Sean M. Moran, Guinevere Kauffmann, Timothy M. Heckman, Javier Gracia-Carpio, Amelie Saintonge, Barbara Catinella, Jing Wang, Yan-Mei Chen, Linda Tacconi, David… 展开作者
Sean M. Moran, Guinevere Kauffmann, Timothy M. Heckman, Javier Gracia-Carpio, Amelie Saintonge, Barbara Catinella, Jing Wang, Yan-Mei Chen, Linda Tacconi, David Schiminovich, Pierre Cox, Riccardo Giovanelli, Martha Haynes, Carsten Kramer
备注：
12 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ, typo fixed
We report new observations of the galaxy UGC8802 obtained through GASS, the GALEX Arecibo SDSS Survey, which show this galaxy to be in a remarkable evolutionary state. UGC8802 (GASS35981) is a disk galaxy with stellar mass M*=2x10^10 Msolar which appears to contain an additional 2.1x10^10 Msolar of HI gas. New millimeter observations with the IRAM 30m telescope indicate a molecular gas mass only a tenth this large. Using deep long-slit spectroscopy, we examine the spatially resolved star formation rate and metallicity profiles of GASS35981 for clues to its history. We find that the star formation surface density in this galaxy is low (Sigma_SFR=0.003 Msolar/yr/kpc^2) and that the star formation is spread remarkably evenly across the galaxy. The low molecular gas masses measured in our three IRAM pointings are largely consistent with the total star formation measured within the same apertures. Our MMT long-slit spectrum reveals a sharp drop in metallicity in the outer disk of GASS35981. The ratio of current star formation rate to existing stellar mass surface density in the outer disk is extremely high, implying that all the stars must have formed within the past ~1Gyr. At current star formation rates, however, GASS35981 will not consume its HI reservoir for another 5-7 Gyr. Despite its exceptionally large gas fraction for a galaxy this massive, GASS35981 has a regular rotation curve and exhibits no sign of a recent interaction or merger. We speculate that GASS35981 may have acquired its gas directly from the inter-galactic medium, and that it and other similar galaxies identified in the GASS survey may provide rare local glimpses of gas accretion processes that were more common during the prime epoch of disk galaxy formation at z~1.
If thick disks are ubiquitous and a natural product of disk galaxy formation and/or evolution processes, all undisturbed galaxies which have evolved during a significant fraction of a Hubble time should have a thick disk. The late-type spiral galaxy NGC 4244 has been reported as the only nearby edge-on galaxy without a confirmed thick disk. Using data from the Spitzer Survey of Stellar Structure in Galaxies (S4G) we have identified signs of two disk components in this galaxy. The asymmetries between the light profiles on both sides of the mid-plane of NGC 4244 can be explained by a combination…
Some low surface brightness galaxies are known to have extremely thin stellar disks with the vertical to planar axes ratio 0.1 or less, often referred to as superthin disks. Although their existence is known for over three decades, the physical origin for the thin distribution is not understood. We model the stellar thickness for a two-component (gravitationally coupled stars and gas) disk embedded in a dark matter halo, for a superthin galaxy UGC 7321 which has a dense, compact halo, and compare with a typical dwarf galaxy HoII which has a non-compact halo. We show that while the presence of …
We have found an isolated polar disk galaxy in what appears to be a cosmological wall situated between two voids. This void galaxy is unique as its polar disk was discovered serendipitously in an HI survey of SDSS void galaxies, with no optical counterpart to the HI polar disk. Yet the HI mass in the disk is comparable to the stellar mass in the galaxy. This suggests slow accretion of the HI material at a relatively recent time. There is also a hint of a warp in the outer parts of the HI disk. The central, stellar disk appears relatively blue, with faint near UV emission, and is oriented (roug…
Counterrotating stars in disk galaxies are a puzzling dynamical feature whose origin has been ascribed to either satellite accretion events or to disk instabilities triggered by deviations from axisymmetry. We use a cosmological simulation of the formation of a disk galaxy to show that counterrotating stellar disk components may arise naturally in hierarchically-clustering scenarios even in the absence of merging. The simulated disk galaxy consists of two coplanar, overlapping stellar components with opposite spins: an inner counterrotating bar-like structure made up mostly of old stars surrou…
We present an adaptation of the standard scenario of disk-galaxy formation to the concordant LCDM cosmology aimed to derive analytical expressions for the scale length and rotation speed of present-day disks that form within four different, cosmologically motivated protogalactic dark matter halo-density profiles. We invoke a standard galaxy-formation model that includes virial equilibrium of spherical dark halos, specific angular momentum conservation during gas cooling, and adiabatic halo response to the gas inflow. The mean mass-fraction and mass-to-light ratio of the central stellar disk ar…
The role of dark matter halos in galaxy disk evolution is reviewed, in particular the stabilisation of disks through self-gravity reduction, or the bar development through angular momentum exchange. Triaxial dark halos tend to weaken bars. When the dark mass inside the bar region is negligible, the bar develops through angular momentum exchange between inner and outer disk, and between stars and gas. Self-regulating cycles on the bar strength may develop in the presence of external gas accretion. Dynamical friction on dark halos slows down bars, which puts constraints on the dark matter amount…
We investigate the stellar structure of massive, quiescent galaxies at z~2, based on Hubble Space Telescope/WFC3 imaging from the Early Release Science program. Our sample of 14 galaxies has stellar masses of M* > 10^{10.8} Msol and photometric redshifts of 1.5 < z < 2.5. In agreement with previous work, their half-light radii are <2 kpc, much smaller than equally massive galaxies in the present-day universe. A significant subset of the sample appears highly flattened in projection, which implies, considering viewing angle statistics, that a significant fraction of the galaxies in our sample h…
The oxygen abundance of the outer disk of the nearby S0 galaxy NGC 404, a prototypical early-type galaxy with extended star formation, has been derived from the analysis of HII region spectra. The high mean value found, 12+log(O/H)=8.6 \pm 0.1, equivalent to approximately 80% of the solar value, argues against both the previously proposed cold accretion and recent merger scenarios as viable mechanisms for the assembly of the star-forming gas. The combination of the present-day gas metallicity with the published star formation history of this galaxy favors a model in which the recent star formi…
We used deep long-slit spectra and integral-field spectral data to study the stars and ionized gas kinematics and stellar population properties in the lenticular barred galaxy NGC 7743. We have shown that ionized gas at the distances larger than 1.5 kpc from the nucleus settles in the disk which is significantly inclined to the stellar disk of the galaxy. Making different assumptions about the geometry of the disks and involving different sets of emission lines into the fitting, under the assumption of thin flat disk circular rotation, we obtain the full possible range of angle between the dis…
We have found that KK 246, the only confirmed galaxy located within the nearby Tully Void, is a dwarf galaxy with an extremely extended H I disk and signs of an H I cloud with anomalous velocity. It also exhibits clear misalignment between the kinematical major and minor axes, indicative of an oval distortion, and a general misalignment between the H I and optical major axes. We measure a H I mass of 1.05 +- 0.08 x 10^8 M_sun, and a H I extent 5 times that of the stellar disk, one of the most extended H I disks known. We estimate a dynamical mass of 4.1 x 10^9 M_sun, making this also one of th…
We present an analysis of bar length measurements of 3150 local galaxies in a volume limited sample of low redshift (z < 0.06) disk galaxies. Barred galaxies were initially selected from the Galaxy Zoo 2 project, and the lengths and widths of the bars were manually drawn by members of the Galaxy Zoo community using a Google Maps interface. Bars were measured independently by different observers, multiple times per galaxy (>=3), and we find that observers were able to reproduce their own bar lengths to 3% and each others' to better than 20%. We find a "color bimodality" in our disk galaxy popul…
The disk galaxy UGC8802 has high neutral gas content and a flat profile of star formation rate compared to other disk galaxies with similar stellar mass. It also shows a steep metallicity gradient. We construct a chemical evolution model to explore its growth history by assuming its disk grows gradually from continuous gas infall, which is shaped by a free parameter -- the infall-peak time. By adopting the recently observed molecular surface density related star formation law, we show that a late infall-peak time can naturally explain the observed high neutral gas content, while an inside-out …
We present a model of chemical and spectrophotometric evolution of disk galaxies based on a stochastic self-propagating star formation scenario. The model incorporates galaxy formation through the process of accretion, chemical and photometric evolution treatment, based on simple stellar populations (SSP), and parameterized gas dynamics inside the model. The model reproduces observational data of a late-type spiral galaxy M33 reasonably well. Promising test results prove the applicability of the model and the adequate accuracy for the interpretation of disk galaxy properties.
In this review I demonstrate that a realistic model for the formation of galaxy disks depends on a proper treatment of the gas in galaxies. Historically, cosmological simulations of disk galaxy formation have suffered from a lack of resolution and a physically motivated feedback prescription. Recent computational progress has allowed for unprecedented resolution, which in turn allows for a more realistic treatment of feedback. These advances have led to a new examination of gas accretion, evolution, and loss in the formation of galaxy disks. Here I highlight the role that gas inflows, the regu…
Recent studies of outer spiral disks have given rise to an abundance of new results. We discuss the observational and theoretical advances that have spurred the interest in disk outskirts, as well as where we currently stand in terms of our understanding of outer disk structure, ages and metallicities.
We have obtained and analyzed long-slit spectral data for the lenticular galaxy IC 719. In this gas-rich S0 galaxy, its large-scale gaseous disk counterrotates the global stellar disk. Moreover in the IC 719 disk we have detected a secondary stellar component corotating the ionized gas. By using emission-line intensity ratios, we have proved the gas excitation by young stars and so are claiming current star formation, most intense in a ring-like zone at the radius of 10" (1.4 kpc). The oxygen abundance of the gas in the starforming ring is about half of the solar abundance. Since the stellar d…
We investigate the formation history of massive disk galaxies in hydro-dynamical simulation--the IllustrisTNG, to study why massive disk galaxies survive through cosmic time. 83 galaxies in the simulation are selected with M$_{*,z=0}$ $>8\times10^{10}$ M$_\odot$ and kinematic bulge-to-total ratio less than $0.3$. We find that 8.4 percent of these massive disk galaxies have quiet merger histories and preserve disk morphology since formed. 54.2 percent have a significant increase in bulge components in history, then become disks again till present time. The rest 37.3 percent experience prominent…
NGC4650A is a polar disk galaxy: this is a peculiar object composed by a central spheroidal component, the host galaxy (HG), and an extended disk made up by gas, stars and dust, which orbits nearly perpendicular to the plane of the central galaxy. The existence of two decoupled components of the angular momentum let this object the ideal laboratory i) to study gravitational interactions and merging and ii) to constrain the 3D shape of its dark matter halo. In view of these applications, I will present two ongoing projects which aim to constrain i) the formation scenario for polar disks and ii)…
We present a theoretical model for the evolution of mass, angular momentum and size of galaxy disks and bulges, and we implement it into the semi-analytic galaxy formation code SAGE. The model follows both secular and violent evolutionary channels, including smooth accretion, disk instabilities, minor and major mergers. We find that the combination of our recipe with hierarchical clustering produces two distinct populations of bulges: merger-driven bulges, akin to classical bulges and ellipticals, and instability-driven bulges, akin to secular (or pseudo-)bulges. The model mostly reproduces th…
We measure the contribution of galaxy disks to the overall gravitational potential of 30 nearly face-on intermediate-to-late-type spirals from the DiskMass Survey. The central vertical velocity dispersion of the disk stars, sigma(z,R=0), is related to the maximum rotation speed (Vmax) as sigma(z,R=0) ~ 0.26 Vmax, consistent with previous measurements for edge-on disk galaxies and a mean stellar velocity ellipsoid axial ratio sigma(z) / sigma(R) = 0.6. For reasonable values of disk oblateness, this relation implies these galaxy disks are submaximal. We find disks in our sample contribute only 1…
Near-infrared images obtained with the CFHT WIRCam are used to investigate the recent history of the nearby Sculptor Group spiral NGC 253. The distribution of stars in the disk is lop-sided, in the sense that the projected density of AGB stars in the north east portion of the disk between 10 and 20 kpc from the galaxy center is ~ 0.5 dex higher than on the opposite side of the galaxy. With the exception of the central 2 kpc, the north east portion of the disk appears to have been the site of the highest levels of star-forming activity in the galaxy during the past ~ 0.1 Gyr. Diffuse stellar st…
We present a simple theoretical framework for massive galaxies at high redshift, where the main assembly and star formation occurred, and report on the first cosmological simulations that reveal clumpy disks consistent with our analysis. The evolution is governed by the interplay between smooth and clumpy cold streams, disk instability, and bulge formation. Intense, relatively smooth streams maintain an unstable dense gas-rich disk. Instability with high turbulence and giant clumps, each a few percent of the disk mass, is self-regulated by gravitational interactions within the disk. The clumps…
Bulges are commonly believed to form in the dynamical violence of galaxy collisions and mergers. Here we model the stellar kinematics of the Bulge Radial Velocity Assay (BRAVA), and find no sign that the Milky Way contains a classical bulge formed by scrambling pre-existing disks of stars in major mergers. Rather, the bulge appears to be a bar, seen somewhat end-on, as hinted from its asymmetric boxy shape. We construct a simple but realistic N-body model of the Galaxy that self-consistently develops a bar. The bar immediately buckles and thickens in the vertical direction. As seen from the Su…
In this paper, we measure the optical-to-virial velocity ratios Vopt/V200c of disk galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) at a mean redshift of <z> = 0.07 and with stellar masses 10^9 M_sun < M_* < 10^11 M_sun. Vopt/V200c, the ratio of the circular velocity measured at the virial radius of the dark matter halo (\sim150 kpc) to that at the optical radius of the disk (\sim10 kpc), is a powerful observational constraint on disk galaxy formation. It links galaxies to their dark matter haloes dynamically and constrains the total mass profile of disk galaxies over an order of magnitude in l…
We study the dynamics of massive black hole pairs in clumpy gaseous circumnuclear disks. We track the orbital decay of the light, secondary black hole $M_{\bullet2}$ orbiting around the more massive primary at the center of the disk, using $N$-body/smoothed particle hydrodynamic simulations. We find that the gravitational interaction of $M_{\bullet2}$ with massive clumps $M_{\rm cl}$ erratically perturbs the otherwise smooth orbital decay. In close encounters with massive clumps, gravitational slingshots can kick the secondary black hole out of the disk plane. The black hole moving on an incli…
The central cD galaxy of the Hydra A cluster has one of the most powerful active galactic nuclei (AGNs) in the nearby Universe (z <0.2). We report on the discovery of a dust lane in the cD galaxy using Subaru telescope. The i'-band image shows the existence of a dark band of the size of 3.6"x 0.7" (4 kpc x 0.8 kpc), which appears to be quite similar to the dust lane observed in Centaurus A. The morphology indicates that the cold disk that seen as the dust lane is almost edge-on and rotates around the AGN. Since the minor axis of the dust lane is nearly parallel to the radio jets emerging from …
This review focuses on flat and superthin galaxies. These are edge-on bulgeless galaxies, which are composed of a simple, stellar disk. The properties of these simple disks are at the end of a continuum that extends smoothly from bulge-dominated disk galaxies to the pure disks. On average, simple disks are low-mass galaxies with low surface brightnesses, blue colors, and slow rotational velocities. Widely-accepted cosmological models of galaxy formation and evolution were challenged by a relatively large observed fraction of pure disk galaxies, and only very recent models can explain the exist…
