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Dwarf galaxies in the dynamically evolved NGC 1407 Group
The NGC 1407 Group stands out among nearby structures by its propertiesthat suggest it is massive and evolved. It shares properties withentities that have been called fossil groups: the 1.4mdifferential between the dominant elliptical galaxy and the secondbrightest galaxy comes close to satisfying the definition that has beenused to define the fossil class. There are few intermediate-luminositygalaxies, but a large number of dwarfs in the group. We estimate thereare 250 group members to the depth of our survey. The slope of the faintend of the luminosity function (reaching MR = -12) is α= -1.35. Velocities for 35 galaxies demonstrate that this group with onedominant galaxy has a mass of 7 × 1013Msolarand M/LR = 340Msolar/Lsolar. Twogalaxies in close proximity to NGC 1407 have very large blueshifts. Themost notable is the second brightest galaxy, NGC 1400, with a velocityof -1072 km s-1 with respect to the group mean. We report thedetection of X-ray emission from this galaxy and from the group.
| Eridanus - a supergroup in the local Universe?
We examine a possible supergroup in the direction of the Eridanusconstellation using 6dF Galaxy Survey second data release (6dFGS DR2)positions and velocities together with Two-Micron All-Sky Survey andHyper-Lyon-Meudon Extragalactic DAtabase photometry. We perform afriends-of-friends analysis to determine which galaxies are associatedwith each substructure before examining the properties of theconstituent galaxies. The overall structure is made up of threeindividual groups that are likely to merge to form a cluster of mass ~7× 1013Msolar. We conclude that thisstructure is a supergroup. We also examine the colours, morphologies andluminosities of the galaxies in the region with respect to their localprojected surface density. We find that the colours of the galaxiesredden with increasing density, the median luminosities are brighterwith increasing environmental density and the morphologies of thegalaxies show a strong morphology-density relation. The colours andluminosities of the galaxies in the supergroup are already similar tothose of galaxies in clusters; however, the supergroup contains morelate-type galaxies, consistent with its lower projected surface density.Due to the velocity dispersion of the groups in the supergroup, whichare lower than those of clusters, we conclude that the properties of theconstituent galaxies are likely to be a result of merging orstrangulation processes in groups outlying this structure.
| An imaging study of the globular cluster systems of NGC 1407 and 1400
We present wide-field Keck telescope imaging of the globular cluster(GC) systems around NGC 1407 and 1400 in the Eridanus galaxy cloud. Thisis complemented by Hubble Space Telescope (HST) images from the AdvancedCamera for Surveys of NGC 1407 and Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2images of NGC 1400. We clearly detect bimodality in the GC colourdistribution of NGC 1407. The blue GC subpopulation has a mean colour ofB-I= 1.61 and a relative contribution of around 40 per cent, whereas thered subpopulation with B-I= 2.06 contributes 60 per cent to the overallGC system. Assuming old ages, this corresponds to [Fe/H]=-1.45 and-0.19. Both subpopulations are intrinsically broad in colour (indicatinga range in ages and/or metallicities), with the red subpopulation beingbroader than the blue. The GC colour distribution for NGC 1400 is lessclear cut than for NGC 1407, however, we also find evidence for abimodal distribution. We find the NGC 1407 red GCs to be 20 per centsmaller in size than the blue ones. This is consistent with theexpectations of mass segregation in an old coeval GC system. Half adozen large objects (20-40 pc), with GC-like colours are identified,which are probably background galaxies.The HST data sets allow us to probe to small galactocentric radii. Herewe find both GC systems to possess a GC surface density distributionwhich is largely constant in these inner galaxy regions. We fitisothermal-like profiles and derive GC system core radii of 9.4 kpc forNGC 1407 and 5.8 kpc for NGC 1400. For NGC 1407 we are able to separatethe surface density distribution into blue and red subpopulations,giving 17.8 and 7.6 kpc, respectively. Outside this central region, theradial profile of the GC surface density is similar to that of thegalaxy light for NGC 1407 but it is flatter for NGC 1400. The mean GCmagnitude appears to be constant with galactocentric radius. We findthat for both galaxies, the GC systems have a similar ellipticity andazimuthal distribution as the underlying galaxy starlight. A fit to theGC luminosity function gives a distance modulus of 31.6, which is ingood agreement with distances based on the Faber-Jackson relation andthe Virgo infall corrected velocity.
| A data-driven Bayesian approach for finding young stellar populations in early-type galaxies from their ultraviolet-optical spectra
Efficient predictive models and data analysis techniques for theanalysis of photometric and spectroscopic observations of galaxies arenot only desirable, but also required, in view of the overwhelmingquantities of data becoming available. We present the results of a novelapplication of Bayesian latent variable modelling techniques, where wehave formulated a data-driven algorithm that allows one to explore thestellar populations of a large sample of galaxies from their spectra,without the application of detailed physical models. Our only assumptionis that the galaxy spectrum can be expressed as a linear superpositionof a small number of independent factors, each a spectrum of a stellarsubpopulation that cannot be individually observed. A probabilisticlatent variable architecture that explicitly encodes this assumption isthen formulated, and a rigorous Bayesian methodology is employed forsolving the inverse modelling problem from the available data. Apowerful aspect of this method is that it formulates a density model ofthe spectra, based on which we can handle observational errors. Further,we can recover missing data both from the original set of spectra whichmight have incomplete spectral coverage of each galaxy, or frompreviously unseen spectra of the same kind.We apply this method to a sample of 21 ultraviolet-optical spectra ofwell-studied early-type galaxies, for which we also derive detailedphysical models of star formation history (i.e. age, metallicity andrelative mass fraction of the component stellar populations). We alsoapply it to synthetic spectra made up of two stellar populations,spanning a large range of parameters. We apply four different datamodels, starting from a formulation of principal component analysis(PCA), which has been widely used. We explore alternative factor models,relaxing the physically unrealistic assumption of Gaussian factors, aswell as constraining the possibility of negative flux values that areallowed in PCA, and show that other models perform equally well orbetter, while yielding more physically acceptable results. Inparticular, the more physically motivated assumptions of our rectifiedfactor analysis enable it to perform better than PCA, and to recoverphysically meaningful results.We find that our data-driven Bayesian modelling allows us to identifythose early-type galaxies that contain a significant stellar populationthat is <~1-Gyr old. This experiment also concludes that our sampleof early-type spectra showed no evidence of more than two major stellarpopulations differing significantly in age and metallicity. This methodwill help us to search for such young populations in a large ensemble ofspectra of early-type galaxies, without fitting detailed models, andthereby to study the underlying physical processes governing theformation and evolution of early-type galaxies, particularly thoseleading to the suppression of star formation in dense environments. Inparticular, this method would be a very useful tool for automaticallydiscovering various interesting subclasses of galaxies, for example,post-starburst or E+A galaxies.
| A Chandra View of Dark Matter in Early-Type Galaxies
We present a Chandra study of mass profiles in seven ellipticalgalaxies, of which three have galaxy-scale and four have group-scalehalos, demarcated at 1013 Msolar. These representthe best available data for nearby objects with comparable X-rayluminosities. We measure approximately flat mass-to-light (M/L) profileswithin an optical half-light radius (Reff), rising by anorder of magnitude at ~10 Reff, which confirms the presenceof dark matter (DM). The data indicate hydrostatic equilibrium, which isalso supported by agreement with studies of stellar kinematics inelliptical galaxies. The data are well fitted by a model comprising anNFW DM profile and a baryonic component following the optical light. Thedistribution of DM halo concentration parameters (c) versusMvir agrees with ΛCDM predictions and our observationsof bright groups. Concentrations are slightly higher than expected,which is most likely a selection effect. Omitting the stellar massdrastically increases c, possibly explaining large concentrations foundby some past observers. The stellar M/LK agree withpopulation synthesis models, assuming a Kroupa IMF. Allowing adiabaticcompression (AC) of the DM halo by baryons made M/L more discrepant,casting some doubt on AC. Our best-fitting models imply total baryonfractions ~0.04-0.09, consistent with models of galaxy formationincorporating strong feedback. The groups exhibit positive temperaturegradients, consistent with the ``universal'' profiles found in othergroups and clusters, whereas the galaxies have negative gradients,suggesting a change in the evolutionary history of the systems aroundMvir~=1013 Msolar.
| A Chandra Survey of Early-Type Galaxies. I. Metal Enrichment in the Interstellar Medium
We present a Chandra study of the emission-weighted metal abundances in28 early-type galaxies, spanning ~3 orders of magnitude in X-rayluminosity (LX). We report constraints for Fe, O, Ne, Mg, Si,S, and Ni. We find no evidence of the very subsolar Fe abundance(ZFe) historically reported, confirming a trend in recentobservations of bright galaxies and groups, nor do we find anycorrelation between ZFe and luminosity. Excepting one case,the ISM is single-phase, indicating that multitemperature fits foundwith ASCA reflected temperature gradients that we resolve with Chandra.We find no evidence that ZFe (ISM) is substantially lowerthan the stellar metallicity estimated from simple stellar populationmodels. In general, these quantities are similar, which is inconsistentwith galactic wind models and recent hierarchical chemical enrichmentsimulations. Our abundance ratio constraints imply that 66%+/-11% of theISM Fe was produced in SNe Ia, similar to the solar neighborhood,indicating similar enrichment histories for elliptical galaxies and theMilky Way. Although these values are sensitive to the considerablesystematic uncertainty in the supernova yields, they are in agreementwith observations of more massive systems. This indicates considerablehomology in the enrichment process operating from cluster scales tolow-to-intermediate-LX galaxies. The data uniformly exhibitlow ZO/ZMg ratios, which have been reported insome clusters, groups, and galaxies. This is inconsistent with standardSN II metal yield calculations and may indicate an additional source ofenrichment, such as Population III hypernovae.
| Scaling Mass Profiles around Elliptical Galaxies Observed with Chandra and XMM-Newton
We investigated the dynamical structure of 53 elliptical galaxies usingthe Chandra archival X-ray data. In X-ray-luminous galaxies, temperatureincreases with radius and gas density is systematically higher at theoptical outskirts, indicating the presence of a significant amount ofthe group-scale hot gas. In contrast, X-ray-dim galaxies show a flat ordeclining temperature profile against radius and the gas density isrelatively lower at the optical outskirts. Thus, it is found thatX-ray-bright and faint elliptical galaxies are clearly distinguished bythe temperature and gas density profile. The mass profile is well scaledby a virial radius r200 rather than an optical half-radiusre, is quite similar at (0.001-0.03)r200 betweenX-ray-luminous and dim galaxies, and smoothly connects to those profilesof clusters of galaxies. At the inner region of(0.001-0.01)r200 or (0.1-1)re, the mass profilewell traces a stellar mass with a constant mass-to-light ratio ofM/LB=3-10 Msolar/Lsolar. TheM/LB ratio of X-ray-bright galaxies rises up steeply beyond0.01r200 and thus requires a presence of massive dark matterhalo. From the deprojection analysis combined with the XMM-Newton data,we found that X-ray-dim galaxies NGC 3923, NGC 720, and IC 1459 alsohave a high M/LB ratio of 20-30 at 20 kpc, comparable to thatof X-ray-luminous galaxies. Therefore, dark matter is indicated to becommon in elliptical galaxies; their dark matter distribution, as wellas that of galaxy clusters, almost follows the NFW profile.
| Globular Cluster Systems in Brightest Cluster Galaxies: Bimodal Metallicity Distributions and the Nature of the High-Luminosity Clusters
We present new (B, I) photometry for the globular cluster systems ineight brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs), obtained with the ACS/WFCcamera on the Hubble Space Telescope. In the very rich cluster systemsthat reside within these giant galaxies, we find that all have stronglybimodal color distributions that are clearly resolved by themetallicity-sensitive (B-I) index. Furthermore, the mean colors andinternal color range of the blue subpopulation are remarkably similarfrom one galaxy to the next, to well within the +/-0.02-0.03 maguncertainties in the foreground reddenings and photometric zero points.By contrast, the mean color and internal color range for the redsubpopulation differ from one galaxy to the next by twice as much as theblue population. All the BCGs show population gradients, with muchhigher relative numbers of red clusters within 5 kpc of their centers,consistent with their having formed at later times than the blue,metal-poor population. A striking new feature of the color distributionsemerging from our data is that for the brightest clusters(MI<-10.5) the color distribution becomes broad and lessobviously bimodal. This effect was first noticed by Ostrov et al. andDirsch et al. for the Fornax giant NGC 1399; our data suggest that itmay be a characteristic of many BCGs and perhaps other large galaxies.Our data indicate that the blue (metal-poor) clusters brighter thanMI~=-10 become progressively redder with increasingluminosity, following a mass/metallicity scaling relationZ~M0.55. A basically similar relation has been found for M87by Strader et al. (2005). We argue that these GCS characteristics areconsistent with a hierarchical-merging galaxy formation picture in whichthe metal-poor clusters formed in protogalactic clouds or densestarburst complexes with gas masses in the range107-1010 Msolar, but where the moremassive clusters on average formed in bigger clouds with deeperpotential wells where more preenrichment could occur.
| Advanced Camera for Surveys Imaging of 25 Galaxies in Nearby Groups and in the Field
We present Hubble Space Telescope Advanced Camera for Surveys images andcolor-magnitude diagrams for 25 nearby galaxies with radial velocitiesVLG<500 km s-1. Distances are determined basedon the luminosities of stars at the tip of the red giant branch thatrange from 2 to 12 Mpc. Two of the galaxies, NGC 4163 and IC 4662, arefound to be the nearest known representatives of blue compact dwarfobjects. Using high-quality data on distances and radial velocities of110 nearby field galaxies, we derive their mean Hubble ratio to be 68 kms-1 Mpc-1 with a standard deviation of 15 kms-1 Mpc-1. Peculiar velocities of most of thegalaxies, Vpec=VLG-68D, follow a Gaussiandistribution with σv=63 km s-1 but with atail toward high negative values. Our data display the known correlationbetween peculiar velocity and galaxy elevation above the LocalSupercluster plane. The small observed fraction of galaxies with highpeculiar velocities, Vpec<-500 km s-1, may beunderstood as objects associated with nearby groups (Coma I, Eridanus)outside the local volume.
| Nearby early-type galaxies with ionized gas. II. Line-strength indices for 18 additional galaxies
We previously presented a data-set of line-strength indices for 50early-type galaxies in the nearby Universe. The galaxy sample is biasedtoward galaxies showing emission lines, located in environmentscorresponding to a broad range of local galaxy densities, althoughpredominantly in low density environments. The present addendum enlargesthe above data-set of line-strength indices by analyzing 18 additionalearly-type galaxies (three galaxies, NGC 3607, NGC 5077 and NGC 5898were presented in the previous set). We measured 25 line-strengthindices, defined by the Lick IDS "standard" system (Trager et al. 1998,ApJS, 116, 1; Worthey & Ottaviani 1997, ApJS, 111, 377), for 7luminosity weighted apertures and 4 gradients of each galaxy. Thisaddendum presents the line-strength data-set and compares it with theavailable data in the literature.
| Group, field and isolated early-type galaxies - II. Global trends from nuclear data
We have derived ages, metallicities and enhanced-element ratios[α/Fe] for a sample of 83 early-type galaxies essentially ingroups, the field or isolated objects. The stellar-population propertiesderived for each galaxy correspond to the nuclear re/8aperture extraction. The median age found for Es is 5.8+/-0.6 Gyr andthe average metallicity is +0.37+/-0.03 dex. For S0s, the median age is3.0+/-0.6 Gyr and [Z/H]= 0.53+/-0.04 dex. We compare the distribution ofour galaxies in the Hβ-[MgFe] diagram with Fornax galaxies. Ourelliptical galaxies are 3-4 Gyr younger than Es in the Fornax cluster.We find that the galaxies lie in a plane defined by [Z/H]= 0.99logσ0- 0.46 log(age) - 1.60, or in linear terms Z~σ0× (age) -0.5. More massive (largerσ0) and older galaxies present, on average, large[α/Fe] values, and therefore must have undergone shorterstar-formation time-scales. Comparing group against field/isolatedgalaxies, it is not clear that environment plays an important role indetermining their stellar-population history. In particular, ourisolated galaxies show ages differing by more than 8 Gyr. Finally weexplore our large spectral coverage to derive log(O/H) metallicity fromthe Hα and NIIλ6584 and compare it with model-dependent[Z/H]. We find that the O/H abundances are similar for all galaxies, andwe can interpret it as if most chemical evolution has already finishedin these galaxies.
| The galaxy luminosity function from MR=-25 to MR=-9
Redshift surveys such as the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) have givena very precise measurement of the galaxy luminosity function down toabout MR=-17 (~MB=-16). Fainter absolutemagnitudes cannot be probed because of the flux limit required forspectroscopy. Wide-field surveys of nearby groups using mosaic CCDs onlarge telescopes are able to reach much fainter absolute magnitudes,about MR=-10. These diffuse, spiral-rich groups are thoughtto be typical environments for galaxies, so their luminosity functionsshould be the same as the field luminosity function. The luminosityfunction of the groups at the bright end (MR < -17) islimited by Poisson statistics and is far less precise than that derivedfrom redshift surveys. Here we combine the results of the SDSS and thesurveys of nearby groups, and we supplement the results with studies ofLocal Group galaxies in order to determine the galaxy luminosityfunction over the entire range -25 < MR < -9. Theaverage logarithmic slope of the field luminosity function betweenMR=-19 and MR=-9 is α=-1.26, although asingle power law is a poor fit to the data over the entire magnituderange. We also determine the luminosity function of galaxy clusters anddemonstrate that it is different from the field luminosity function at ahigh level of significance; there are many more dwarf galaxies inclusters than in the field, due to a rise in the cluster luminosityfunction of α~-1.6 between MR=-17 andMR=-14.
| Evidence for radio-source heating of groups
We report evidence that the gas properties of X-ray groups containingradio galaxies differ from those of radio-quiet groups. For awell-studied sample of ROSAT-observed groups, we found that more thanhalf of the elliptical-dominated groups can be considered `radio-loud',and that radio-loud groups are likely to be hotter at a given X-rayluminosity than radio-quiet groups. We tested three different models forthe origin of the effect and conclude that radio-source heating is themost likely explanation. We found several examples of groups where thereis strong evidence from Chandra or XMM-Newton images for interactionsbetween the radio source and the group gas. A variety of radio-sourceheating processes are important, including shock-heating by youngsources and gentler heating by larger sources. The heating effects canbe longer-lasting than the radio emission. We show that the sample ofX-ray groups used in our study is not significantly biased in thefraction of radio-loud groups that it contains. This allows us toconclude that the energy per particle that low-power radio galaxies caninject over the group lifetime is comparable to the requirements ofstructure formation models.
| Group, field and isolated early-type galaxies - I. Observations and nuclear data
This is the first paper of a series on the investigation of stellarpopulation properties and galaxy evolution of an observationallyhomogeneous sample of early-type galaxies in groups, field and isolatedgalaxies.Here we present high signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) long-slit spectroscopyof 86 nearby elliptical and S0 galaxies. Eight of them are isolated,selected according to a rigorous criterion, which guarantees a genuinelow-density subsample. The present survey has the advantage of coveringa larger wavelength range than normally found in the literature, whichincludes [OIII]λ5007 and Hα, both lines important foremission correction. Among the 86 galaxies with S/N >= 15 (perresolution element, for re/8 central aperture), 57 have theirHβ-index corrected for emission (the average correction is 0.190Åin Hβ) and 42 galaxies reveal [OIII]λ5007 emission,of which 16 also show obvious Hα emission. Most of the galaxies inthe sample do not show obvious signs of disturbances nor tidal featuresin the morphologies, although 11 belong to the Arp catalogue of peculiargalaxies; only three of them (NGC 750, 751 and 3226) seem to be stronglyinteracting. We present the measurement of 25 central line-strengthindices calibrated to the Lick/IDS system. Kinematic information isobtained for the sample. We analyse the line-strength index versusvelocity dispersion relations for our sample of mainly low-densityenvironment galaxies, and compare the slope of the relations withcluster galaxies from the literature. Our main findings are that theindex-σ0 relations presented for low-density regionsare not significantly different from those of cluster E/S0s. The slopeof the index-σ0 relations does not seem to change forearly-type galaxies of different environmental densities, but thescatter of the relations seems larger for group, field and isolatedgalaxies than for cluster galaxies.
| Radio Continuum and Far-infrared Emission from the Galaxies in the Eridanus Group
The Eridanus galaxies follow the well-known radio-FIR correlation. Themajority (70%) of these galaxies have their star formation rates belowthat of the Milky Way. The galaxies that have a significant excess ofradio emission are identified as low luminosity AGNs based on theirradio morphologies obtained from the GMRT observations. There are nopowerful AGNs (L20 cm>1023WHz-1) in the group. The twomost far-infrared and radio luminous galaxies in the group have opticaland HI morphologies suggestive of recent tidal interactions. TheEridanus group also has two far-infrared luminous but radio-deficientgalaxies. It is believed that these galaxies are observed within a fewMyr of the onset of an intense star formation episode after beingquiescent for at least a 100 Myr. The upper end of the radio luminositydistribution of the Eridanus galaxies (L20 cm1022WHz-1) isconsistent with that of the field galaxies, other groups, and late-typegalaxies in nearby clusters.
| The HI Content of the Eridanus Group of Galaxies
The HI content of galaxies in the Eridanus group is studied using theGMRT observations and the HIPASS data. A significant HI deficiency up toa factor of 2-3 is observed in galaxies in the high galaxy densityregions. The HI deficiency in galaxies is observed to be directlycorrelated to the local projected galaxy density, and inverselycorrelated to the lineof-sight radial velocity. Furthermore, galaxieswith larger optical diameters are predominantly in the lower galaxydensity regions. It is suggested that the HI deficiency in Eridanus isdue to tidal interactions. In some galaxies, evidences of tidalinteractions are seen. An important implication is that significantevolution of galaxies can take place in the group environment. In thehierarchical way of formation of clusters via mergers of groups, afraction of the observed HI deficiency in clusters could have originatedin groups. The co-existence of S0s and severely HI deficient galaxies inthe Eridanus group suggests that tidal interaction is likely to be aneffective mechanism for transforming spirals to S0s.
| GMRT HI Observations of the Eridanus Group of Galaxies I.
The GMRT HI 21cm-line observations of galaxies in the Eridanus group arepresented. The Eridanus group, at a distance of ~23 Mpc, is a loosegroup of ~200 galaxies. The group extends to more than 10 Mpc inprojection. The velocity dispersion of the galaxies in the group is ~240km s-1. The galaxies are clustered into different sub-groups. Theoverall population mix of the group is 30% (E + S0) and 70% (Sp + Irr).The observations of 57 Eridanus galaxies were carried out with the GMRTfor ~ 200 h. HI emission was detected from 31 galaxies. The channel rmsof ~1 mJy beam-1 was achieved for most of the image-cubes made with 4 hof data. The corresponding HI column density sensitivity (3σ) is~1 × 1020 cm-2 for a velocity-width of ~ 13.4 km s-1.The 3σ detection lss surface densities, HI disk parameters and HIrotation curves are presented. The velocity fields are analysedseparately for the approaching and the receding sides of the galaxies.These data will be used to study the HI and the radio continuumproperties, the Tully-Fisher relations, the dark matter halos, and thekinematical and HI lopsidedness in galaxies.
| The Eridanus group of galaxies: key results.
Not Available
| O VI in Elliptical Galaxies: Indicators of Cooling Flows
Early-type galaxies often contain a hot X-ray-emitting interstellarmedium [(3-8)×106 K] with an apparent radiative coolingtime much less than a Hubble time. If unopposed by a heating mechanism,the gas will radiatively cool to temperatures <~104 K at arate proportional to LX/TX, typically 0.03-1Msolar yr-1. We can test whether gas is coolingthrough the 3×105 K range by observing the O VIdoublet, whose luminosity is proportional to the cooling rate. Here wereport on a study of an unbiased sample of 24 galaxies, obtaining FarUltraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer spectra to complement the X-ray dataof ROSAT and Chandra. The O VI line emission was detected in about 40%of the galaxies and at a luminosity level similar to the prediction fromthe cooling flow model. There is a correlation betweenM˙OVI and M˙X, although there issignificant dispersion about the relationship, where the O VI isbrighter or dimmer than expected by a factor of 3 or more. If thecooling flow picture is to be retained, then this dispersion requiresthat cooling flows be time-dependent, as might occur by the activity ofan AGN. However, of detected objects, those with the highest or lowestvalues of M˙OVI/M˙X are not systematicallyhot or cool, as one might predict from AGN heating.
| Detection of Radial Surface Brightness Fluctuations and Color Gradients in Elliptical Galaxies with the Advanced Camera for Surveys
We study surface brightness fluctuations (SBFs) in a sample of eightelliptical galaxies using the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) WideField Channel (WFC) data drawn from the Hubble Space Telescope archive.SBF magnitudes in the F814W bandpass and galaxy colors from F814W,F435W, and F606W images, when available, are presented. Galaxy surfacebrightness profiles are determined as well. We present the firstSBF-broadband color calibration for the ACS WFC F814W bandpass and(relative) distance moduli estimates for seven of our galaxies. Wedetect and study in detail the SBF variations within individual galaxiesas a probe of possible changes in the underlying stellar populations.Inspecting both the SBF and color gradients in comparison to modelpredictions, we argue that SBFs and SBF gradients can in principle beused for unraveling the different evolutionary paths taken by galaxies,although a more comprehensive study of this issue would be required. Weconfirm that the radial variation of galaxy stellar populationproperties is mainly connected to the presence of radial chemicalabundance gradients, with the outer galaxy regions being more metal-poorthan the inner ones.Based on observations made with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope,which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research inAstronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS5-26555. These observations areassociated with programs 9427, 9293, and 9399.
| A Fundamental Plane Relation for the X-Ray Gas in Normal Elliptical Galaxies
We report on the discovery of a new correlation between globalparameters of the hot interstellar gas in elliptical galaxies. Wereanalyze archival Chandra data for 30 normal early-type systems,removing the contributions of resolved and unresolved point sources toreveal the X-ray morphology of the hot gas. We determine the half-lightradius, RX, and the mean surface brightness, IX,from the gas surface brightness profiles. A spectral analysis determinesthe temperature, TX, of the gas within 3 optical effectiveradii. We find that the galaxies lie on an X-ray gas fundamental plane(XGFP) of the formTX~R0.28XI0.22X.This is close to, but distinct from, a simple luminosity-temperaturerelation. The intrinsic width of the XGFP is only 0.07 dex, nearlyidentical to that of the stellar (optical) fundamental plane (SFP). Thisis surprising since X-ray gas masses are typically ~10-2 ofthe stellar masses. We show that the XGFP is not a simple consequence ofthe virial theorem or hydrostatic equilibrium and that it is essentiallyindependent of the SFP. The XGFP thus represents a genuinely newconstraint on the hydrodynamical evolution of elliptical galaxies.
| Nuclear Accretion in Galaxies of the Local Universe: Clues from Chandra Observations
In order to find an explanation for the radiative quiescence ofsupermassive black holes in the local universe, the most accurateestimates for a sample of nearby galaxies are collected for the mass ofa central black hole (MBH), the nuclear X-ray luminosityLX,nuc, and the circumnuclear hot gas density andtemperature, by using Chandra data. The nuclear X-ray luminosityLX,nuc varies by ~3 orders of magnitude and does not show arelationship with MBH or with the Bondi mass accretion rateM˙B LX,nuc is always much lower than expectedif M˙B ends in a standard accretion disk with highradiative efficiency (this instead can be the case of the active nucleusof Cen A). Radiatively inefficient accretion as in the standardadvection-dominated accretion flow (ADAF) modeling may explain the lowluminosities of a few cases; for others, the predicted luminosity isstill too high, and, in terms of Eddington-scaled quantities, it isincreasingly higher than that observed for increasingM˙B. Variants of the simple radiatively inefficientscenario including outflow and convection may reproduce the low emissionlevels observed, since the amount of matter actually accreted is reducedconsiderably. However, the most promising scenario includes feedbackfrom accretion on the surrounding gas; this has the important advantagesof naturally explaining the observed lack of relationship amongLX,nuc, MBH, and M˙B, and evadingthe problem of the fate of the material accumulating in the centralgalactic regions over cosmological times.
| Probing the Ionizing Continuum of Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 Galaxies. I. Observational Results
We present optical spectra and emission-line ratios of 12 narrow-lineSeyfert 1 (NLS1) galaxies that we observed to study the ionizing EUVcontinuum. A common feature in the EUV continuum of active galacticnuclei is the big blue bump (BBB), generally associated with thermalaccretion disk emission. While Galactic absorption prevents directaccess to the EUV range, it can be mapped by measuring the strength of avariety of forbidden optical emission lines that respond to differentEUV continuum regions. We find that narrow emission line ratiosinvolving [O II] λ3727, Hβ, [O III] λ5007, [O I]λ6300, Hα, [N II] λ6583, and [S II]λλ6716, 6731 indicate no significant difference betweenNLS1 galaxies and broad-line Seyfert 1 (BLS1) galaxies, which suggeststhat the spectral energy distributions of their ionizing EUV-soft X-raycontinua are similar. The relative strength of important forbiddenhigh-ionization lines like [Ne V] λ3426 compared to He IIλ4686 and the relative strength of [Fe X] λ6374 appear toshow the same range as in BLS1 galaxies. However, a trend of weaker F([OI] λ6300)/F(Hα) emission-line ratios is indicated for NLS1galaxies compared to BLS1 galaxies. To recover the broad emission lineprofiles, we used Gaussian components. This approach indicates that thebroad Hβ profile can be well described with a broad component(FWHM~=3275+/-800 km s-1) and an intermediate broad component(FWHM~=1200+/-300 km s-1). The width of the broad componentis in the typical range of normal BLS1 galaxies. The emission-line fluxthat is associated with the broad component in these NLS1 galaxiesamounts to at least 60% of the total flux. Thus, it dominates the totalline flux, similar to BLS1 galaxies.
| The Epochs of Early-Type Galaxy Formation as a Function of Environment
The aim of this paper is to set constraints on the epochs of early-typegalaxy formation through the ``archaeology'' of the stellar populationsin local galaxies. Using our models of absorption-line indices thataccount for variable abundance ratios, we derive ages, totalmetallicities, and element ratios of 124 early-type galaxies in high-and low-density environments. The data are analyzed by comparison withmock galaxy samples created through Monte Carlo simulations taking thetypical average observational errors into account, in order to eliminateartifacts caused by correlated errors. We find that all threeparameters, age, metallicity, and α/Fe ratio, are correlated withvelocity dispersion. We show that these results are robust againstrecent revisions of the local abundance pattern at high metallicities.To recover the observed scatter we need to assume an intrinsic scatterof about 20% in age, 0.08 dex in [Z/H], and 0.05 dex in [α/Fe].All low-mass objects withM*<~1010Msolar (σ<~130kms-1) show evidence for the presence of intermediate-agestellar populations with low α/Fe ratios. About 20% of theintermediate-mass objects with1010<~M*/Msolar<~1011[110<~σ/(kms-1)<~230 both elliptical andlenticular galaxies] must have either a young subpopulation or a bluehorizontal branch. On the basis of the above relationships, valid forthe bulk of the sample, we show that the Mg-σ relation is mainlydriven by metallicity, with similar contributions from the α/Feratio (23%) and age (17%). We further find evidence for an influence ofthe environment on the stellar population properties. Massive early-typegalaxies in low-density environments seem on average ~2 Gyr younger andslightly (~0.05-0.1 dex) more metal-rich than their counterparts inhigh-density environments. No offsets in the α/Fe ratios areinstead detected. With the aid of a simple chemical evolution model, wetranslate the derived ages and α/Fe ratios into star formationhistories. We show that most star formation activity in early-typegalaxies is expected to have happened between redshifts ~3 and 5 inhigh-density environments and between redshifts 1 and 2 in low-densityenvironments. We conclude that at least 50% of the total stellar massdensity must have already formed at z~1, in good agreement withobservational estimates of the total stellar mass density as a functionof redshift. Our results suggest that significant mass growth in theearly-type galaxy population below z~1 must be restricted to lessmassive objects, and a significant increase of the stellar mass densitybetween redshifts 1 and 2 should be present, caused mainly by the fieldgalaxy population. The results of this paper further imply the presenceof vigorous star formation episodes in massive objects at z~2-5 andevolved elliptical galaxies around z~1, both observationally identifiedas SCUBA galaxies and extremely red objects, respectively.
| Star Formation Histories of Nearby Elliptical Galaxies. I. Volume-Limited Sample
This work presents high signal-to-noise ratio spectroscopic observationsof a representative sample of nearby elliptical galaxies. Theseobservations provide a strong test of models for the formation ofelliptical galaxies and their star formation histories. Combining thesedata with the González data set, a volume-limited sample of 45galaxies has been defined. Results are in agreement with previousstudies: the existence of the metallicity hyperplane and the Z-plane ofTrager and coworkers is confirmed, and the distribution is clearly dueto physical variations in stellar population parameters and notmeasurement uncertainty. Trends between stellar population parametersand galaxy structural parameters suggest that angular momentum maydetermine the chemical abundance of a galaxy at a given mass.
| Redshifts in the Southern Abell Redshift Survey Clusters. I. The Data
The Southern Abell Redshift Survey (SARS) contains 39 clusters ofgalaxies with redshifts in the range 0.021h (while avoiding theLMC and SMC), with |b|>40°. Cluster locations were chosen fromthe Abell and Abell-Corwin-Olowin catalogs, while galaxy positions wereselected from the Automatic Plate Measuring Facility galaxy catalog withextinction-corrected magnitudes in the range 15<=bJ<19.SARS used the Las Campanas 2.5 m du Pont telescope, observing either 65or 128 objects concurrently over a 1.5 deg2 field. Newredshifts for 3440 galaxies are reported in the fields of these 39clusters of galaxies.
| Extragalactic Globular Clusters: Old Spectroscopic Ages and New Views on Their Formation
We present the results of a meta-analysis of Keck spectra ofextragalactic globular clusters (GCs) in a sample of eight galaxies,ranging from dwarf galaxies to massive elliptical galaxies. We inferages for the metal-poor and metal-rich GCs in these galaxies throughcomparisons to Galactic GCs. Both subpopulations appear to be no youngerthan their Galactic counterparts, with ages >~10 Gyr. This is thelargest sample of galaxies for which ages have been constrainedspectroscopically. Our results support the formation of most GCs inmassive galaxies at high redshift. We propose a scenario for theformation of GC subpopulations that synthesizes aspects of bothaccretion and in situ approaches in the context of galaxy formationthrough hierarchical merging.
| Near infra-red and optical colour gradients in E-type galaxies. Inferences on dust content
Colour gradients are considered for a sample of circa 50 E-type galaxiesin the Local Supercluster. The new data includes isophotal colourprofiles in J-H, J-K, V-J and V-K, measured using 2MASS frames mostlyfrom the Large Galaxies Atlas, V frames from previous work and Vprofiles from the literature. This is supplemented by U-B, B-V, B-R, V-Icolour gradients obtained anew from published photometric data. Colourgradients in E galaxies show remarkably large variations from object toobject and do not correlate with other properties. Metallicity gradientsare the primary cause as shown before. Age gradients with oppositeeffects are possibly needed to explain objects with small colourgradients. Some empirical evidence of such age effects has been foundfor a subset of objects with morphological peculiarities and youngerstars mixed. Dust has only modest effects on colour gradients, as shownby the fact that objects with zero IRAS 100 μ flux have the sameaverage values of the gradients, except in V-J and V-K, as those withnon zero flux (cf. Table 7). This last subsample however exhibits poorbut definite correlations between IRAS flux and gradients, which mightbe caused by the presence of a few relatively dusty galaxies in thesample. Given the absence of a correlation between any gradients andgalaxy velocity dispersion (and hence mass), the observations do notagree with the predictions of the monolithic scenario for the formationof E galaxies. Simulated datasets of “dummy” objectsmimicking the hierarchical scenario have been obtained, and used to testa technique for estimating the dust content of E-galaxies from thecomparison of the V-K (or V-J) colour gradients with the U-B (or B-V)ones: the contents of diffuse dust, gauged in terms of published models,are obtained for a dozen objects.
| Nearby early-type galaxies with ionized gas. I. Line-strength indices of the underlying stellar population
With the aim of building a data-set of spectral properties of wellstudied early-type galaxies showing emission lines, we presentintermediate resolution spectra of 50 galaxies in the nearby Universe.The sample, which covers several of the E and S0 morphologicalsub-classes, is biased toward objects that might be expected to haveongoing and recent star formation, at least in small amounts, because ofthe presence of the emission lines. The emission is expected to comefrom the combination of active galactic nuclei and star formationregions within the galaxies. Sample galaxies are located in environmentscorresponding to a broad range of local galaxy densities, althoughpredominantly in low density environments. Our long-slit spectra coverthe 3700-7250 Å wavelength range with a spectral resolution of≈7.6 Å at 5550 Å. The specific aim of this paper, and ourfirst step in the investigation, is to map the underlying galaxy stellarpopulation by measuring, along the slit positioned along the galaxymajor axis, line-strength indices at several, homogeneousgalacto-centric distances. For each object we extracted 7luminosity-weighted apertures (with radii 1.5´´,2.5´´, 10´´, r_e/10, r_e/8, r_e/4 and r_e/2)corrected for the galaxy ellipticity and 4 gradients (0 ≤ r ≤r_e/16, r_e/16 ≤ r ≤ r_e/8, r_e/8 ≤ r ≤ r_e/4 and r_e/4≤ r ≤ r_e/2). For each aperture and gradient we measured 25line-strength indices: 21 of the set defined by the Lick-IDS“standard” system (Trager et al. [CITE], ApJS, 116, 1) and 4introduced by Worthey & Ottaviani ([CITE], ApJS, 111, 377).Line-strength indices have been transformed to the Lick-IDS system.Indices derived then include Hβ, Mg1, Mg2, Mgb, MgFe, Fe5270,Fe5335 commonly used in classic index-index diagrams. The paperintroduces the sample, presents the observations, describes the datareduction procedures, the extraction of apertures and gradients, thedetermination and correction of the line-strength indices, the procedureadopted to transform them into the Lick-IDS System and the proceduresadopted for the emission correction. We finally discuss the comparisonsbetween our dataset and line-strength indices available in theliterature. A significant fraction, about 60%, of galaxies in thepresent sample has one previous measurement in the Lick-IDS system butbasically restricted within the r_e/8 region. Line-strength measuresobtained both from apertures and gradients outside this area and withinthe r_e/8 region, with the present radial mapping, are completely new.Full appendix and Figs. 8 to 13 are only available in electronic form athttp://www.edpsciences.org Full Tables 6, 7, 9 and 10 are only availableat 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/433/497 Based onobservations obtained at the European Southern Observatory, La Silla,Chile (Programs Nr. 60.A-0647 and 61.A-0406).
| The GEMS project: X-ray analysis and statistical properties of the group sample
The Group Evolution Multiwavelength Study (GEMS) involves amultiwavelength study of a sample of 60 galaxy groups, chosen to span awide range of group properties. Substantial ROSAT Position SensitiveProportional Counter (PSPC) observations, available for all of thesegroups, are used to characterize the state of the intergalactic mediumin each. We present the results of a uniform analysis of these ROSATdata and a statistical investigation of the relationship between X-rayand optical properties across the sample. Our analysis improves inseveral respects on previous work: (i) we distinguish between systems inwhich the hot gas is a group-scale medium and those in which it appearsto be just a hot halo associated with a central galaxy; (ii) weextrapolate X-ray luminosities to a fixed overdensity radius(r500) using fitted surface brightness models, in order toavoid biases arising from the fact that cooler systems are detectable tosmaller radii, and (iii) optical properties have been rederived in auniform manner from the NASA Extragalactic Database, rather than relyingon the data in the disparate collection of group catalogues from whichour systems are drawn.The steepening of the LX-TX relation in the groupregime reported previously is not seen in our sample, which fits well onto the cluster trend, albeit with large non-statistical scatter. Anumber of biases affect the fitting of regression lines under thesecircumstances, and until the impact of these has been thoroughlyinvestigated it seems best to regard the slope of the groupLX-TX relation as being poorly determined. Asignificant problem in comparing the properties of groups and clustersis the derivation of system radii, to allow different systems to becompared within regions having the same overdensity. We find evidencethat group velocity dispersion (σv) provides a veryunreliable measure of system mass (and hence radius), with a number ofgroups having remarkably low values of σv, given thatthey appear from their X-ray properties to be collapsed systems. Weconfirm that the surface brightness profiles of groups are significantlyflatter than those of clusters - the maximum value of theβfit parameter for our sample is 0.58, lower than thetypical value of 0.67 seen in clusters - however, we find no significanttendency within our sample for cooler groups to show flatter profiles.This result is inconsistent with simple universal pre-heating models.The morphology of the galaxies in the GEMS groups is correlated to theirX-ray properties in a number of ways: we confirm the very strongrelationship between X-ray emission and a dominant early-type centralgalaxy, which has been noted since the early X-ray studies of groups,and also find that spiral fraction is correlated with the temperature ofthe hot gas and hence the depth of the gravitational potential. A classof spiral-rich groups with little or no X-ray emission probablycorresponds to groups that have not yet fully collapsed.
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