The integrated 21 cm H I emission profile of a galaxy encodes valuable information on the kinematics, spatial distribution, and dynamical state of its cold interstellar medium. The line width, in particular, reflects the rotation velocity of the galaxy, which, in combination with a size scale, can be used to constrain the dynamical mass of the system. We introduce a new method based on the concept of the curve of growth to derive a set of robust parameters to characterize the line width, asymmetry, and concentration of the integrated H I spectra. We use mock spectra to evaluate the performance of our method, to estimate realistic systematic uncertainties for the proposed parameters, and to correct the line widths for the effects of instrumental resolution and turbulence broadening. Using a large sample of nearby galaxies with available spatially resolved kinematics, we demonstrate that the newly defined line widths can predict the rotational velocities of galaxies to within an accuracy of $\lesssim 30$ km s$^{-1}$. We use the calibrated line widths, in conjunction with the empirical relation between the size and mass of H I disks, to formulate a prescription for estimating the dynamical mass within the H I-emitting region of gas-rich galaxies. Our formalism yields dynamical masses accurate to $\sim 0.3$ dex based solely on quantities that can be derived efficiently and robustly from current and future extragalactic H I surveys. We further extend the dynamical mass calibration to the scale of the dark matter halo.
The fundamental 28SiH+ ion has been characterized in a collaborative work, utilizing a hollow-cathode-discharge laser-spectrometer and a cryogenic ion trap spectrometer. Twenty-three vibration-rotation transitions around 4.75 um have been detected with high accuracy. This has facilitated the first direct measurement of the pure rotational transition J=1<-0 at 453056.3632(4) MHz in the trap spectrometer. The measured and accurately predicted transitions enable the search for this ion in space with IR and sub-mm telescopes.
We have determined the Galactic rotation parameters and the solar Galactocentric distance R_0 by simultaneously solving Bottlinger's kinematic equations using data on masers with known line-of-sight velocities and highly accurate trigonometric parallaxes and proper motions measured by VLBI. Our sample includes 73 masers spanning the range of Galactocentric distances from 3 to 14 kpc. The solutions found are Omega_0 = 28.86 +/- 0.45 km/s/kpc, Omega'_0 = -3.96 +/- 0.09 km/s/kpc^2, Omega"_0 =0.790 +/- 0.027 km/s/kpc^3, and R_0=8.3 +/- 0.2 kpc.In this case, the linear rotation velocity at the sola…
Stellar clusters are regularly used to study the evolution of their host galaxy. Except for a few nearby galaxies, these studies rely on the interpretation of integrated cluster properties, especially integrated photometry observed using multiple filters (i.e. the Spectral Energy Distribution SED). To allow interpretation of such observations, we present a large set of GALEV cluster models using the realistic approach of adopting stochastically-sampled stellar IMFs. We provide models for a wide range of cluster masses (10^3 - 2 * 10^5$ Msun), metallicities (-2.3 <= [Fe/H] <= +0.18 dex), foregr…
We present a new algorithm called 'Fast Integrated Spectra Analyzer" (FISA) that permits fast and reasonably accurate age and reddening determinations for small angular diameter open clusters by using their integrated spectra in the (3600-7400) Å\ range and currently available template spectrum libraries. This algorithm and its implementation help to achieve astrophysical results in shorter times than from other methods. A brief review is given of the integrated spectroscopic technique applied to the study of open clusters as well as the basic assumptions that justify its use. We describe the …
In this paper we derive a novel circular velocity relation for a test particle in a 3D gravitational potential applicable to every system of curvilinear coordinates, suitable to be reduced to orthogonal form. As an illustration of the potentiality of the determined circular velocity expression we perform the rotation curves analysis of UGC 8490 and UGC 9753 and we estimate the total and dark matter mass of these two galaxies under the assumption that their respective dark matter halos have spherical, prolate and oblate spheroidal mass distributions. We employ stellar population synthesis model…
We consider three samples of O- and B-type stars from the solar neighborhood 0.6--4 kpc for which we have taken the distances, line-of-sight velocities, and proper motions from published sources. The first sample contains 120 massive spectroscopic binaries. O stars with spectroscopic distances from Patriarchi et al. constitute the second sample. The third sample consists of 168 OB3 stars whose distances have been determined from interstellar calcium lines. The angular velocity of Galactic rotation at the solar distance $Ω_0,$ its two derivatives $Ω'_0$ and $Ω"_0,$ and the peculiar velocity com…
The SPARC sample consists of 175 nearby galaxies with modern surface photometry at $3.6\,μm$ and high quality rotation curves. The sample has been constructed to span very wide ranges in surface brightness, luminosity, rotation velocity and Hubble type, thereby forming a representative sample on galaxies in the nearby Universe. To date, the SPARC sample is the largest collection of galaxies with both high-quality rotation curves and NIR surface photometry. The neo-MOND model used here to analyse the SPARC sample recognizably conforms to the general pattern of the classical MOND algorithm, with…
We present flux-calibrated integrated spectra in the optical range (3700-6800 Å) obtained at Complejo Astronómico El Leoncito (CASLEO, Argentina) for a sample of 10 concentrated star clusters belonging to the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). No previous data exist for two of these objects (SL 142 and SL 624), while most of the remaining clusters have been only poorly studied. We derive simultaneously foreground $E(B-V)$ reddening values and ages for the cluster sample by comparing their integrated spectra with template LMC cluster spectra and with two different sets of simple stellar population m…
There are two observations of galaxies that can offer some insight into the nature of the dark matter (DM), namely the rotation curves and the gravitational lensing. While the first one can be studied using the Newtonian limit, the second one is completely relativistic. Each one separately can not determine the nature of DM, but both together give us key information about this open problem. In this work we use a static and spherically symmetric metric to model the DM halo in a galaxy or in a galaxy cluster. The metric contains two free functions, one associated with the distribution of mass an…
We have determined the Galactic rotation parameters and the solar Galactocentric distance $R_0$ by simultaneously solving Bottlinger's kinematic equations using data on masers with known line-of-sight velocities and highly accurate trigonometric parallaxes and proper motions measured by VLBI. Our sample includes 93 masers spanning the range of Galactocentric distances R from 3 to 15 kpc. The solutions found are Ω_0 = 29.7+/-0.5 km s^{-1} kpc^{-1}, Ω'_0 = -4.20+/-0.11 km s^{-1} kpc^{-2}, Ω"_0 =0.730+/-0.029 km s^{-1} kpc^{-3}, and R_0=8.03+/-0.12 kpc. In this case, the linear rotation velocity …
The study of the evolution of star-forming galaxies requires the determination of accurate kinematics and scaling relations out to high redshift. In this paper we select a sample of 18 galaxies at z~1, observed in the H-alpha emission-line with KMOS, to derive accurate kinematics using a novel 3D analysis technique. We use the new code 3D-Barolo, that models the galaxy emission directly in the 3D observational space, without the need to extract kinematic maps. This technique's major advantage is that it is not affected by beam smearing and thus it enables the determination of rotation velocity…
Context: While CDM models and MOND give explanations for flat rotation curves of other galaxies, both present observational problems and the local gradient of the Milky Way's rotation curve is not flat. Aims: We consider whether flat rotation curves could be an artifact of an unmodelled component in spectral shift. Methods: In the absence of astrometric determinations of radial velocity, we apply a statistical test on a population of 20 440 Hipparcos stars inside 300 pc with known radial velocities and with accurate parallaxes in the New Hipparcos Reduction. Results: The test rejects the null …
We summarize our studies on the determination of the mass of the dark matter halo, based on observations of rotation curves of test particles or of the gravitational lensing. As we show, it is not uncommon that some studies on the nature of dark matter include extra assumptions, some even on the very nature of the dark matter, what we want to determine!, and that bias the studies and the results obtained from the observation and, in some cases, imply an inconsistent system altogether.
The dynamical mass (M_dyn) is a key property of any galaxy, yet a determination of M_dyn is not straight-forward if spatially resolved measurements are not available. This situation occurs in single-dish HI observations of the local universe, but also frequently in high-redshift observations. M_dyn-measurements in high-redshift galaxies are commonly obtained through observations of the CO line, the most abundant tracer of the molecular medium. Even though the CO linewidth can in most cases be determined with reasonable accuracy, a measurement of the size of the emitting region is typically cha…
The phenomenology of modified Newtonian dynamics (MOND) on galaxy scales may point to more fundamental theories of either modified gravity (MG) or modified inertia (MI). In this paper, we test the applicability of the global deep-MOND parameter $Q$ which is predicted to vary at the $10\%$ level between MG and MI theories. Using mock-observed analytical models of disk galaxies, we investigate several observational uncertainties, establish a set of quality requirements for actual galaxies, and derive systematic corrections in the determination of $Q$. Implementing our quality requirements to the…
Analyzer of Spectra for Age Determination (ASAD) is a new package that can easily predict the age and reddening of stellar clusters from their observed optical integrated spectra by comparing them to synthesis model spectra. The ages obtained with ASAD are consistent with ages obtained from previous cluster age methods requiring a more rigorous and time-consuming analysis. This package not only provides fast results, but also allows the user to comprehend the accuracy of these results by providing surface plots and spectral plots for all combinations of observations and models. ASAD is availab…
I briefly review what has been recently learned from determinations of mean stellar ages and abundances from integrated light studies of early-type galaxies, and discuss some new questions posed by recent data. A short discussion of spectroscopic ages is presented, but the main focus of this review is on the abundances of Fe, Mg, Ca, N, and C, obtained from comparisons of measurements taken in integrated spectra of galaxies with predictions from stellar population synthesis models.
iSpec is an integrated spectroscopic software framework suitable for the creation of spectral libraries such as the Benchmark Stars library and the determination of atmospheric parameters (i.e. effective temperature, surface gravity, metallicity) and individual chemical abundances. The framework can be used in automatic massive analysis, but it also includes a user-friendly visual interface that can easily interoperate with other astronomical applications such as TOPCAT, VOSpec and splat which provide access to the Virtual Observatory.
