opticalemission line data from the literature to derive global Hαextinction values as a function of galaxy type and inclination. In thispart of our study we find only a moderate dependence on inclination,consistent with broad-band photometric studies, and a large scatter fromgalaxy to galaxy. Typical extinctions are smaller for late-type dwarfsthan for spiral types. Finally, we show that the application of thetype-dependent extinction corrections derived here significantlyimproves the agreement between star formation rates calculated usingHα fluxes and those from far-infrared fluxes as measured by IRAS.This again supports the idea that heavily dust-embedded star formation,which would be underestimated using the Hα technique, is not adominant contributor to the total star formation rate of most galaxiesin the local Universe.Based on observations made with the William Herschel and Jacobus KapteynTelescopes operated on the island of La Palma by the Isaac Newton Groupin the Spanish Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos of the Institutode Astrofísica de Canarias. The United Kingdom Infrared Telescopeis operated by the Joint Astronomy Centre on behalf of the UK ParticlePhysics and Astronomy Research Council. Structural parameters of nearby emission-line galaxies We present the results of an investigation on the main structuralproperties derived from VRI and Hα surface photometry of galaxieshosting nuclear emission-line regions [including Seyfert 1, Seyfert 2,low-ionization nuclear emission region (LINER) and starburst galaxies]as compared with normal galaxies. Our original sample comprises 22active galaxies, four starbursts and one normal galaxy and has beenextended with several samples obtained from the literature. Bulge anddisc parameters, along with the bulge-to-disc luminosity ratio, havebeen derived applying an iterative procedure. The resulting parametershave been combined with additional data in order to reach astatistically significant sample. We find some differences in the bulgedistribution across the different nuclear types that could implyfamilies of bulges with different physical properties. Bulge and disccharacteristic colours have been defined and derived for our sample andcompared with a control sample of early-type objects. The resultssuggest that bulge and disc stellar populations are comparable in normaland active galaxies. The Properties of Satellite Galaxies in External Systems. II. Photometry and ColorsIn this second paper dedicated to the study of satellite galaxies wepresent broadband photometry in the B, V, R, and I filters of 49satellite galaxies orbiting giant isolated spiral galaxies. Firstanalysis of the properties of these objects are presented by means ofcolor-color and color-magnitude diagrams for early- and late-typesatellites. Although we find differences in the slope of the V-I versusMv color magnitude diagram, as a whole, the relations are inagreement with the trends known to date for galaxies of similarmagnitudes in nearby clusters of galaxies. Comparison with the relationsfound for satellites in the Local Group allows us to sample better thebright end of the luminosity function of satellite galaxies and extendsfor brighter objects the validity of the color-magnitude relation foundfor dwarf galaxies in the Local Group. Most of the E/S0 galaxies in oursample show a negative color gradient with values similar to those knownfor early-type galaxies in other environments. BUDDA: A New Two-dimensional Bulge/Disk Decomposition Code for Detailed Structural Analysis of GalaxiesWe present BUDDA (Bulge/Disk Decomposition Analysis), a new code devotedto perform a two-dimensional bulge/disk decomposition directly from theimages of galaxies. The bulge component is fitted with a generalizedSérsic profile, whereas disks have an exponential profile. Noother components are included. Bars and other substructures, likelenses, rings, inner bars, and inner disks, are studied with theresidual images obtained through the subtraction of bulges and disksfrom the original images. This means that a detailed structural analysisof galaxies may be performed with a small number of parameters, andsubstructures may be directly studied with no a priori assumptions. Ashas been already shown by several studies, two-dimensional fitting ismuch more reliable than one-dimensional profile fitting. Moreover, ourcode has been thoroughly tested with artificial data, and we demonstrateit to be an accurate tool for determining structural parameters ofgalaxies. We also show that our code is useful in various kinds ofstudies, including galaxies of, e.g., different morphological types, andinclinations, which also may be observed at different spatialresolutions. Thus, the code has a broader range of potentialapplications than most of the previous codes, which are developed totackle specific problems. To illustrate its usefulness, we present theresults obtained with a sample of 51 mostly early-type galaxies (butcovering the whole Hubble sequence). These results show some of theapplications in which the code may be used: the determination ofparameters for fundamental plane and structural studies, quantitativemorphological classification of galaxies, and the identification andstudy of hidden substructures. We have determined the structuralparameters of the galaxies in our sample and found many examples ofhidden inner disks in ellipticals, secondary bars, nuclear rings anddust lanes in lenticulars and spirals, and also wrong morphologicalclassification cases. We now make BUDDA generally available to theastronomical community.Based on observations made at the Pico dos Dias Observatory(PDO/LNA-CNPq), Brazil. Circumnuclear Structure and Black Hole Fueling: Hubble Space Telescope NICMOS Imaging of 250 Active and Normal GalaxiesWhy are the nuclei of some galaxies more active than others? If mostgalaxies harbor a central massive black hole, the main difference isprobably in how well it is fueled by its surroundings. We investigatethe hypothesis that such a difference can be seen in the detailedcircumnuclear morphologies of galaxies using several quantitativelydefined features, including bars, isophotal twists, boxy and diskyisophotes, and strong nonaxisymmetric features in unsharp-masked images.These diagnostics are applied to 250 high-resolution images of galaxycenters obtained in the near-infrared with NICMOS on the Hubble SpaceTelescope. To guard against the influence of possible biases andselection effects, we have carefully matched samples of Seyfert 1,Seyfert 2, LINER, starburst, and normal galaxies in their basicproperties, taking particular care to ensure that each was observed witha similar average scale (10-15 pc pixel-1). Severalmorphological differences among our five different spectroscopicclassifications emerge from the analysis. The H II/starburst galaxiesshow the strongest deviations from smooth elliptical isophotes, whilethe normal galaxies and LINERs have the least disturbed morphology. TheSeyfert 2s have significantly more twisted isophotes than any othercategory, and the early-type Seyfert 2s are significantly more disturbedthan the early-type Seyfert 1s. The morphological differences betweenSeyfert 1s and Seyfert 2s suggest that more is at work than simply theviewing angle of the central engine. They may correspond to differentevolutionary stages. The Stellar Populations of Low-Luminosity Active Galactic Nuclei. II. Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph ObservationsWe present a study of the stellar populations of low-luminosity activegalactic nuclei (LLAGNs). Our goal is to search for spectroscopicsignatures of young and intermediate-age stars and to investigate theirrelationship with the ionization mechanism in LLAGNs. The method used isbased on the stellar population synthesis of the optical continuum ofthe innermost (20-100 pc) regions in these galaxies. For this purpose,we have collected high spatial resolution optical (2900-5700 Å)STIS spectra of 28 nearby LLAGNs that are available in the Hubble SpaceTelescope archive. The analysis of these data is compared with a similaranalysis also presented here for 51 ground-based spectra of LLAGNs. Ourmain findings are as follows: (1) No features due to Wolf-Rayet starswere convincingly detected in the STIS spectra. (2) Young starscontribute very little to the optical continuum in the ground-basedaperture. However, the fraction of light provided by these stars ishigher than 10% in most of the weak-[O I] ([OI]/Hα<=0.25) LLAGNSTIS spectra. (3) Intermediate-age stars contribute significantly to theoptical continuum of these nuclei. This population is more frequent inobjects with weak than with strong [O I]. Weak-[O I] LLAGNs that haveyoung stars stand out for their intermediate-age population. (4) Most ofthe strong-[O I] LLAGNs have predominantly old stellar population. A fewof these objects also show a featureless continuum that contributessignificantly to the optical continuum. These results suggest that youngand intermediate-age stars do not play a significant role in theionization of LLAGNs with strong [O I]. However, the ionization inweak-[O I] LLAGNs with young and/or intermediate-age populations couldbe due to stellar processes. A comparison of the properties of theseobjects with Seyfert 2 galaxies that harbor a nuclear starburst suggeststhat weak-[O I] LLAGNs are the lower luminosity counterparts of theSeyfert 2 composite nuclei.Based on observations with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, obtainedat the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by theAssociation of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASAcontract NAS 5-26555. Based on observations made with the Nordic OpticalTelescope (NOT), operated on the island of La Palma jointly by Denmark,Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden, in the Spanish Observatorio delRoque de los Muchachos of the Instituto de Astrofísica deCanarias. The Stellar Populations of Low-Luminosity Active Galactic Nuclei. I. Ground-based ObservationsWe present a spectroscopic study of the stellar populations oflow-luminosity active galactic nuclei (LLAGNs). Our main goal is todetermine whether the stars that live in the innermost (100 pc scale)regions of these galaxies are in some way related to the emission-lineproperties, which would imply a link between the stellar population andthe ionization mechanism. High signal-to-noise ratio, ground-basedlong-slit spectra in the 3500-5500 Å interval were collected for60 galaxies: 51 LINERs and LINER/H II transition objects, two starburstgalaxies, and seven nonactive galaxies. In this paper, the first of aseries, we (1) describe the sample; (2) present the nuclear spectra; (3)characterize the stellar populations of LLAGNs by means of an empiricalcomparison with normal galaxies; (4) measure a set of spectral indices,including several absorption-line equivalent widths and colorsindicative of stellar populations; and (5) correlate the stellar indiceswith emission-line ratios that may distinguish between possibleexcitation sources for the gas. Our main findings are as follows: (1)Few LLAGNs have a detectable young (<~107 yr) starburstcomponent, indicating that very massive stars do not contributesignificantly to the optical continuum. In particular, no features dueto Wolf-Rayet stars were convincingly detected. (2) High-order Balmerabsorption lines of H I (HOBLs), on the other hand, are detected in ~40%of LLAGNs. These features, which are strongest in108-109 yr intermediate-age stellar populations,are accompanied by diluted metal absorption lines and bluer colors thanother objects in the sample. (3) These intermediate-age populations arevery common (~50%) in LLAGNs with relatively weak [O I] emission([OI]/Hα<=0.25) but rare (~10%) in LLAGNs with stronger [O I].This is intriguing since LLAGNs with weak [O I] have been previouslyhypothesized to be transition objects'' in which both an AGN and youngstars contribute to the emission-line excitation. Massive stars, ifpresent, are completely outshone by intermediate-age and old stars inthe optical. This happens in at least a couple of objects whereindependent UV spectroscopy detects young starbursts not seen in theoptical. (4) Objects with predominantly old stars span the whole rangeof [O I]/Hα values, but (5) sources with significant young and/orintermediate-age populations are nearly all (~90%) weak-[O I] emitters.These new findings suggest a link between the stellar populations andthe gas ionization mechanism. The strong-[O I] objects are most likelytrue LLAGNs, with stellar processes being insignificant. However, theweak-[O I] objects may comprise two populations, one where theionization is dominated by stellar processes and another where it isgoverned by either an AGN or a more even mixture of stellar and AGNprocesses. Possible stellar sources for the ionization include weakstarbursts, supernova remnants, and evolved poststarburst populations.These scenarios are examined and constrained by means of complementaryobservations and detailed modeling of the stellar populations inforthcoming communications.Based on observations made with the Nordic Optical Telescope, operatedon the island of La Palma jointly by Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway,and Sweden, in the Spanish Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos ofthe Instituto de Astrofísica de Canárias. Inner-truncated Disks in GalaxiesWe present an analysis of the disk brightness profiles of 218 spiral andlenticular galaxies. At least 28% of disk galaxies exhibit innertruncations in these profiles. There are no significant trends oftruncation incidence with Hubble type, but the incidence among barredsystems is 49%, more than 4 times that for nonbarred galaxies. However,not all barred systems have inner truncations, and not allinner-truncated systems are currently barred. Truncations represent areal dearth of disk stars in the inner regions and are not an artifactof our selection or fitting procedures nor the result of obscuration bydust. Disk surface brightness profiles in the outer regions are wellrepresented by simple exponentials for both truncated and nontruncateddisks. However, truncated and nontruncated systems have systematicallydifferent slopes and central surface brightness parameters for theirdisk brightness distributions. Truncation radii do not appear tocorrelate well with the sizes or brightnesses of the bulges. Thissuggests that the low angular momentum material apparently missing fromthe inner disk was not simply consumed in forming the bulge population.Disk parameters and the statistics of bar orientations in our sampleindicate that the missing stars of the inner disk have not simply beenredistributed azimuthally into bar structures. The sharpness of thebrightness truncations and their locations with respect to othergalactic structures suggest that resonances associated with diskkinematics, or tidal interactions with the mass of bulge stars, might beresponsible for this phenomenon. Minor-axis velocity gradients in disk galaxiesWe present the ionized-gas kinematics and photometry of a sample of 4spiral galaxies which are characterized by a zero-velocity plateau alongthe major axis and a velocity gradient along the minor axis,respectively. By combining these new kinematical data with thoseavailable in the literature for the ionized-gas component of the S0s andspirals listed in the Revised Shapley-Ames Catalog of Bright Galaxies werealized that about 50% of unbarred galaxies show a remarkable gasvelocity gradient along the optical minor axis. This fraction rises toabout 60% if we include unbarred galaxies with an irregular velocityprofile along the minor axis. This phenomenon is observed all along theHubble sequence of disk galaxies, and it is particularly frequent inearly-type spirals. Since minor-axis velocity gradients are unexpectedif the gas is moving onto circular orbits in a disk coplanar to thestellar one, we conclude that non-circular and off-plane gas motions arenot rare in the inner regions of disk galaxies.Based on observations carried out at the European Southern Observatoryin La Silla (Chile) (ESO 69.B-0706 and 70.B-0338), with the MultipleMirror Telescope which is a joint facility of the SmithsonianInstitution and the University of Arizona, and with the ItalianTelescopio Nazionale Galileo (AOT-5, 3-18) at the Observatorio del Roquede los Muchachos in La Palma (Spain).Table 1 is only available in electronic form athttp://www.edpsciences.org. Table 5 is only available in electronic format the CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) orvia http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/416/507 The Hα galaxy survey. I. The galaxy sample, Hα narrow-band observations and star formation parameters for 334 galaxiesWe discuss the selection and observations of a large sample of nearbygalaxies, which we are using to quantify the star formation activity inthe local Universe. The sample consists of 334 galaxies across allHubble types from S0/a to Im and with recession velocities of between 0and 3000 km s-1. The basic data for each galaxy are narrowband H\alpha +[NII] and R-band imaging, from which we derive starformation rates, H\alpha +[NII] equivalent widths and surfacebrightnesses, and R-band total magnitudes. A strong correlation is foundbetween total star formation rate and Hubble type, with the strongeststar formation in isolated galaxies occurring in Sc and Sbc types. Moresurprisingly, no significant trend is found between H\alpha +[NII]equivalent width and galaxy R-band luminosity. More detailed analyses ofthe data set presented here will be described in subsequent papers.Based on observations made with the Jacobus Kapteyn Telescope operatedon the island of La Palma by the Isaac Newton Group in the SpanishObservatorio del Roque de los Muchachos of the Instituto deAstrofísica de Canarias.The full version of Table \ref{tab3} is available in electronic form atthe CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/414/23 Reduced image datafor this survey can be downloaded fromhttp://www.astro.livjm.ac.uk/HaGS/ The Second Kiso Survey for ultraviolet-excess galaxies. IVThe catalogue list and the identification chart of ultraviolet(UV)-excess galaxies which have been detected on two-color Kiso Schmidtplates are presented for 10 Schmidt fields. Catalogued are 189 objects,down to the photographic magnitude ~18.0 in the sky area of some 300square degrees. The total number of KUGs newly detected in the secondsurvey reaches 1,829. The luminous and dark matter content of disk galaxiesWe have compiled a sample of disk galaxies with available photometry inthe B and K bands, velocity line-widths and HI integral fluxes. Severalparameters that trace the luminous, baryonic and dark matter contentswere inferred. We investigated how these parameters vary with differentgalaxy properties, and compared the results with predictions of galaxyevolutionary models in the context of the Λ Cold Dark Matter(ΛCDM) cosmogony. The ratio of disk-to-total maximum circularvelocity, (Vd,m/Vt,m), depends mainly on thecentral disk surface density Σd,0 (or surfacebrightness, SB), increasing roughly asΣd,00.15. While a fraction of high SBgalaxies have a (Vd,m/Vt,m) ratio corresponding tothe maximum disk solution, the low SB are completely dark matterdominated. The trend is similar for the models, although they haveslightly smaller (Vd,m/Vt,m) ratios thanobservations, in particular at the highest SBs and when small baryonfractions are used. The scatter in the(Vd,m/Vt,m)- Σd,0 plot is large.An analysis of residuals shows that (Vd,m/Vt,m)tends to decrease as the galaxy is redder, more luminous (massive), andof earlier type. The models allow us to explain the physics of theseresults, which imply a connexion between halo structure and luminousproperties. The dynamical-to-baryon mass and dynamical mass-to-light (Band K) ratios at a given radius were also estimated. All these ratios,for observations and models, decrease with Σd,0; (orSB) and do not correlate significantly with the galaxy scale, contraryto what has been reported in previous works, based on the analysis ofrotation curve shapes. We discuss this difference and state theimportance of solving the controversy of whether the dark and luminouscontents in disk galaxies depend on SB or luminosity. The broadagreement between the models and observations presented here regardingthe trends of the dynamical-to-baryon matter and mass-to-light ratioswith several galaxy properties favors the ΛCDM scenario. However,the excess of dark matter inside the optical region of disk galaxiesremains the main difficulty.Appendices A and B are only available in electronic form athttp://www.edpsciences.org. Table 1 is only available at the CDS viaanonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/412/633 Mass-to-light ratios from the fundamental plane of spiral galaxy discsThe best-fitting two-dimensional plane within the three-dimensionalspace of spiral galaxy disc observables (rotational velocityvrot, central disc surface brightnessμ0=-2.5logI0 and disc scalelength h) has beenconstructed. Applying the three-dimensional bisector method ofregression analysis to a sample of ~100 spiral galaxy discs that spanmore than 4magarcsec-2 in central disc surface brightnessyields vrot\proptoI0.50\pm0.050\,h0.77\pm 0.07 (B band)and vrot\proptoI0.43\pm0.040\,h0.69\pm 0.07 (R band).Contrary to popular belief, these results suggest that in the B band,the dynamical mass-to-light ratio (within four disc scalelengths) islargely independent of the surface brightness, varying as I0.00\pm0.100\,h0.54\pm 0.14. Consistentresults were obtained when the range of the analysis was truncated byexcluding the low-surface-brightness galaxies. Previous claims thatM/LBvaries withI-1/20,Bareshown to be misleading and/or caused by galaxy selection effects - notall low-surface-brightness disc galaxies are dark matter dominated. Thesituation is, however, different in the near-infrared whereLK'~v4 and M/LK' is shown to vary asI-1/20,K\prime. Theoretical studies ofspiral galaxy discs should therefore not assume a constant M/L ratiowithin any given passband. The B-band dynamical mass-to-light ratio(within four disc scalelengths) has no obvious correlation with (B-R)disc colour, while in the K' band it varies as -1.25+/-0.28(B-R).Combining the present observational data with recent galaxy modelpredictions implies that the logarithm of the stellar-to-dynamical massratio is not a constant value, but increases as discs become redder,varying as 1.70+/-0.28(B-R). The Radio Properties of Composite LINER/H II GalaxiesArcsecond-resolution VLA observations-newly obtained as well aspublished-of 40 nearby galaxies are discussed, completing a study of theradio properties of a magnitude-limited sample of nearby galaxies of thecomposite LINER/H II type. Our results reveal an overall detection rateof at least 25% active galactic nucleus (AGN) candidates among thesecomposite sources. The general properties of these AGN candidates, ascompared to non-AGN composite sources and H II galaxies, are discussed. The Properties of Satellite Galaxies in External Systems. I. Morphology and Structural ParametersWe present the first results of an ongoing project to study themorphological, kinematical, dynamical, and chemical properties ofsatellite galaxies of external giant spiral galaxies. The sample ofobjects has been selected from the catalog by Zaritsky et al. The paperanalyzes the morphology and structural parameters of a subsample of 60such objects. The satellites span a great variety of morphologies andsurface brightness profiles. About two-thirds of the sample are spiralsand irregulars, the remaining third being early-types. Some casesshowing interaction between pairs of satellites are presented andbriefly discussed. The H I Line Width/Linear Diameter Relationship as an Independent Test of the Hubble ConstantThe relationship between corrected H I line widths and linear diameters(LW/LD) for spiral galaxies is used as an independent check on the valueof the Hubble constant. After calibrating the Tully-Fisher (TF) relationin both the B and I bands, the B-band relation is used for galaxies ofmorphological/luminosity types Sc I, Sc I.2, Sc I.3, Sab, Sb, Sb I-II,and Sb II to derive the LW/LD relation. We find that for this sample thescatter in the LW/LD is smallest with a Hubble constant of 90-95 kms-1 Mpc-1. Lower values of the Hubble constantproduce a separation in the LW/LD relation that is a function ofmorphological type. Since a Hubble constant of 90-95 is significantlylarger than the final Key Project value of 72 km s-1Mpc-1, a comparison of TF, surface brightness fluctuation(SBF), and fundamental plane (FP) is made. This comparison indicatesthat the Key Project TF distances to 21 clusters may be too large. For asample of 11 clusters, the Key Project TF distances provide anunweighted mean Hubble constant of 77 km s-1Mpc-1, while a combination of the FP, SBF, and our TFdistances for the same 11 clusters gives H0=91 kms-1 Mpc-1. A more subtle result in our data is amorphological dichotomy in the Hubble constant. The data suggest that ScI galaxies follow a Hubble constant of 90-95 while Sb galaxies follow aHubble constant closer to 75 km s-1 Mpc-1.Possible explanations for this result are considered, but it is shownthat this Sb/Sc I Hubble flow discrepancy is also present in the VirgoCluster and is consistent with previous investigations that indicatethat some galaxies carry a component of age-related intrinsic redshift. Bar Galaxies and Their EnvironmentsThe prints of the Palomar Sky Survey, luminosity classifications, andradial velocities were used to assign all northern Shapley-Ames galaxiesto either (1) field, (2) group, or (3) cluster environments. Thisinformation for 930 galaxies shows no evidence for a dependence of barfrequency on galaxy environment. This suggests that the formation of abar in a disk galaxy is mainly determined by the properties of theparent galaxy, rather than by the characteristics of its environment. Spiral Galaxies with HST/NICMOS. I. Nuclear Morphologies, Color Maps, and Distinct NucleiThis is the first of two papers where we present the analysis of anHST/NICMOS2 near-infrared (NIR) snapshot survey in the F160W (H) filterfor a sample of 78 spiral galaxies selected from the UGC and ESOLVcatalogs. For 69 of these objects we provide nuclear color informationderived by combining the H data either with additional NICMOS F110W (J)images or with V WFPC2/HST data. Here we present the NIR images and theoptical-NIR color maps. We focus our attention on the properties of thephotometrically distinct nuclei'' which are found embedded in most ofthe galaxies and provide measurements of their half-light radii andmagnitudes in the H (and when available in the J) band. We find that (1)in the NIR the nuclei embedded in the bright early- to intermediate-typegalaxies span a much larger range in brightness than the nuclei whichare typically found embedded in bulgeless late-type disks: the nucleiembedded in the early- to intermediate-type galaxies reach, on thebright end, values up to HAB~-17.7 mag; (2) nuclei are foundin both nonbarred and barred hosts, in large-scale (>~1 kpc) as wellas in nuclear (up to a few 100 pc) bars; (3) there is a significantincrease in half-light radius with increasing luminosity of the nucleusin the early/intermediate types (a decade in radius for ~8 magbrightening), a correlation which was found in the V band and which isalso seen in the NIR data; (4) the nuclei of early/intermediate-typespirals cover a large range of optical-NIR colors, from V-H~-0.5 to 3.Some nuclei are bluer and others redder than the surroundinggalaxy,indicating the presence of activity or reddening by dust in many ofthese systems; (5) someearly/intermediate nuclei are elongated and/orslightly offset from the isophotal center of the host galaxy. Onaverage, however, these nuclei appear as centered, star-cluster-likestructures similar to those whichare found in the late-type disks. Basedon observations with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, obtained atthe Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by Associationof Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS5-26555. Rotation curves and metallicity gradients from HII regions in spiral galaxiesIn this paper we study long slit spectra in the region of Hαemission line of a sample of 111 spiral galaxies with recognizable andwell defined spiral morphology and with a well determined environmentalstatus, ranging from isolation to non-disruptive interaction withsatellites or companions. The form and properties of the rotation curvesare considered as a function of the isolation degree, morphological typeand luminosity. The line ratios are used to estimate the metallicity ofall the detected HII regions, thus producing a composite metallicityprofile for different types of spirals. We have found that isolatedgalaxies tend to be of later types and lower luminosity than theinteracting galaxies. The outer parts of the rotation curves of isolatedgalaxies tend to be flatter than in interacting galaxies, but they showsimilar relations between global parameters. The scatter of theTully-Fisher relation defined by isolated galaxies is significantlylower than that of interacting galaxies. The [NII]/Hα ratios, usedas a metallicity indicator, show a clear trend between Z andmorphological type, t, with earlier spirals showing higher ratios; thistrend is tighter when instead of t the gradient of the inner rotationcurve, G, is used; no trend is found with the change in interactionstatus. The Z-gradient of the disks depends on the type, being almostflat for early spirals, and increasing for later types. The[NII]/Hα ratios measured for disk HII regions of interactinggalaxies are higher than for normal/isolated objects, even if all thegalaxy families present similar distributions of Hα EquivalentWidth. Tables 3 and 4 and Figs. 6, 7 and 21 are only available inelectronic form at http://www.edpsciences.org. Table 5 is only availablein electronic form at the CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr(130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/393/389 Based on dataobtained Asiago/Ekar Observatory. Also based on observations made withINT operated on the island of La Palma by ING in the SpanishObservatorio del Roque de Los Muchachos of the Instituto deAstrofísica de Canarias. Local velocity field from sosie galaxies. I. The Peebles' modelPratton et al. (1997) showed that the velocity field around clusterscould generate an apparent distortion that appears as tangentialstructures or radial filaments. In the present paper we determine theparameters of the Peebles' model (1976) describing infall of galaxiesonto clusters with the aim of testing quantitatively the amplitude ofthis distortion. The distances are determined from the concept of sosiegalaxies (Paturel 1984) using 21 calibrators for which the distanceswere recently calculated from two independent Cepheid calibrations. Weuse both B and I-band magnitudes. The Spaenhauer diagram method is usedto correct for the Malmquist bias. We give the equations for theconstruction of this diagram. We analyze the apparent Hubble constant indifferent regions around Virgo and obtain simultaneously the Local Groupinfall and the unperturbed Hubble constant. We found:[VLG-infall = 208 ± 9 km s-1] [\log H =1.82 ± 0.04 (H ≈ 66 ± 6 km s-1Mpc-1).] The front side and backside infalls can be seenaround Virgo and Fornax. In the direction of Virgo the comparison ismade with the Peebles' model. We obtain: [vinfall} =CVirgo/r0.9 ± 0.2] withCVirgo=2800 for Virgo and CFornax=1350 for Fornax,with the adopted units (km s-1 and Mpc). We obtain thefollowing mean distance moduli: [μVirgo=31.3 ± 0.2(r=18 Mpc )] [μFornax=31.7 ± 0.3 (r=22 Mpc). ] Allthese quantities form an accurate and coherent system. Full Table 2 isonly available in electronic form at the CDS via anonymous ftp tocdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/393/57 Radio sources in low-luminosity active galactic nuclei. III. AGNs'' in a distance-limited sample of LLAGNs''This paper presents the results of a high resolution radio imagingsurvey of all known (96) low-luminosity active galactic nuclei (LLAGNs)at D <= 19 Mpc. We first report new 2 cm (150 mas resolution usingthe VLA) and 6 cm (2 mas resolution using the VLBA) radio observationsof the previously unobserved nuclei in our samples and then presentresults on the complete survey. We find that almost half of all LINERsand low-luminosity Seyferts have flat-spectrum radio cores when observedat 150 mas resolution. Higher (2 mas) resolution observations of aflux-limited subsample have provided a 100% (16 of 16) detection rate ofpc-scale radio cores, with implied brightness temperatures gtrsim108 K. The five LLAGNs with the highest core radio fluxesalso have pc-scale jets''. Compact radio cores are almost exclusivelyfound in massive ellipticals and in type 1 nuclei (i.e. nuclei withbroad Hα emission). Only a few transition'' nuclei have compactradio cores; those detected in the radio have optical emission-linediagnostic ratios close to those of LINERs/Seyferts. This indicates thatsome transition nuclei are truly composite Seyfert/LINER+H II regionnuclei, with the radio core power depending on the strength of theformer component. The core radio power is correlated with the nuclearoptical broad'' Hα luminosity, the nuclear optical narrow''emission-line luminosity and width, and with the galaxy luminosity. Inthese correlations LLAGNs fall close to the low-luminosityextrapolations of more powerful AGNs. The scalings suggest that many ofthe radio-non-detected LLAGNs are simply lower power versions of theradio-detected LLAGNs. The ratio of core radio power to nuclear opticalemission-line luminosity increases with increasing bulge luminosity forall LLAGNs. Also, there is evidence that the luminosity of the diskcomponent of the galaxy is correlated with the nuclear emission-lineluminosity (but not the core radio power). About half of all LLAGNs withmultiple epoch data show significant inter-year radio variability.Investigation of a sample of ~ 150 nearby bright galaxies, most of themLLAGNs, shows that the nuclear (<=150 mas size) radio power isstrongly correlated with both the black hole mass and the galaxy bulgeluminosity; linear regression fits to all ~ 150 galaxies give: logP2 cm = 1.31(+/-0.16) log {MMDO} + 8.77 and logP2 cm = 1.89(+/-0.21) log LB(bulge) -0.17. Lowaccretion rates (<=10-2-10-3 of the Eddingtonrate) are implied in both advection- and jet-type models. In brief, allevidence points towards the presence of accreting massive black holes ina large fraction, perhaps all, of LLAGNs, with the nuclear radioemission originating in either the accretion inflow onto the massiveblack hole or from jets launched by this black hole-accretion disksystem. A QSO survey via optical variability and zero proper motion in the M 92 field. III. Narrow emission line galaxiesWe study a sample of 23 narrow-emission line galaxies (NELGs) which wereselected by their strong variability as QSO candidates in the frameworkof a variability-and-proper motion QSO survey on digitised Schmidtplates. In previous work, we have shown that variability is an efficientmethod to find AGNs. The variability properties of the NELGs are howeversignificantly different from those of the QSOs. The main aim of thispaper is to clarify the nature of this variability and to estimate thefraction of AGN-dominated NELGs in this sample. New photometric andspectroscopic observations are presented, along with revised data fromthe photographic photometry. The originally measured high variabilityindices could not be confirmed. The diagnostic line-ratios of the NELGspectra are consistent with H Ii region-like spectra. No AGN could beproved, yet we cannot rule out the existence of faint low-luminosityAGNs masked by H Ii regions from intense star formation. Kinematical data on early-type galaxies. VI.We present the result of spectroscopic observations of a sample of 73galaxies, completing the database published in this series of articles.The sample contains mostly low-luminosity early-type objects, includingfour dwarfs of the Local Group (in particular, deep spectra of NGC 205),15 dEs or dS0s in the Virgo cluster, and UGC 05442, a spheroidal dwarfof the M 81 group. We have measured the central velocity dispersion forall but one object, and determined the major-axis rotation andvelocity-dispersion profiles for 59 objects. For the current sample ofdiffuse (or dwarf) elliptical galaxies, we have compared stellarrotation to velocity dispersion; the analysis suggests that theseobjects may be nearly rotationally flattened, and therefore thatanisotropy may be less important than previously thought. Based onobservations collected at the Observatoire de Haute-Provence. Table 1 isalso, and Tables 2 and 4 only, available in electronic form at the CDSvia anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/384/371 Seyfert Galaxies with Circumnuclear/Nuclear StarburstsIn this paper, we present our preliminary results on Seyfert galaxieswith circumnuclear/nuclear starburst (SB) activity. We have searched therecent available literature and found 76 active galaxies with clearevidence of nuclear SB activity, among which 16 are Seyfert 1s, 51Seyfert 2s, and 9 LINERs. After studying the 51 Seyfert 2s, we find thatthose Seyfert 2s with hidden Seyfert 1 nuclei, have similarInfrared-Radio properties as Seyfert 1 galaxies, and are different from`real'' Seyfert 2s without a hidden Seyfert 1 nucleus. The later aresimilar to starburst galaxies. The Multitude of Unresolved Continuum Sources at 1.6 Microns in Hubble Space Telescope Images of Seyfert GalaxiesWe examine 112 Seyfert galaxies observed by the Hubble Space Telescopeat 1.6 μm. We find that ~50% of the Seyfert 2.0 galaxies which arepart of the Revised Shapely-Ames (RSA) Catalog or the CfA redshiftsample contain unresolved continuum sources at 1.6 μm. All but acouple of the Seyfert 1.0-1.9 galaxies display unresolved continuumsources. The unresolved sources have fluxes of order 1 mJy,near-infrared luminosities of order 1041 ergs s-1,and absolute magnitudes MH~-16. Comparison non-Seyfertgalaxies from the RSA Catalog display significantly fewer (~20%),somewhat lower luminosity nuclear sources, which could be due to compactstar clusters. We find that the luminosities of the unresolved Seyfert1.0-1.9 sources at 1.6 μm are correlated with [O III] λ5007and hard X-ray luminosities, implying that these sources are nonstellar.Assuming a spectral energy distribution similar to that of a Seyfert 2galaxy, we estimate that a few percent of local spiral galaxies containblack holes emitting as Seyferts at a moderate fraction,~10-1-10-4, of their Eddington luminosities. Wefind no strong correlation between 1.6 μm fluxes and hard X-ray or [OIII] λ5007 fluxes for the pure Seyfert 2.0 galaxies. Thesegalaxies also tend to have lower 1.6 μm luminosities compared to theSeyfert 1.0-1.9 galaxies of similar [O III] luminosity. Either largeextinctions (AV~20-40) are present toward theircontinuum-emitting regions or some fraction of the unresolved sources at1.6 μm are compact star clusters. With increasing Seyfert type thefraction of unresolved sources detected at 1.6 μm and the ratio of1.6 μm to [O III] fluxes tend to decrease. These trends areconsistent with the unification model for Seyfert 1 and 2 galaxies.
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