We apply the modified acceleration law obtained from Einstein gravity coupled to a massive skew-symmetric field F_{mu}{nu}{lambda}_ to the problem of explaining galaxy rotation curves without exotic dark matter. Our sample of galaxies includes low surface brightness (LSB) and high surface brightness (HSB) galaxies and an elliptical galaxy. In those cases for which photometric data are available, a best fit via the single parameter (M/L)_stars_ to the luminosity of the gaseous (HI plus He) and luminous stellar disks is obtained. In addition, a best fit to the rotation curves of galaxies is obtained in terms of a parametric mass distribution (independent of luminosity observations) - a two-parameter fit to the total galactic mass (or mass-to-light ratio M/L) and a core radius associated with a model of the galaxy cores - using a nonlinear least-squares fitting routine including estimated errors. The fits are compared to those obtained using Milgrom's phenomenological MOND model and to the predictions of the Newtonian/Kepler acceleration law.
We present the rest-frame UV wavelength dependence of the Petrosian-like half-light radius (r_50_), and the concentration parameter for a sample of 198 star-forming galaxies at 0.5 < z < 1.5. We find a ~5% decrease in r_50_ from 1500 {AA} to 3000 {AA}, with half-light radii at 3000 {AA} ranging from 0.6 kpc to 6 kpc. We also find a decrease in concentration of ~0.07 (1.9 < C_3000_< 3.9). The lack of a strong relationship between r_50_and wavelength is consistent with a model in which clumpy star formation is distributed over length scales comparable to the galaxy's rest-frame optical light. While the wavelength dependence of r_50_is independent of size at all redshifts, concentration decreases more sharply in the far-UV (~1500 {AA}) for large galaxies at z ~ 1. This decrease in concentration is caused by a flattening of the inner ~20% of the light profile in disk-like galaxies, indicating that the central regions have different UV colors than the rest of the galaxy. We interpret this as a bulge component with older stellar populations and/or more dust. The size-dependent decrease in concentration is less dramatic at z ~ 2, suggesting that bulges are less dusty, younger, and/or less massive than the rest of the galaxy at higher redshifts.
Semi-analytical models (SAMs) are currently the best way to understand the formation of galaxies within the cosmic dark-matter structures. They are able to give a statistical view of the variety of the evolutionary histories of galaxies in terms of star formation and stellar mass assembly. While they reproduce the local stellar mass functions, correlation functions and luminosity functions fairly well, they fail to match observations at high redshift (z>=3) in most cases, particularly in the low-mass range. The inconsistency between models and observations indicates that the history of gas accretion in galaxies, within their host dark-matter halo, and the transformation of gas into stars, are not followed well. We briefly present a new version of the GalICS semi-analytical model. With this new model, we explore the impact of classical mechanisms, such as supernova feedback or photoionization, on the evolution of the stellar mass assembly and the star formation rate. Even with strong efficiency, these two processes cannot explain the observed stellar mass function and star formation rate distribution or the stellar mass versus dark matter halo mass relation. We thus introduce an ad hoc modification of the standard paradigm, based on the presence of a no-star-forming gas component, and a concentration of the star-forming gas in galaxy discs. The main idea behind the existence of the no-star-forming gas reservoir is that only a fraction of the total gas mass in a galaxy is available to form stars. The reservoir generates a delay between the accretion of the gas and the star formation process. This new model is in much better agreement with the observations of the stellar mass function in the low-mass range than the previous models and agrees quite well with a large set of observations, including the redshift evolution of the specific star formation rate. However, it predicts a large amount of no-star-forming baryonic gas, potentially larger than observed, even if its nature has still to be examined in the context of the missing baryon problem.
The evolution of the structure of galaxies as a function of redshift is investigated using two parameters: the metric radius of the galaxy (R_eta_) and the power at high spatial frequencies in the disk of the galaxy (chi). A direct comparison is made between nearby (z~0) and distant (0.2<~z<~1) galaxies by following a fixed range in rest frame wavelengths. The data of the nearby galaxies comprise 136 broadband images at ~4500 E observed with the 0.9 m telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory (23 galaxies) and selected from the catalog of digital images of Frei et al. (113 galaxies, 1996AJ....111..174F). The high-redshift sample comprises 94 galaxies selected from the Hubble Deep Field (HDF) observations with the Hubble Space Telescope using the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 in four broad bands that range between ~3000 and ~9000 E (Williams et al., 1997, Cat. <J/AJ/112/1335>).
We have performed two-dimensional multicomponent decomposition of 144 local barred spiral galaxies using 3.6{mu}m images from the Spitzer Survey of Stellar Structure in Galaxies. Our model fit includes up to four components (bulge, disk, bar, and a point source) and, most importantly, takes into account disk breaks. We find that ignoring the disk break and using a single disk scale length in the model fit for Type II (down-bending) disk galaxies can lead to differences of 40% in the disk scale length, 10% in bulge-to-total luminosity ratio (B/T), and 25% in bar-to-total luminosity ratios. We find that for galaxies with B/T>=0.1, the break radius to bar radius, r_br_/R_bar_, varies between 1 and 3, but as a function of B/T the ratio remains roughly constant. This suggests that in bulge-dominated galaxies the disk break is likely related to the outer Lindblad resonance of the bar and thus moves outward as the bar grows. For galaxies with small bulges, B/T<0.1, r_br_/R_bar_ spans a wide range from 1 to 6. This suggests that the mechanism that produces the break in these galaxies may be different from that in galaxies with more massive bulges. Consistent with previous studies, we conclude that disk breaks in galaxies with small bulges may originate from bar resonances that may be also coupled with the spiral arms, or be related to star formation thresholds.
We publish the survey for galaxies in 20 fields containing ultraviolet bright quasars (with z_em_~0.1-0.5) that can be used to study the association between galaxies and absorption systems from the low-z intergalactic medium (IGM). The survey is magnitude limited (R~19.5mag) and highly complete out to 10' from the quasar in each field. It was designed to detect dwarf galaxies (L~0.1L*) at an impact parameter {rho}~1Mpc (z=0.1) from a quasar. The complete sample (all 20 fields) includes R-band photometry for 84718 sources and confirmed redshifts for 2800 sources. This includes 1198 galaxies with 0.005<z<(z_em_-0.01) at a median redshift of 0.18, which may associated with IGM absorption lines. All of the imaging was acquired with cameras on the Swope 40" telescope and the spectra were obtained via slit mask observations using the WFCCD spectrograph on the Dupont 100" telescope at Las Campanas Observatory.
We present an imaging and spectroscopic survey of galaxies in fields around QSOs HE 0226-4110, PKS 0405-123, and PG 1216+069. The fields are selected to have ultraviolet echelle spectra available, which uncover 195 Ly{alpha} absorbers and 13 OVI absorbers along the three sightlines. We obtain robust redshifts for 1104 galaxies of rest-frame absolute magnitude M_R_-5logh<~-16 and at projected physical distances {rho}<~4h^-1^Mpc from the QSOs. Hubble Space Telescope (HST)/WFPC2 images of the fields around PKS 0405-123 and PG 1216+069 are available for studying the optical morphologies of absorbing galaxies. Combining the absorber and galaxy data, we perform a cross-correlation study to understand the physical origin of Ly{alpha} and OVI absorbers and to constrain the properties of extended gas around galaxies.
We present a statistical study of the presence of galaxy warps in the Hubble deep fields. Among a complete sample of 45 edge-on galaxies above a diameter of 1.3", we find 5 galaxies to be certainly warped and 6 galaxies as good candidates. In addition, 4 galaxies reveal a characteristic U-warp. Compared to statistical studies of local warps, and taking into account the strong bias against observing the outer parts of galaxies at high redshift, these numbers point towards a very high frequency of warps at z~1: almost all galaxy discs might be warped. Furthermore, the amplitude of warps are stronger than for local warps. This is easily interpreted in terms of higher galaxy interactions and matter accretion in the past. This result supports these two mechanisms as the best candidates for the origin of early warps. The mean observed axis ratio of our sample of edge-on galaxies is significantly larger in the high-z sample than is found for samples of local spiral galaxies. This might be due to disk thickening due to more frequent galaxy interactions.
Analysis of galaxies with overlapping images offers a direct way to probe the distribution of dust extinction and its effects on the background light. We present a catalog of 1990 such galaxy pairs selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) by volunteers of the Galaxy Zoo project. We highlight subsamples which are particularly useful for retrieving such properties of the dust distribution as UV extinction, the extent perpendicular to the disk plane, and extinction in the inner parts of disks. The sample spans wide ranges of morphology and surface brightness, opening up the possibility of using this technique to address systematic changes in dust extinction or distribution with galaxy type. This sample will form the basis for forthcoming work on the ranges of dust distributions in local disk galaxies, both for their astrophysical implications and as the low-redshift part of a study of the evolution of dust properties. Separate lists and figures show deep overlaps, where the inner regions of the foreground galaxy are backlit, and the relatively small number of previously-known overlapping pairs outside the SDSS DR7 sky coverage.
We use data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and visual classifications of morphology from the Galaxy Zoo project to study black hole growth in the nearby universe (z<0.05) and to break down the active galactic nucleus (AGN) host galaxy population by color, stellar mass, and morphology. We find that the black hole growth at luminosities L[OIII]>10^40^erg/s in early- and late-type galaxies is fundamentally different. AGN host galaxies as a population have a broad range of stellar masses (10^10^-10^11^M_{sun}_), reside in the green valley of the color-mass diagram and their central black holes have median masses around 10^6.5^M_{sun}_. However, by comparing early- and late-type AGN host galaxies to their non-active counterparts, we find several key differences: in early-type galaxies, it is preferentially the galaxies with the least massive black holes that are growing, while in late-type galaxies, it is preferentially the most massive black holes that are growing. At high-Eddington ratios (L/L_Edd_>0.1), the only population with a substantial fraction of AGNs are the low-mass green valley early-type galaxies.
