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The X-ray emission properties and the dichotomy in the central stellar cusp shapes of early-type galaxies
The Hubble Space Telescope has revealed a dichotomy in the centralsurface brightness profiles of early-type galaxies, which havesubsequently been grouped into two families: core, boxy, anisotropicsystems; and cuspy (`power-law'), discy, rotating ones. Here weinvestigate whether a dichotomy is also present in the X-ray propertiesof the two families. We consider both their total soft emission(LSX,tot), which is a measure of the galactic hot gascontent, and their nuclear hard emission (LHX,nuc), mostlycoming from Chandra observations, which is a measure of the nuclearactivity. At any optical luminosity, the highest LSX,totvalues are reached by core galaxies; this is explained by their beingthe central dominant galaxies of groups, subclusters or clusters, inmany of the logLSX,tot (ergs-1) >~ 41.5 cases.The highest LHX,nuc values, similar to those of classicalactive galactic nuclei (AGNs), in this sample are hosted only by core orintermediate galaxies; at low luminosity AGN levels, LHX,nucis independent of the central stellar profile shape. The presence ofoptical nuclei (also found by HST) is unrelated to the level ofLHX,nuc, even though the highest LHX,nuc are allassociated with optical nuclei. The implications of these findings forgalaxy evolution and accretion modalities at the present epoch arediscussed.
| Optical properties of the NGC 5328 group of galaxies*
We present the results of a photometric and spectroscopic study of sevenmembers of the NGC 5328 group of galaxies, a chain of galaxies spanningover 200 kpc (H0= 70 km s-1 Mpc-1). Weanalyse the galaxy structure and study the emission-line properties ofthe group members looking for signatures of star formation and activegalactic nucleus activity. We finally attempt to infer, from themodelling of line-strength indices, the stellar population ages of theearly-type members. We investigate also the presence of a dwarf galaxypopulation associated with the bright members. The group is composed ofa large fraction of early-type galaxies including NGC 5328 and 5330, two`bona fide' ellipticals at the centre of the group. In both galaxies norecent star formation episodes are detected by the Hβ versus MgFeline-strength indices of these galaxies. 2MASX J13524838-2829584 hasextremely boxy isophotes which are believed to be connected to a mergingevent: line-strength indices suggest that this object probably had arecent star formation episode. A warped disc component emerges from themodel subtracted image of 2MASX J13530016-2827061, which is interpretedas a signature of an ongoing interaction with the rest of the group.Ongoing star formation and nuclear activity are present in the projectedoutskirts of the group. The two early-type galaxies 2MASXJ13523852-2830444 and 2MASX J13525393-2831421 show spectral signaturesof star formation, while a Seyfert 2 type nuclear activity is detectedin MCG-5-33-29.Based on observations collected at European Southern Observatory, La Silla, Chile (Programme No. 65.P-252).
| The Centers of Early-Type Galaxies with Hubble Space Telescope. V. New WFPC2 Photometry
We present observations of 77 early-type galaxies imaged with the PC1CCD of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) WFPC2. ``Nuker-law'' parametricfits to the surface brightness profiles are used to classify the centralstructure into ``core'' or ``power-law'' forms. Core galaxies aretypically rounder than power-law galaxies. Nearly all power-law galaxieswith central ellipticities ɛ>=0.3 have stellar disks,implying that disks are present in power-law galaxies withɛ<0.3 but are not visible because of unfavorable geometry. Afew low-luminosity flattened core galaxies also have disks; these may betransition forms from power-law galaxies to more luminous core galaxies,which lack disks. Several core galaxies have strong isophote twistsinterior to their break radii, although power-law galaxies have interiortwists of similar physical significance when the photometricperturbations implied by the twists are evaluated. Central colorgradients are typically consistent with the envelope gradients; coregalaxies have somewhat weaker color gradients than power-law galaxies.Nuclei are found in 29% of the core galaxies and 60% of the power-lawgalaxies. Nuclei are typically bluer than the surrounding galaxy. Whilesome nuclei are associated with active galactic nuclei (AGNs), just asmany are not; conversely, not all galaxies known to have a low-level AGNexhibit detectable nuclei in the broadband filters. NGC 4073 and 4382are found to have central minima in their intrinsic starlightdistributions; NGC 4382 resembles the double nucleus of M31. In general,the peak brightness location is coincident with the photocenter of thecore to a typical physical scale of <1 pc. Five galaxies, however,have centers significantly displaced from their surrounding cores; thesemay be unresolved asymmetric double nuclei. Finally, as noted byprevious authors, central dust is visible in about half of the galaxies.The presence and strength of dust correlates with nuclear emission;thus, dust may outline gas that is falling into the central black hole.The prevalence of dust and its morphology suggest that dust clouds form,settle to the center, and disappear repeatedly on ~108 yrtimescales. We discuss the hypothesis that cores are created by thedecay of a massive black hole binary formed in a merger. Apart fromtheir brightness profiles, there are no strong differences between coregalaxies and power-law galaxies that demand this scenario; however, therounder shapes of core, their lack of disks, and their reduced colorgradients may be consistent with it.Based on observations made with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope,obtained at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated bythe Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA), Inc.,under NASA contract NAS 5-26555. These observations are associated withGO and GTO proposals 5236, 5446, 5454, 5512, 5943, 5990, 5999, 6099,6386, 6554, 6587, 6633, 7468, 8683, and 9107.
| XMM-Newton observations of the heavily absorbed Seyfert 1 galaxy IC 4329A
We detect seven distinct absorbing systems in the high-resolution X-rayspectrum of the Seyfert 1 galaxy IC 4329A, taken with XMM-Newton.Firstly we detect absorption due to cold gas in our own Galaxy and warmgas in the Galactic halo or the Local Group. This local warm gas is onlydetected through O VII absorption, from which we deduce a temperaturebetween 0.03 and 0.2 keV. In IC 4329A we detect absorption from the hostgalaxy as well as from a warm absorber, close to the nucleus, which has4 components. The absorption from the host galaxy is well modeled byneutral material. The warm absorber detected in IC 4329A is photoionizedand has an ionization range between log ξ = -1.37 and log ξ = 2.7.A broad excess is measured at the O VIII Lyα and N VII Lyαemission lines, which can be modeled by either disklines or multipleGaussians. From the lightcurve we find that the source changedluminosity by about 20% over the 140 ks observation, while the spectralshape, i.e. the softness ratio did not vary. In the EPIC spectra anarrow Fe Kα and Fe XXVI Lyα emission line are detected. Thenarrowness of the Fe Kα line and the fact that there is noevidence for flux variability between different observations leads us toconclude that the Fe Kα line is formed at a large distance fromthe central black hole.
| Connecting the cosmic infrared background to the X-ray background
We estimate the contribution of active galactic nuclei (AGN) and oftheir host galaxies to the infrared background. We use the luminosityfunction and evolution of AGN recently determined by the hard X-raysurveys, and new spectral energy distributions connecting the X-ray andthe infrared emission, divided in intervals of absorption. These twoingredients allow us to determine the contribution of AGN to theinfrared background by using mostly observed quantities, with only minorassumptions. We find that AGN emission contributes little to theinfrared background (<5 per cent over most of the infrared bands),implying that the latter is dominated by star formation. However, AGNhost galaxies may contribute significantly to the infrared background,and more specifically 10-20 per cent in the 1-20 μm range and ~5 percent at λ < 60μm. We also give the contribution of AGN andof their host galaxies to the source number counts in various infraredbands, focusing on those which will be observed with Spitzer. We alsoreport a significant discrepancy between the expected contribution ofAGN hosts to the submillimetre background and bright submillimetrenumber counts with the observational constraints. We discuss the causesand implications of this discrepancy and the possible effects on theSpitzer far-infrared bands.
| An X-ray Baldwin effect for the narrow Fe Kα lines observed in active galactic nuclei
The majority of active galactic nuclei (AGN) observed by XMM-Newtonreveal narrow Fe Kα lines at ~6.4 keV, due to emission from cold(neutral) material. There is an X-ray Baldwin effect in type I AGN, inthat the equivalent width (EW) of the line decreases with increasingluminosity, with weighted linear regression givingEW~L-0.17+/-0.08 (Spearman Rank probability of >99.9 percent). With current instrumental capabilities it is not possible todetermine the precise origin for the narrow line, with both thebroad-line region and putative molecular torus being possibilities. Apossible explanation for the X-ray Baldwin effect is a decrease in thecovering factor of the material forming the fluorescence line.
| FLASH redshift survey - I. Observations and catalogue
The FLAIR Shapley-Hydra (FLASH) redshift survey catalogue consists of4613 galaxies brighter than bJ= 16.7 (corrected for Galacticextinction) over a 700-deg2 region of sky in the generaldirection of the Local Group motion. The survey region is a70°× 10° strip spanning the sky from the ShapleySupercluster to the Hydra cluster, and contains 3141 galaxies withmeasured redshifts. Designed to explore the effect of the galaxyconcentrations in this direction (in particular the Supergalactic planeand the Shapley Supercluster) upon the Local Group motion, the 68 percent completeness allows us to sample the large-scale structure betterthan similar sparsely-sampled surveys. The survey region does notoverlap with the areas covered by ongoing wide-angle (Sloan or 2dF)complete redshift surveys. In this paper, the first in a series, wedescribe the observation and data reduction procedures, the analysis forthe redshift errors and survey completeness, and present the surveydata.
| Redshift-Distance Survey of Early-Type Galaxies: Spectroscopic Data
We present central velocity dispersions and Mg2 line indicesfor an all-sky sample of ~1178 elliptical and S0 galaxies, of which 984had no previous measures. This sample contains the largest set ofhomogeneous spectroscopic data for a uniform sample of ellipticalgalaxies in the nearby universe. These galaxies were observed as part ofthe ENEAR project, designed to study the peculiar motions and internalproperties of the local early-type galaxies. Using 523 repeatedobservations of 317 galaxies obtained during different runs, the dataare brought to a common zero point. These multiple observations, takenduring the many runs and different instrumental setups employed for thisproject, are used to derive statistical corrections to the data and arefound to be relatively small, typically <~5% of the velocitydispersion and 0.01 mag in the Mg2 line strength. Typicalerrors are about 8% in velocity dispersion and 0.01 mag inMg2, in good agreement with values published elsewhere.
| Redshift-Distance Survey of Early-Type Galaxies: Circular-Aperture Photometry
We present R-band CCD photometry for 1332 early-type galaxies, observedas part of the ENEAR survey of peculiar motions using early-typegalaxies in the nearby universe. Circular apertures are used to tracethe surface brightness profiles, which are then fitted by atwo-component bulge-disk model. From the fits, we obtain the structuralparameters required to estimate galaxy distances using theDn-σ and fundamental plane relations. We find thatabout 12% of the galaxies are well represented by a pure r1/4law, while 87% are best fitted by a two-component model. There are 356repeated observations of 257 galaxies obtained during different runsthat are used to derive statistical corrections and bring the data to acommon system. We also use these repeated observations to estimate ourinternal errors. The accuracy of our measurements are tested by thecomparison of 354 galaxies in common with other authors. Typical errorsin our measurements are 0.011 dex for logDn, 0.064 dex forlogre, 0.086 mag arcsec-2 for<μe>, and 0.09 for mRC,comparable to those estimated by other authors. The photometric datareported here represent one of the largest high-quality and uniformall-sky samples currently available for early-type galaxies in thenearby universe, especially suitable for peculiar motion studies.Based on observations at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO),National Optical Astronomy Observatory, which is operated by theAssociation of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., undercooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation (NSF);European Southern Observatory (ESO); Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory(FLWO); and the MDM Observatory on Kitt Peak.
| Hubble Space Telescope Imaging of Brightest Cluster Galaxies
We used the Hubble Space Telescope Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 toobtain I-band images of the centers of 81 brightest cluster galaxies(BCGs), drawn from a volume-limited sample of nearby BCGs. The imagesshow a rich variety of morphological features, including multiple ordouble nuclei, dust, stellar disks, point-source nuclei, and centralsurface brightness depressions. High-resolution surface brightnessprofiles could be inferred for 60 galaxies. Of those, 88% havewell-resolved cores. The relationship between core size and galaxyluminosity for BCGs is indistinguishable from that of Faber et al.(published in 1997, hereafter F97) for galaxies within the sameluminosity range. However, the core sizes of the most luminous BCGs fallbelow the extrapolation of the F97 relationshiprb~L1.15V. A shallower relationship,rb~L0.72V, fits both the BCGs and thecore galaxies presented in F97. Twelve percent of the BCG sample lacks awell-resolved core; all but one of these BCGs have ``power law''profiles. Some of these galaxies have higher luminosities than anypower-law galaxy identified by F97 and have physical upper limits onrb well below the values observed for core galaxies of thesame luminosity. These results support the idea that the centralstructure of early-type galaxies is bimodal in its physical propertiesbut also suggest that there exist high-luminosity galaxies withpower-law profiles (or unusually small cores). The BCGs in the lattercategory tend to fall at the low end of the BCG luminosity function andtend to have low values of the quantity α (the logarithmic slopeof the metric luminosity as a function of radius, at 10 kpc). Sincetheoretical calculations have shown that the luminosities andα-values of BCGs grow with time as a result of accretion, thissuggests a scenario in which elliptical galaxies evolve from power-lawprofiles to core profiles through accretion and merging. This isconsistent with theoretical scenarios that invoke the formation ofmassive black hole binaries during merger events. More generally, theprevalence of large cores in the great majority of BCGs, which arelikely to have experienced several generations of galaxy merging,underscores the role of a mechanism that creates and preserves cores insuch merging events.Based on observations made with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope,obtained at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated bythe Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., underNASA contract NAS 5-26555. These observations are associated withproposal 8683.
| A new catalogue of ISM content of normal galaxies
We have compiled a catalogue of the gas content for a sample of 1916galaxies, considered to be a fair representation of ``normality''. Thedefinition of a ``normal'' galaxy adopted in this work implies that wehave purposely excluded from the catalogue galaxies having distortedmorphology (such as interaction bridges, tails or lopsidedness) and/orany signature of peculiar kinematics (such as polar rings,counterrotating disks or other decoupled components). In contrast, wehave included systems hosting active galactic nuclei (AGN) in thecatalogue. This catalogue revises previous compendia on the ISM contentof galaxies published by \citet{bregman} and \citet{casoli}, andcompiles data available in the literature from several small samples ofgalaxies. Masses for warm dust, atomic and molecular gas, as well asX-ray luminosities have been converted to a uniform distance scale takenfrom the Catalogue of Principal Galaxies (PGC). We have used twodifferent normalization factors to explore the variation of the gascontent along the Hubble sequence: the blue luminosity (LB)and the square of linear diameter (D225). Ourcatalogue significantly improves the statistics of previous referencecatalogues and can be used in future studies to define a template ISMcontent for ``normal'' galaxies along the Hubble sequence. The cataloguecan be accessed on-line and is also available at the Centre desDonnées Stellaires (CDS).The catalogue is available in electronic form athttp://dipastro.pd.astro.it/galletta/ismcat and at the CDS via anonymousftp to\ cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or via\http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/405/5
| Redshift-Distance Survey of Early-Type Galaxies. I. The ENEARc Cluster Sample
This paper presents data on the ENEARc subsample of the larger ENEARsurvey of nearby early-type galaxies. The ENEARc galaxies belong toclusters and were specifically chosen to be used for the construction ofa Dn-σ template. The ENEARc sample includes newmeasurements of spectroscopic and photometric parameters (redshift,velocity dispersion, line index Mg2, and the angular diameterdn), as well as data from the literature. New spectroscopicdata are given for 229 cluster early-type galaxies, and new photometryis presented for 348 objects. Repeat and overlap observations withexternal data sets are used to construct a final merged catalogconsisting of 640 early-type galaxies in 28 clusters. Objectivecriteria, based on catalogs of groups of galaxies derived from completeredshift surveys of the nearby universe, are used to assign galaxies toclusters. In a companion paper, these data are used to construct thetemplate Dn-σ distance relation for early-typegalaxies, which has been used to estimate galaxy distances and derivepeculiar velocities for the ENEAR all-sky sample. Based on observationsat Complejo Astronomico El Leoncito, operated under agreement betweenthe Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas de laRepública Argentina and the National Universities of La Plata,Córdoba, and San Juan; Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory,National Optical Astronomical Observatory, which is operated by theAssociation of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., undercooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation; the EuropeanSouthern Observatory (ESO), partially under the ESO-ON agreement; theFred Lawrence Whipple Observatory; the Observatório do Pico dosDias, operated by the Laboratório Nacional de Astrofísicaand the MDM Observatory at Kitt Peak.
| A catalogue and analysis of X-ray luminosities of early-type galaxies
We present a catalogue of X-ray luminosities for 401 early-typegalaxies, of which 136 are based on newly analysed ROSAT PSPC pointedobservations. The remaining luminosities are taken from the literatureand converted to a common energy band, spectral model and distancescale. Using this sample we fit the LX:LB relationfor early-type galaxies and find a best-fit slope for the catalogue of~2.2. We demonstrate the influence of group-dominant galaxies on the fitand present evidence that the relation is not well modelled by a singlepower-law fit. We also derive estimates of the contribution to galaxyX-ray luminosities from discrete-sources and conclude that they provideLdscr/LB~=29.5ergs-1LBsolar-1. Wecompare this result with luminosities from our catalogue. Lastly, weexamine the influence of environment on galaxy X-ray luminosity and onthe form of the LX:LB relation. We conclude thatalthough environment undoubtedly affects the X-ray properties ofindividual galaxies, particularly those in the centres of groups andclusters, it does not change the nature of whole populations.
| High-resolution radio observations of Seyfert galaxies in the extended 12-μm sample - I. The observations
We present 8.4-GHz VLA A-configuration observations of 87 sources fromthe mid-infrared-selected AGN sample of Rush et al. These0.25-arcsec-resolution observations allow elongated radio structurestens of pc in size to be resolved, and enable radio components smallerthan 3.5arcsec to be isolated from diffuse galactic disc emission. Whencombined with previous data, matched radio observations covering 90percent of the sample have been collected, and these represent the largestsubarcsecond-resolution radio imaging survey of a homogeneously selectedsample of Seyfert galaxies to date. We use our observations to identifyfive radio-loud AGN in the sample. The nature of the radio emission fromSeyfert nuclei will be discussed in subsequent papers.
| Nearby Optical Galaxies: Selection of the Sample and Identification of Groups
In this paper we describe the Nearby Optical Galaxy (NOG) sample, whichis a complete, distance-limited (cz<=6000 km s-1) andmagnitude-limited (B<=14) sample of ~7000 optical galaxies. Thesample covers 2/3 (8.27 sr) of the sky (|b|>20deg) andappears to have a good completeness in redshift (97%). We select thesample on the basis of homogenized corrected total blue magnitudes inorder to minimize systematic effects in galaxy sampling. We identify thegroups in this sample by means of both the hierarchical and thepercolation ``friends-of-friends'' methods. The resulting catalogs ofloose groups appear to be similar and are among the largest catalogs ofgroups currently available. Most of the NOG galaxies (~60%) are found tobe members of galaxy pairs (~580 pairs for a total of ~15% of objects)or groups with at least three members (~500 groups for a total of ~45%of objects). About 40% of galaxies are left ungrouped (field galaxies).We illustrate the main features of the NOG galaxy distribution. Comparedto previous optical and IRAS galaxy samples, the NOG provides a densersampling of the galaxy distribution in the nearby universe. Given itslarge sky coverage, the identification of groups, and its high-densitysampling, the NOG is suited to the analysis of the galaxy density fieldof the nearby universe, especially on small scales.
| Galaxy coordinates. II. Accurate equatorial coordinates for 17298 galaxies
Using images of the Digitized Sky Survey we measured coodinates for17298 galaxies having poorly defined coordinates. As a control, wemeasured with the same method 1522 galaxies having accurate coordinates.The comparison with our own measurements shows that the accuracy of themethod is about 6 arcsec on each axis (RA and DEC).
| Thermalization by synchrotron absorption in compact sources: electron and photon distributions
The high-energy continuum in Seyfert galaxies and galactic black holecandidates is likely to be produced by a thermal plasma. There aredifficulties in understanding what can keep the plasma thermal,especially during fast variations of the emitted flux. Particle-particlecollisions are too inefficient in hot and rarefied plasmas, and a fasterprocess is called for. We show that cyclo-synchrotron absorption can besuch a process: mildly relativistic electrons thermalize in a fewsynchrotron cooling times by emitting and absorbing cyclo-synchrotronphotons. The resulting equilibrium function is Maxwellian at lowenergies, with a high-energy tail when Compton cooling is important.Assuming that electrons emit completely self-absorbed synchrotronradiation and at the same time Compton scatter their owncyclo-synchrotron radiation and ambient UV photons, we calculate thetime-dependent behaviour of the electron distribution function, and thefinal radiation spectra. In some cases, the 2-10 keV spectra are foundto be dominated by the thermal synchrotron self-Compton process ratherthan by thermal Comptonization of UV disc radiation.
| ROSAT X-Ray Colors and Emission Mechanisms in Early-Type Galaxies
The X-ray colors and X-ray-to-optical luminosity ratios (LX/LB) of 61early-type galaxies observed with the ROSAT PSPC are determined. Thecolors indicate that the X-ray spectral properties of galaxies vary as afunction of LX/LB. The brightest X-ray galaxies have colors that areconsistent with thermal emission from hot gas with roughly the samemetallicity of 50% solar. The spatial variation of the colors indicatesthat the gas temperature in these galaxies increases radially. Galaxieswith medium LX/LB also have spectral properties consistent with emissionfrom hot gas. If a simple one-component thermal model is assumed todescribe the 0.1-2.0 keV X-ray emission in these galaxies, then onepossible explanation for the progressive decrease in LX/LB amonggalaxies of this class could be the progressive decrease in metalabundance of the X-ray-emitting gas contained by the galaxies. However,stellar X-ray emission may become a complicating factor for the faintergalaxies in this medium-LX/LB class. Galaxies with the lowest LX/LBvalues appear to be lacking a hot interstellar component. Their X-raycolors are consistent with those derived from the bulges of the spiralgalaxies M31 and NGC 1291. In M31, the X-ray emission is resolved intodiscrete sources and is apparently due primarily to low-mass X-raybinaries (LMXBs). We therefore suggest that the bulk of the X-rayemission in the faintest elliptical galaxies is also due to LMXBs.Previously, the X-ray spectra of X-ray-faint galaxies had been found tobe described by a hard component, which was attributed to LMXB emission,and a very soft component of unknown origin. We show that the very softcomponent also likely results from LMXBs, as a very soft component isseen in the X-ray spectra of the nearby LMXB Her X-1 and LMXBs in thebulge of M31. If the X-ray emission in X-ray-faint galaxies is primarilyfrom stellar sources, then a range in LX/LB among these galaxiessuggests that the stellar X-ray luminosity does not scale with opticalluminosity, at least for galaxies of low optical luminosities. Thiscould be the result of a decrease in the proportion of LMXBs withdecreasing optical luminosity and/or the effects of fluctuations in thesmall number of LMXBs expected.
| A catalogue of Mg_2 indices of galaxies and globular clusters
We present a catalogue of published absorption-line Mg_2 indices ofgalaxies and globular clusters. The catalogue is maintained up-to-datein the HYPERCAT database. The measurements are listed together with thereferences to the articles where the data were published. A codeddescription of the observations is provided. The catalogue gathers 3541measurements for 1491 objects (galaxies or globular clusters) from 55datasets. Compiled raw data for 1060 galaxies are zero-point correctedand transformed to a homogeneous system. Tables 1, 3, and 4 areavailable in electronic form only at the CDS, Strasbourg, via anonymousftp 130.79.128.5. Table 2 is available both in text and electronic form.
| Stellar disks and embedded bars in early-type galaxies. I. 2-D photometric decomposition of 28 southern early-type galaxies
We present photometric disk-bulge decompositions of 28 southernearly-type galaxies with types T<-3 in either the RC3 or ESO-Lauberts& Valentijn catalogues. The decomposition method applied here isbased on that developed by \cite[Scorza & Bender (1995)]{scor95} butthe improved version allows for arbitrary surface brightness profiles ofthe disk models. We find three types of objects in this sample:bulge-dominated systems, with fully embedded close to edge-on disks;disk-dominated close to edge-on objects and objects with barred disksbeing modestly inclined down to face-on. Like in \cite[Scorza &Bender (1995)]{scor95}, the analysis made here indicates that thesuperposition of a thin disk and an elliptical bulge can give goodaccount for the morphology of most of the galaxies. We find the disks tohave a diversity of surface brightness profiles, the most frequent casebeing that of a disk with an exponential profile, which becomes steeperat small radii. After disk subtraction, the bulges follow more closelythe r(1/4) law. Five of the galaxies show signatures of embedded barcomponents. These have flat surface brightness profiles at small radiiand rectangular shape, which are typical features of barred early-typegalaxies. We find that the properties of the galaxies, most notably thedisk-to-total ratio, correlates only modestly with the originalclassification of the galaxies.
| Total magnitude, radius, colour indices, colour gradients and photometric type of galaxies
We present a catalogue of aperture photometry of galaxies, in UBVRI,assembled from three different origins: (i) an update of the catalogueof Buta et al. (1995) (ii) published photometric profiles and (iii)aperture photometry performed on CCD images. We explored different setsof growth curves to fit these data: (i) The Sersic law, (ii) The net ofgrowth curves used for the preparation of the RC3 and (iii) A linearinterpolation between the de Vaucouleurs (r(1/4) ) and exponential laws.Finally we adopted the latter solution. Fitting these growth curves, wederive (1) the total magnitude, (2) the effective radius, (3) the colourindices and (4) gradients and (5) the photometric type of 5169 galaxies.The photometric type is defined to statistically match the revisedmorphologic type and parametrizes the shape of the growth curve. It iscoded from -9, for very concentrated galaxies, to +10, for diffusegalaxies. Based in part on observations collected at the Haute-ProvenceObservatory.
| A catalogue of spatially resolved kinematics of galaxies: Bibliography
We present a catalogue of galaxies for which spatially resolved data ontheir internal kinematics have been published; there is no a priorirestriction regarding their morphological type. The catalogue lists thereferences to the articles where the data are published, as well as acoded description of these data: observed emission or absorption lines,velocity or velocity dispersion, radial profile or 2D field, positionangle. Tables 1, 2, and 3 are proposed in electronic form only, and areavailable from the CDS, via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (to130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/Abstract.html
| ROSAT observations of the IC 4329A galaxy group
We report here the results of high-resolution and spectral imaging X-rayobservations, with both the ROSAT HRI and PSPC, of the field surroundingthe nearby (D=64 Mpc) type 1 Seyfert galaxy IC 4329A and its giantlenticular companion IC 4329. Many point sources are detected, thebrightest being associated with IC 4329A itself, having an extremelybright X-ray luminosity of 6x 10(43) erg s(-1) , and spectral propertiescompatible with a single power-law model (Gamma =1.73), with a spectralbreak at 0.7 keV. Two other bright sources are detected associated withthe companion galaxy IC 4329, and a likely quasar 14(') to thesouth-west. We have also established, through optical observations takenat the European Southern Observatory, that three further X-ray pointsources, intriguingly positioned with respect to IC 4329A, are in factnothing to do with the system, and are merely foreground and backgroundobjects. In addition to point source emission, residual, unresolvedemission is detected surrounding the IC 4329A/ IC 4329 pair, extendingfor some 200 kpc. This emission appears markedly two-component,comprising of a spectrally hard and smooth component,circularly-distributed about the central galaxy pair, and a spectrallysoft, more clumpy component, positioned almost entirely to thesouth-east of IC 4329A. The hard component of the residual emissionitself appears two-component, one component being due to the `wings' ofthe intensely bright IC 4329A source, the other, apparently due to hot (~ 1.5 keV) gas, likely associated with the galaxy group of which IC4329A and IC 4329 are members. The soft component of the residualemission may be a larger version of the superwinds seen around someultraluminous far-infrared galaxies, or may even represent a `strippedwake' of intragroup gas. Evidence for shocked gas due to the central IC4329A/ IC4329 interaction is also found between the two centralgalaxies. Based partially on observations collected at the EuropeanSouthern Observatory, La Silla, Chile
| Stellar populations of cluster E and S0 galaxies
Spectral line index data for a sample of 290 E and S0 galaxies are usedto investigate the stellar populations of these galaxies. 250 of thegalaxies are members of 11 nearby clusters (cz_CMB<11500 km s^-1). Westudy how the stellar populations of the galaxies are related to thevelocity dispersions, the masses of the galaxies, and the clusterenvironment. This is done by establishing relations between theseparameters and the line indices Mg_2, and Hβ_G. Thedifference between the slope of the Mg_2-sigma relation and the slope ofthe -sigma relation indicates that the abundance ratio [Mg/Fe]is 0.3-0.4 dex higher for galaxies with velocity dispersions of 250 kms^-1 compared to galaxies with velocity dispersions of 100 km s^-1. Thisis in agreement with previous estimates by Worthey et al. The index is more strongly correlated with the projected cluster surfacedensity, rho_cluster, than with the galactic mass or the velocitydispersion. Earlier we found that the residuals for the Mg_2-sigmarelation depend on the cluster environment. Here we determine how boththe Mg_2 index and the index depend on the velocitydispersion and rho_cluster. Alternative explanations that could create aspurious environment dependence are discussed. No obvious alternativesare found. The environment dependence of the Mg_2-sigma relation issupported by data from Faber et al. The dependence on the environmentimplies that [Mg/Fe] decreases with increasing density, rho_cluster. Thedecrease in [Mg/Fe] is 0.1 dex over 2.5 dex in rho_cluster. We have alsostudied the extent to which the mass-to-light (M/L) ratios of thegalaxies are determined by the stellar populations. The M/L ratios arestrongly correlated with the indices Mg_2 and Hβ_G, while the index is only weakly correlated with the M/L ratio. Based oncurrent stellar population models, we find that it is not yet possibleto derive unique physical parameters (mean age, mean abundances, meanIMF, and fraction of dark matter) from the observables (line indices,velocity dispersion, mass, M/L ratio).
| Thick Tori around Active Galactic Nuclei: The Case for Extended Tori and Consequences for Their X-Ray and Infrared Emission
Two families of models of dusty tori in active galactic nuclei (AGNs;moderately thick and extended versus very thick and compact) are testedagainst available observations. The confrontation suggests that theformer class better explains the infrared (IR) broadband spectra of bothbroad- and narrow-line AGNs, the anisotropy of the emission deduced bycomparing IR properties of Seyfert 1 and 2 nuclei, and the results of IRspectroscopy and those of high spatial resolution observations. Thereis, however, clear evidence for a broad distribution of optical depths.We also examine the relationship between IR and X-ray emission. The datasupport a view in which the matter responsible for the X-ray absorptionis mostly dust free, lying inside the dust sublimation radius. Theconsequences of these results for the hard X-ray background as well asIR counts and background are discussed.
| Molecular Gas, Morphology, and Seyfert Galaxy Activity
We probe the cause of the elevated star formation in host galaxies ofSeyfert 2 nuclei compared with Seyfert 1 hosts and with field galaxies.12CO (1--0) observations of a large sample of Seyfert galaxies indicateno significant difference in the total amount of molecular gas as afunction of the Seyfert nuclear type, nor are Seyfert galaxiessignificantly different in this regard from a sample of field galaxiesonce selection effects are accounted for. Therefore, the total amount ofmolecular gas is not responsible for the enhanced star-forming activityin Seyfert 2 hosts. To probe how this gas is being converted moreefficiently into stars in Seyfert 2 hosts than in the other galaxies, weinvestigate the occurrence of bars, interactions, and distortedmorphologies among Seyfert galaxies. We find a significantly higher rateof asymmetric morphologies for Seyfert 2 galaxies with respect toSeyfert 1 galaxies and field galaxies. Relative to field galaxies, theeffect is at a greater than 99.9% confidence level. The presence ofasymmetric morphologies in individual Seyfert galaxies is correlatedwith their tendency to exhibit enhanced star-forming activity. Theseresults suggest that asymmetric morphologies are an important cause forthe link between Seyfert type and star-forming activity: bars anddistortions in Seyfert 2 hosts are likely both to enhance star-formingactivity and to funnel gas into the nuclear region, thus obscuring andpossibly contributing to the feeding of the active nucleus.
| Gravitational Interactions in Poor Galaxy Groups.
We report the results of the spatial analysis of deep ROSAT HRIobservations, optical imaging and spectroscopy, and high-resolution VLAH I and continuum imaging of NGC 1961 and NGC 2276. These spirals wereselected as showing some previous evidence for interaction with asurrounding (hot) diffuse medium. Our results favor most aspects ofthese galaxies as being shaped by gravitational interactions withcompanions, rather than the asymmetric pressure from motion through anexternal medium. The old stars follow the asymmetric structures of youngstars and ionized gas, which suggests a tidal origin for the lopsidedappearance of these galaxies. In NGC 2276, the H I and star-formingregions are strongly concentrated along the western edge of the disk. Inthis case, the ROSAT HRI detects the brightest star-forming regions aswell as the diffuse disk emission, the most distant galaxy with such adetection. An asymmetric ionization gradient in the H II regionssuggests radial movement of gas, which might have occurred in eithertidal or wind scenarios. The X-ray emission from NGC 1961 is dominatedby a point source near the nucleus of the galaxy but extended emissionis seen out to a radius of ~ 0\farcm 8. Previous studies of theenrichment of the intragroup medium in the NGC 2300 group indicates thatstripping may be important in this system, but the density of the IGM ismuch too tenuous to effectively strip the gas from the galaxy. However,we propose that gravitational interactions in the group environment mayenhance stripping. During a gravitational encounter the disk of thespiral galaxy may be warped, making ram pressure stripping moreefficient than in a quiescent disk.
| Constraints on the 3-30MeV emission of Seyfert galaxies.
Seyfert galaxies have not been detected by COMPTEL on the Compton GammaRay Observatory (CGRO) in the energy range 0.75-3MeV, placing upperlimits on their emission which are more than an order of magnitude belowpreviously reported detections. Here, we extend our previous work to theenergy range 3-30MeV. Again, we find no evidence for emission from acumulative sample of X-ray bright Seyfert galaxies. We use the recentresults on the extragalactic background at MeV energies to constrain thepossible emission of these sources and their contribution to the cosmicextragalactic background (CXB). The lack of γ-rays from Seyfertgalaxies strongly argues against hadronic cascades as the underlyingradiation mechanism and, consequently, against recent claims thatSeyferts might produce a high-energy neutrino background with an energyflux similar to that of the CXB.
| Seyfert Galaxies With Companions: Orbital and Kinematic Clues to AGN Triggering
This paper presents imaging and optical spectroscopy of paired Seyfertgalaxies and their companions. The aim is to seek common properties ofSeyfert galaxies in interacting systems, which might provide evidence ofAGN triggering in a way independent of the usual two-sample statisticswhich have proven ambiguous on this issue. Three kinds of comparisonhave been made-the kinds of interactions involving Seyfert galaxies, therelative luminosities of the Seyferts and their companions, and thelevel of kinematic disturbance as measured from rotation curves. (1)Dynamics and tidal features have been used to determine (or at leastlimit) the sense of orbital motion (direct/retrograde/polar with respectto the Seyfert galaxy's disk) for many of these pairs. There is noobviously preferred kind of interaction-direct, polar, and retrogradeencounters are all well represented, despite the gross differences indynamical response of a disk to these various kinds of encounter. To theextent that triggering of Seyfert nuclei occurs due to tidal encounters,the existence of a perturbation seems more important than its exactduration or detailed effects on the disk. However, the ratio of mergingto paired Seyferts is higher than for disk galaxies in general,consistent with more effective triggering of AGN in this specific phase;the implied time scale for enhanced occurrence during mergers is thesame as the timescape for merger remnants to appear as such, a fewdisk-edge crossing times (typically several times 10^8^ yr). (2) Seyfertnuclei occur preferentially in the brighter members of galaxy pairs, bya median of 0.93 mag after making the maximal correction forcontaminating nonstellar light in the nuclei. Only about 1/3 of thiseffect can be accounted for by the known tendency of Seyfert nuclei tooccur in more luminous galaxies. Enhancement of AGN by interactions isevidently more effective for more luminous galaxies (though this willalso be the case if both star formation and AGN occurrence are enhancedin the same galaxies). (3) The rotation curves of the paired Seyfertsshow systematically small regions of rising or solid-body rotationcompared to the disk radius, as a group comparable to Sa but verydifferent from Sb or Sc galaxies (even for Seyfert galaxies with Hubbletype later than Sa). There is weak evidence that this difference is alsopresent with respect to more isolated Seyfert galaxies. Despite theobvious utility of a dynamically disturbed disk for transport of angularmomentum and "feeding the monster," Seyfert galaxies in pairs actuallyhave smaller kinematic disturbances (measured by the maximum departurefrom a symmetric rotation curve, normalized to the full rotationamplitude) than found in a complete sample of non-Seyfert spirals inpairs.
| The fundamental plane of early-type galaxies: stellar populations and mass-to-light ratio.
We analyse the residuals to the fundamental plane (FP) of ellipticalgalaxies as a function of stellar-population indicators; these are basedon the line-strength parameter Mg_2_ and on UBVRI broad-band colors, andare partly derived from new observations. The effect of the stellarpopulations accounts for approximately half the observed variation ofthe mass-to-light ratio responsible for the FP tilt. The residual tiltcan be explained by the contribution of two additional effects: thedependence of the rotational support, and possibly that of the spatialstructure, on the luminosity. We conclude to a constancy of thedynamical-to-stellar mass ratio. This probably extends to globularclusters as well, but the dominant factor would be here the luminositydependence of the structure rather than that of the stellar population.This result also implies a constancy of the fraction of dark matter overall the scalelength covered by stellar systems. Our compilation ofinternal stellar kinematics of galaxies is appended.
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