We investigate the variable star content of the isolated, Local Group, dwarf spheroidal (dSph) galaxy Cetus. Multi-epoch, wide-field images collected with the Very Large Telescope/Visible Multiobject Spectrograph camera allowed us to detect 638 variable stars (630 RR Lyrae stars and eight anomalous Cepheids), 475 of which are new detections. We present a full catalogue of periods, amplitudes and mean magnitudes.
Cetus is an isolated, dwarf spheroidal (dSph) galaxy at a distance of 755kpc. In order to quantify its stellar chemo-kinematical properties, we observed individual red giants branch stars in Cetus with the Very Large Telescope (VLT) FORS2 instrument, in Mask eXchange Unit (MXU) configuration. The kinematic analysis shows that Cetus is a mainly pressure-supported ({sigma}_v_=11.0^+1.6^_-1.3_km/s), dark-matter-dominated system (M_1/2_/L_V_=23.9^+9.7^_-8.9_M_{sun}_/L_{sun}_) with no significant signs of internal rotation. We find Cetus to be a metal-poor system with a significant metallicity spread (median [Fe/H]=-1.71dex, median-absolute-deviation =0.49dex), as expected for its stellar mass. We report the presence of a mild metallicity gradient compatible with those found in other dSphs of the same luminosity; we trace the presence of a stellar population gradient also in the spatial distribution of stars in different evolutionary phases in ancillary photometric data. There are tentative indications of two chemo-kinematically distinct sub-populations, with the more metal-poor stars showing a hotter kinematics than the metal-richer ones. Our results add Cetus to the growing scatter in stellar-dark matter halo properties in low-mass galactic systems. The presence of a metallicity gradient akin to those found in similar systems inhabiting different environments may hint at metallicity gradients in Local Group early-type dwarfs being driven by internal mechanisms.
SNe Ia play key roles in revealing the accelerating expansion of the universe, but our knowledge of their progenitors is still very limited. Here we report the discovery of a rigid dichotomy in circumstellar (CS) environments around two subclasses of SNe Ia as defined by their distinct photospheric velocities. For the SNe Ia with high photospheric velocities (HVs), we found a significant excess flux in blue light 60-100 days past maximum, while this phenomenon is absent for SNe with normal photospheric velocity. This blue excess can be attributed to light echoes by circumstellar dust located at a distance of about (1-2)x10^17^cm from the HV subclass. Moreover, we also found that the HV SNe Ia show systematically evolving NaI absorption line by performing a systematic search of variable NaI absorption lines in spectra of all SNe Ia, whereas this evolution is rarely seen in normal ones. The evolving NaI absorption can be modeled in terms of photoionization model, with the location of the gas clouds at a distance of about 2x10^17^cm, in striking agreement with the location of CS dust inferred from B-band light-curve excess. These observations show clearly that the progenitors of HV subclass are likely from single-degenerate progenitor system (i.e., symbiotic binary), while the NV subclass may arise from double-degenerate system.
We present multi-band optical photometry of 94 spectroscopically confirmed Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) in the redshift range 0.0055-0.073, obtained between 2006 and 2011. There are a total of 5522 light-curve points. We show that our natural-system SN photometry has a precision of <~0.03mag in BVr'i', <~0.06mag in u', and <~0.07mag in U for points brighter than 17.5mag and estimate that it has a systematic uncertainty of 0.014, 0.010, 0.012, 0.014, 0.046, and 0.073mag in BVr'i'u'U, respectively. Comparisons of our standard-system photometry with published SN Ia light curves and comparison stars reveal mean agreement across samples in the range of ~0.00-0.03mag. The current sample of low-z SNe Ia is now sufficiently large to remove most of the statistical sampling error from the dark-energy error budget.
The Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey (CFHTLS) has been conducted over a five-year period at the CFHT with the MegaCam instrument, totaling 450 nights of observations. The Wide Synoptic Survey is one component of the CFHTLS, covering 155 square degrees in four patches of 23 to 65 square degrees through the whole MegaCam filter set (u*, g', r', i', z') down to i'_{AB} = 24.5. With the motivation of searching for high-redshift quasars at redshifts above 6.5, we extend the multi-wavelength CFHTLS-Wide data in the Y-band down to magnitudes of {sim} 22.5 for point sources (5{sigma}). We observed the four CFHTLS-Wide fields (except one quarter of the W3 field) in the Y-band with the WIRCam instrument (Wide-field InfraRed Camera) at the CFHT. Each field was visited twice, at least three weeks apart. Each visit consisted of two dithered exposures. The images are reduced with the Elixir software used for the CFHTLS and modified to account for the properties of near-InfraRed (IR) data. Two series of image stacks are subsequently produced: four-image stacks for each WIRCam pointing, and one-square- degree tiles matched to the format of the CFHTLS data release. Photometric calibration is performed on stars by fitting stellar spectra to their CFHTLS photometric data and extrapolating their Y-band magnitudes. After corrections accounting for correlated noise, we measure a limiting magnitude of Y_{AB}~=22.4 for point sources (5{sigma}) in an aperture diameter of 0.93 arcsecs, over 130 square degrees. We produce a multi-wavelength catalogue combining the CFHTLS-Wide optical data with our CFHQSIR (Canada-France High-z quasar survey in the near-InfraRed) Y-band data. We derive the Y-band number counts and compare them to the Vista Deep Extragalactic Observations survey (VIDEO). We find that the addition of the CFHQSIR Y-band data to the CFHTLS optical data increases the accuracy of photometric redshifts and reduces the outlier rate from 13.8% to 8.8% in the redshift range 1.05<~z<~1.2. The images and the catalogue for 8.6 million sources down to [(z'>=23.5) {lor} (Y>=23.0)] are released and available at the following URL: http://apps.canfar.net/storage/list/cjw/cfhqsir
We present an analysis of the detectability of faint tidal features in galaxies from the wide-field component of the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey. Our sample consists of 1781 luminous (M_r'_<-19.3mag) galaxies in the magnitude range 15.5mag<r'<17mag and in the redshift range 0.04<z<0.2. Although we have classified tidal features according to their morphology (e.g., streams, shells, and tails), we do not attempt to interpret them in terms of their physical origin (e.g., major versus minor merger debris). Instead, we provide a catalog that is intended to provide raw material for future investigations which will probe the nature of low surface brightness substructure around galaxies. We find that around 12% of the galaxies in our sample show clear tidal features at the highest confidence level. This fraction rises to about 18% if we include systems with convincing, albeit weaker tidal features, and to 26% if we include systems with more marginal features that may or may not be tidal in origin. These proportions are a strong function of rest-frame color and of stellar mass. Linear features, shells, and fans are much more likely to occur in massive galaxies with stellar masses >10^10.5^M_{sun}_, and red galaxies are twice as likely to show tidal features than are blue galaxies.
We present the Strong Lensing Legacy Survey-ARCS (SARCS) sample compiled from the final T0006 data release of the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey (CFHTLS) covering a total non-overlapping area of 159 deg^2^. We adopt a semi-automatic method to find gravitational arcs in the survey that makes use of an arc-finding algorithm. The candidate list is pruned by visual inspection and ranking to form the final SARCS sample. This list also includes some serendipitously discovered lens candidates which the automated algorithm did not detect. The SARCS sample consists of 127 lens candidates which span arc radii ~2"-18" within the unmasked area of ~150 deg^2^. Within the sample, 54 systems are promising lenses among which, we find 12 giant arcs (length-to-width ratio >= 8). We also find two radial arc candidates in SL2SJ141447+544704. From our sample, we detect a systematic alignment of the giant arcs with the major axis of the baryonic component of the putative lens in concordance with previous studies. This alignment is also observed for all arcs in the sample and does not vary significantly with increasing arc radius. The mean values of the photometric redshift distributions of lenses corresponding to the giant arcs and all arcs sample are at z~0.6.
We present a catalog of 2990 extended sources in a 1x1{deg} area centered on M33 using the MegaCam camera on the 3.6m Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope. The catalog includes 599 new candidate stellar clusters, 204 previously confirmed clusters, 1969 likely background galaxies, and 218 unknown extended objects. We present ugriz integrated magnitudes of the candidates and confirmed star clusters (SCs) as well as the full width at half maximum, ellipticity, and stellarity. Based on the properties of the confirmed SCs, we select a sub-sample of highly probable clusters composed of 246 objects. The integrated photometry of the complete cluster catalog reveals a wide range of colors of -0.4<(g-r)<1.5 and -1.0<(r-i)<1.0 with no obvious cluster subpopulations. Comparisons with models of simple stellar populations suggest a large range of ages some as old as ~10Gyr.
We survey globular clusters (GCs) in M85 using ugi-band images of a 1{deg}x1{deg} field obtained with the MegaCam at the 3.6m Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope. We identify 1318 GC candidates with 20.0mag<g_0_<23.5mag in the entire survey region. Their radial number density profile is well fit by a Sersic profile with n=2.58_-0.33_^+0.43^ and effective radius R_e,GCS_=4.14' (=22kpc), showing that the candidates at R<20' are mostly genuine GCs in M85. We estimate the total number of GCs, N(total)=1216_-50_^+82^, and the specific frequency, S_N_=1.41_-0.06_^+0.10^. The overall color distribution of the GCs in M85 is bimodal, but the GCs in the central region at R<2' do not show a bimodal distribution clearly. The radial number density profile and surface number density map of the blue GCs (BGCs) show more extended structures than those of the red GCs (RGCs). The spatial distributions of both BGCs and RGCs are elongated, similar to that of the galaxy stellar light. The number fraction of the RGCs in the central region is much smaller compared to those in other early-type galaxies of similar luminosity. The mean (g-i)_0_ color of the RGCs in M85 is about 0.1mag bluer than typical values for other Virgo early-type galaxies of similar luminosity, indicating that a significant fraction of the RGCs in M85 may be younger than typical GCs. These results indicate that M85 might have undergone a major wet merger recently.
CGS. V. Statistical study of bars and buckled bars
Short Name:
J/ApJ/845/87
Date:
21 Oct 2021
Publisher:
CDS
Description:
Simulations have shown that bars are subject to a vertical buckling instability that transforms thin bars into boxy or peanut-shaped structures, but the physical conditions necessary for buckling to occur are not fully understood. We use the large sample of local disk galaxies in the Carnegie-Irvine Galaxy Survey to examine the incidence of bars and buckled bars across the Hubble sequence. Depending on the disk inclination angle (i), a buckled bar reveals itself as either a boxy/peanut-shaped bulge (at high i) or as a barlens structure (at low i). We visually identify bars, boxy/peanut-shaped bulges, and barlenses, and examine the dependence of bar and buckled bar fractions on host galaxy properties, including Hubble type, stellar mass, color, and gas mass fraction. We find that the barred and unbarred disks show similar distributions in these physical parameters. The bar fraction is higher (70%-80%) in late-type disks with low stellar mass (M*<10^10.5^M_{sun}_) and high gas mass ratio. In contrast, the buckled bar fraction increases to 80% toward massive and early-type disks (M*>10^10.5^M_{sun}_), and decreases with higher gas mass ratio. These results suggest that bars are more difficult to grow in massive disks that are dynamically hotter than low-mass disks. However, once a bar forms, it can easily buckle in the massive disks, where a deeper potential can sustain the vertical resonant orbits. We also find a probable buckling bar candidate (ESO506-G004) that could provide further clues to understand the timescale of the buckling process.
