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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Devils: Cosmic Evolution Of Sed-Derived Metallicities And Their Connection To Star Formation Histories, Jessica E. Thorne, Aaron S G Robotham, Sabine Bellstedt, Luke J M Davies, Robin H W Cook, Luca Cortese, Benne Holwerda, Steven Phillipps, Malgorzata Siudek Nov 2022

Devils: Cosmic Evolution Of Sed-Derived Metallicities And Their Connection To Star Formation Histories, Jessica E. Thorne, Aaron S G Robotham, Sabine Bellstedt, Luke J M Davies, Robin H W Cook, Luca Cortese, Benne Holwerda, Steven Phillipps, Malgorzata Siudek

Faculty Scholarship

Gas-phase metallicities of galaxies are typically measured through auroral or nebular emission lines, but metallicity also leaves an imprint on the overall spectral energy distribution (SED) of a galaxy and can be estimated through SED fitting. We use the PROSPECT SED fitting code with a flexible parametric star formation history and an evolving metallicity history to self-consistently measure metallicities, stellar mass, and other galaxy properties for 90 000 galaxies from the Deep Extragalactic VIsible Legacy Survey (DEVILS) and Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey. We use these to trace the evolution of the mass–metallicity relation (MZR) and show that the …


Individual Element Sensitivity For Stellar Evolutionary Isochrones, Guy Worthey, Xiang Shi, Tathagata Pal, Hyun-Chul Lee, Baitian Tang Jan 2022

Individual Element Sensitivity For Stellar Evolutionary Isochrones, Guy Worthey, Xiang Shi, Tathagata Pal, Hyun-Chul Lee, Baitian Tang

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications and Presentations

Stellar evolution calculations with variable abundance ratios were used to gauge the effects on temperatures, luminosities, and lifetimes in various phases. The individual elements C, N, O, Mg, Si, and Fe were included. Most of the effect relevant to integrated light models is contained in the temperature variable, as opposed to the time-scale or luminosity. We derive a recipe for including abundance-sensitive temperature effects that is applicable to existing isochrone grids. The resultant enhanced isochrones are incorporated into composite stellar population models and compared with galaxy data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. A severe oxygen–age degeneracy is apparent, 2–3 …


Galaxy And Mass Assembly (Gama): The Interplay Between Galaxy Mass, Sfr, And Heavy Element Abundance In Paired Galaxy Sets, L. E. Garduno, M. A. Lara-Lopez, O. Lopez-Cruz, A. M. Hopkins, M. S. Owers, K. A. Pimbblet, Benne Holwerda Jan 2021

Galaxy And Mass Assembly (Gama): The Interplay Between Galaxy Mass, Sfr, And Heavy Element Abundance In Paired Galaxy Sets, L. E. Garduno, M. A. Lara-Lopez, O. Lopez-Cruz, A. M. Hopkins, M. S. Owers, K. A. Pimbblet, Benne Holwerda

Faculty Scholarship

We study the star formation rate (SFR), stellar mass (M), and the gas metallicity (Z) for 4636 galaxy pairs using the Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey. Our galaxy pairs lie in a redshift range of 0


The Resolved Stellar Populations Of A Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy In The Virgo Cluster, Patrick R. Durell, Ted Von Hippel, Et Al. Aug 2019

The Resolved Stellar Populations Of A Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy In The Virgo Cluster, Patrick R. Durell, Ted Von Hippel, Et Al.

Ted von Hippel

We report on the discovery of a faint (MV ~ -10.6 ± 0.2) dwarf spheroidal galaxy on deep F606W and F814W Hubble Space Telescope images of a Virgo intracluster field. The galaxy is easily resolved in our images, as our color magnitude diagram (CMD) extends 1 magnitude beyond the tip of the red giant branch (RGB). Thus, it is the deepest CMD for a small dwarf galaxy inside a cluster environment. Using the colors of the RGB stars, we derive a metal abundance for the dwarf of [M/H] = -2.3 ± 0.3 and show that the metallicity dispersion …


Extreme Chemical Abundance Ratio Suggesting An Exotic Origin For An Ultradiffuse Galaxy, Ignacio Martín-Navarro, Aaron Romanowsky, Jean Brodie, Anna Ferr´E-Mateu, Adebusola Alabi, Duncan Forbes, Margarita Sharina, Alexa Villaume, Viraj Pandya, David Martinez-Delgado Apr 2019

Extreme Chemical Abundance Ratio Suggesting An Exotic Origin For An Ultradiffuse Galaxy, Ignacio Martín-Navarro, Aaron Romanowsky, Jean Brodie, Anna Ferr´E-Mateu, Adebusola Alabi, Duncan Forbes, Margarita Sharina, Alexa Villaume, Viraj Pandya, David Martinez-Delgado

Faculty Publications

Ultradiffuse galaxies (UDGs) are a population of extended galaxies but with relatively low luminosities. The origin of these objects remains unclear, largely due to the observational challenges of the low surface brightness Universe. We present here a detailed stellar population analysis of a relatively isolated UDG, DGSAT I, based on spectroscopic data from the Keck Cosmic Web Imager integral field unit. The star formation history of DGSAT I seems to be extended, with a mean luminosity-weighted age of ∼3 Gyr, in agreement with previous photometric studies. However, we find a very high [Mg/Fe] abundance ratio, which is extreme even in …


The Frequency Of Dust Lanes In Edge-On Spiral Galaxies Identified By Galaxy Zoo In Kids Imaging Of Gama Targets, Benne W. Holwerda, Lee Kelvin, Ivan Baldry, Chris Lintott, Mehmet Alpaslan, Kevin A. Pimbblet, Jochen Liske, Thomas Kitching, Steven Bamford, Jelte De Jong, Maciej Bilicki, Andrew Hopkins, Joanna Bridge, R. Steele, A. Jacques, S. Goswami, S. Kusmic, W. Roemer, S. Kruk, C. C. Popescu, K. Kuijken, L. Wang, A. Wright Jan 2019

The Frequency Of Dust Lanes In Edge-On Spiral Galaxies Identified By Galaxy Zoo In Kids Imaging Of Gama Targets, Benne W. Holwerda, Lee Kelvin, Ivan Baldry, Chris Lintott, Mehmet Alpaslan, Kevin A. Pimbblet, Jochen Liske, Thomas Kitching, Steven Bamford, Jelte De Jong, Maciej Bilicki, Andrew Hopkins, Joanna Bridge, R. Steele, A. Jacques, S. Goswami, S. Kusmic, W. Roemer, S. Kruk, C. C. Popescu, K. Kuijken, L. Wang, A. Wright

Faculty Scholarship

Dust lanes bisect the plane of a typical edge-on spiral galaxy as a dark optical absorption feature. Their appearance is linked to the gravitational stability of spiral disks; the fraction of edge-on galaxies that displays a dust lane is a direct indicator of the typical vertical balance between gravity and turbulence: a balance struck between the energy input from star formation and the gravitational pull into the plane of the disk. Based on morphological classifications by the Galaxy Zoo project on the Kilo Degree Survey (KiDS) imaging data in the Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA) fields, we explore the relation …


Galaxy And Mass Assembly (Gama): The Environmental Dependence Of The Galaxy Main Sequence, L. Wang, P. Norberg, S. Brough, M. J.I. Brown, E. Da Cunha, L. J. Davies, S. P. Driver, Benne W. Holwerda, A. M. Hopkins, M. A. Lara-Lopez, J. Liske, J. Loveday, M. W. Grootes, C. C. Popescu, A. H. Wright Oct 2018

Galaxy And Mass Assembly (Gama): The Environmental Dependence Of The Galaxy Main Sequence, L. Wang, P. Norberg, S. Brough, M. J.I. Brown, E. Da Cunha, L. J. Davies, S. P. Driver, Benne W. Holwerda, A. M. Hopkins, M. A. Lara-Lopez, J. Liske, J. Loveday, M. W. Grootes, C. C. Popescu, A. H. Wright

Faculty Scholarship

Aims: We aim to investigate if the environment (characterised by the host dark matter halo mass) plays any role in shaping the galaxy star formation main sequence (MS). Methods: The Galaxy and Mass Assembly project (GAMA) combines a spectroscopic survey with photometric information in 21 bands from the far-ultraviolet (FUV) to the far-infrared (FIR). Stellar masses and dust-corrected star-formation rates (SFR) are derived from spectral energy distribution (SED) modelling using MAGPHYS. We use the GAMA galaxy group catalogue to examine the variation of the fraction of star-forming galaxies (SFG) and properties of the MS with respect to the environment. Results: …


Contribution Of Hi-Bearing Ultra-Diffuse Galaxies To The Cosmic Number Density Of Galaxies, M. Jones, E. Papastergis, V. Pandya, L. Leisman, Aaron J. Romanowsky, L. Yung, R. Somerville, E. Adams Jun 2018

Contribution Of Hi-Bearing Ultra-Diffuse Galaxies To The Cosmic Number Density Of Galaxies, M. Jones, E. Papastergis, V. Pandya, L. Leisman, Aaron J. Romanowsky, L. Yung, R. Somerville, E. Adams

Faculty Publications

We estimate the cosmic number density of the recently identified class of HI-bearing ultra-diffuse sources (HUDs) based on the completeness limits of the ALFALFA survey. These objects have HI masses approximately in the range 8.5 < logMHI∕M⊙ < 9.5, average r-band surface brightnesses fainter than 24 mag arcsec−2, half-light radii greater than 1.5 kpc, and are separated from neighbours by at least 350 kpc. In this work we demonstrate that they contribute at most ~6% of the population of HI-bearing dwarfs detected by ALFALFA (with similar HI masses), have a total cosmic number density of (1.5 ± 0.6) × 10−3 …


The Stellar Initial Mass Function In Early-Type Galaxies From Absorption Line Spectroscopy. Iii. Radial Gradients, Pieter Van Dokkum, Charlie Conroy, Alexa Villaume, Jean Brodie, Aaron Romanowsky May 2017

The Stellar Initial Mass Function In Early-Type Galaxies From Absorption Line Spectroscopy. Iii. Radial Gradients, Pieter Van Dokkum, Charlie Conroy, Alexa Villaume, Jean Brodie, Aaron Romanowsky

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

No abstract provided.


Erratum: Global Properties Of ‘Ordinary’ Early-Type Galaxies: Photometry And Spectroscopy Of Stars And Globular Clusters In Ngc 4494, Caroline Foster, Lee Spitler, Aaron Romanowsky, Duncan Forbes, Vincenzo Pota, Kenji Bekki, Jay Strader, Robert Proctor, Jacob Arnold, Jean Brodie Feb 2016

Erratum: Global Properties Of ‘Ordinary’ Early-Type Galaxies: Photometry And Spectroscopy Of Stars And Globular Clusters In Ngc 4494, Caroline Foster, Lee Spitler, Aaron Romanowsky, Duncan Forbes, Vincenzo Pota, Kenji Bekki, Jay Strader, Robert Proctor, Jacob Arnold, Jean Brodie

Faculty Publications

This is an erratum to the paper entitled “Global properties of ‘ordinary’ early-type galaxies: photometry and spectroscopy of stars and globular clusters in NGC 4494”, published in MNRAS, 2011, 415, 3393.


New Spectroscopic Technique Based On Coaddition Of Surface Brightness Fluctuations: Ngc 4449 And Its Stellar Tidal Stream, Elisa Toloba, Puragra Guhathakurta, Aaron Romanowsky, Jean Brodie, David Martínez-Delgado, Jacob Arnold, Neel Ramachandran, Kuriakose Theakanath Jan 2016

New Spectroscopic Technique Based On Coaddition Of Surface Brightness Fluctuations: Ngc 4449 And Its Stellar Tidal Stream, Elisa Toloba, Puragra Guhathakurta, Aaron Romanowsky, Jean Brodie, David Martínez-Delgado, Jacob Arnold, Neel Ramachandran, Kuriakose Theakanath

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.


The Sluggs Survey: A New Mask Design To Reconstruct The Stellar Populations And Kinematics Of Both Inner And Outer Galaxy Regions, Nicola Pastorello, Duncan Forbes, Adriano Poci, Aaron Romanowsky, Richard Mcdermid, Adebusola Alabi, Jean Brodie, Michele Cappellari, Vincenzo Pota, Caroline Foster Jan 2016

The Sluggs Survey: A New Mask Design To Reconstruct The Stellar Populations And Kinematics Of Both Inner And Outer Galaxy Regions, Nicola Pastorello, Duncan Forbes, Adriano Poci, Aaron Romanowsky, Richard Mcdermid, Adebusola Alabi, Jean Brodie, Michele Cappellari, Vincenzo Pota, Caroline Foster

Faculty Publications

Integral field unit spectrographs allow the 2D exploration of the kinematics and stellar populations of galaxies, although they are generally restricted to small fields-of-view. Using the large field-of-view of the DEIMOS multislit spectrograph on Keck and our Stellar Kinematics using Multiple Slits technique, we are able to extract sky-subtracted stellar light spectra to large galactocentric radii. Here, we present a new DEIMOS mask design named SuperSKiMS that explores large spatial scales without sacrificing high spatial sampling. We simulate a set of observations with such a mask design on the nearby galaxy NGC 1023, measuring stellar kinematics and metallicities out to …


The Sluggs Survey: Combining Stellar And Globular Cluster Metallicities In The Outer Regions Of Early-Type Galaxies, Nicola Pastorello, Duncan Forbes, Christopher Usher, Jean Brodie, Aaron Romanowsky, Jay Strader, Lee Spitler, Adebusola Alabi, Caroline Foster, Zachary Jennings, Sreeja Kartha, Vincenzo Pota Aug 2015

The Sluggs Survey: Combining Stellar And Globular Cluster Metallicities In The Outer Regions Of Early-Type Galaxies, Nicola Pastorello, Duncan Forbes, Christopher Usher, Jean Brodie, Aaron Romanowsky, Jay Strader, Lee Spitler, Adebusola Alabi, Caroline Foster, Zachary Jennings, Sreeja Kartha, Vincenzo Pota

Faculty Publications

The outer halo regions of early-type galaxies carry key information about their past accretion history. However, spectroscopically probing the stellar component at such galactocentric radii is still challenging. Using the DEep Imaging Multi-Object Spectrograph on the Keck, we have been able to measure the metallicities of the stellar and globular cluster components in 12 early-type galaxies out to more than 10Re. We find similar metallicity gradients for the metal-poor and metal-rich globular cluster subpopulations, suggesting a common formation process for the two subpopulations. This is in conflict with most current theoretical predictions, where the metal-poor globular clusters are thought to …


Detection Of A Distinct Metal-Poor Stellar Halo In The Early-Type Galaxy Ngc 3115*, Mark Peacock, Jay Strader, Aaron Romanowsky, Jean Brodie Feb 2015

Detection Of A Distinct Metal-Poor Stellar Halo In The Early-Type Galaxy Ngc 3115*, Mark Peacock, Jay Strader, Aaron Romanowsky, Jean Brodie

Faculty Publications

We present the resolved stellar populations in the inner and outer halo of the nearby lenticular galaxy NGC 3115. Using deep Hubble Space Telescope observations, we analyze stars 2 mag fainter than the tip of the red giant branch (TRGB). We study three fields along the minor axis of this galaxy, 19, 37, and 54 kpc from its center—corresponding to 7, 14, and 21 effective radii (re ). Even at these large galactocentric distances, all of the fields are dominated by a relatively enriched population, with the main peak in the metallicity distribution decreasing with radius from [Z/H] ~ –0.5 …


The Sluggs Survey: Globular Cluster Stellar Population Trends From Weak Absorption Lines In Stacked Spectra, Christopher Usher, Duncan Forbes, Jean Brodie, Aaron Romanowsky, Jay Strader, Charlie Conroy, Caroline Foster, Nicola Pastorello, Vincenzo Pota, Jacob Arnold Jan 2015

The Sluggs Survey: Globular Cluster Stellar Population Trends From Weak Absorption Lines In Stacked Spectra, Christopher Usher, Duncan Forbes, Jean Brodie, Aaron Romanowsky, Jay Strader, Charlie Conroy, Caroline Foster, Nicola Pastorello, Vincenzo Pota, Jacob Arnold

Faculty Publications

As part of the SAGES Legacy Unifying Globulars and GalaxieS (SLUGGS) survey, we stack 1137 Keck DEIMOS (Deep Imaging Multi-Object Spectrograph) spectra of globular clusters from 10 galaxies to study their stellar populations in detail. The stacked spectra have median signal-to-noise ratios of ∼90 Å−1. Besides the calcium triplet, we study weaker sodium, magnesium, titanium and iron lines as well as the Hα and higher order Paschen hydrogen lines. In general, the stacked spectra are consistent with old ages and a Milky Way-like initial mass function. However, we see different metal line index strengths at fixed colour and magnitude, and …


Budget And Accounting Of Metals At Z~0: Results From The Cos-Halos Survey, Molly S. Peeples, Jessica K. Werk, Jason Tumlinson, Benjamin D. Oppenheimer, J. Xavier Prochaska, Neal S. Katz, David H. Weinberg Jan 2014

Budget And Accounting Of Metals At Z~0: Results From The Cos-Halos Survey, Molly S. Peeples, Jessica K. Werk, Jason Tumlinson, Benjamin D. Oppenheimer, J. Xavier Prochaska, Neal S. Katz, David H. Weinberg

Neal S. Katz

We present a budget and accounting of metals in and around star-forming galaxies at z ~ 0. We combine empirically derived star formation histories with updated supernova and asymptotic giant branch yields and rates to estimate the total mass of metals produced by galaxies with present-day stellar mass of 109.3-1011.6 M☉. On the accounting side of the ledger, we show that a surprisingly constant 20%-25% mass fraction of produced metals remain in galaxies' stars, interstellar gas and interstellar dust, with little dependence of this fraction on the galaxy stellar mass (omitting those metals immediately locked up in remnants). Thus, the …


The Neutral Hydrogen Content Of Galaxies In Cosmological Hydrodynamic Simulations, Romeel Dave, Neal S. Katz, Benjamin D. Oppenheimer, Juna A. Kollmeier, David H. Weinberg Jan 2014

The Neutral Hydrogen Content Of Galaxies In Cosmological Hydrodynamic Simulations, Romeel Dave, Neal S. Katz, Benjamin D. Oppenheimer, Juna A. Kollmeier, David H. Weinberg

Neal S. Katz

We examine the global H I properties of galaxies in quarter billion particle cosmological simulations using GADGET-2, focusing on how galactic outflows impact H I content. We consider four outflow models, including a new one (ezw) motivated by recent interstellar medium simulations in which the wind speed and mass loading factor scale as expected for momentum-driven outflows for larger galaxies and energy-driven outflows for dwarfs (σ < 75 km s−1). To obtain predicted H I masses, we employ a simple but effective local correction for particle self-shielding and an observationally constrained transition from neutral to molecular hydrogen. Our ezw simulation produces an H I mass function whose faint-end slope of −1.3 agrees well with observations from the Arecibo Fast Legacy ALFA survey; other models agree less well. Satellite galaxies have a bimodal distribution in H I fraction versus halo mass, with smaller satellites and/or those in larger haloes more often being H I deficient. At a given stellar mass, H I content correlates with the star formation rate and inversely correlates with metallicity, as expected if driven by stochasticity in the accretion rate. To higher redshifts, massive H I galaxies disappear and the mass function steepens. The global cosmic H I density conspires to remain fairly constant from z ∼ 5 → 0, but the relative contribution from smaller galaxies increases with redshift.


Direct Oxygen Abundances For Low Luminosity Lvl Galaxies, Danielle A. Berg, Evan D. Skillman, Andrew R. Marble, Liese Van Zee, Charles W. Engelbracht, Janice C. Lee, Robert C. Kennicutt Jr., Daniela Calzetti, Daniel A. Dale, Benjamin D. Johnson Jan 2012

Direct Oxygen Abundances For Low Luminosity Lvl Galaxies, Danielle A. Berg, Evan D. Skillman, Andrew R. Marble, Liese Van Zee, Charles W. Engelbracht, Janice C. Lee, Robert C. Kennicutt Jr., Daniela Calzetti, Daniel A. Dale, Benjamin D. Johnson

Daniela Calzetti

We present MMT spectroscopic observations of HII regions in 42 low luminosity galaxies in the LVL. For 31 galaxies, we measured the temperature sensitive [O III] line at a strength of 4 sigma or greater, and thus determine direct oxygen abundances. Our results provide the first direct estimates of oxygen abundance for 19 galaxies. Oxygen abundances were compared to B-band and 4.5 micron luminosities and stellar masses in order to characterize the luminosity-metallicity (L-Z) and mass-metallicity (M-Z) relationships at low-luminosity. We present and analyze a "Combined Select" sample composed of 38 objects (drawn from our parent sample and the literature) …


Using 21 Cm Absorption In Small Impact Parameter Galaxy-Quasar Pairs To Probe Low-Redshift Damped And Sub-Damped Ly Alpha Systems, S Borthakur, Tm Tripp, Min Yun, E Momjian, Jd Meiring, Dv Bowen, Dg York Jan 2010

Using 21 Cm Absorption In Small Impact Parameter Galaxy-Quasar Pairs To Probe Low-Redshift Damped And Sub-Damped Ly Alpha Systems, S Borthakur, Tm Tripp, Min Yun, E Momjian, Jd Meiring, Dv Bowen, Dg York

Astronomy Department Faculty Publication Series

To search for low-redshift damped Lyα (DLA) and sub-DLA quasar absorbers, we have conducted a 21 cm absorption survey of radio-loud quasars at small impact parameters to foreground galaxies selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). Here we present the first results from this survey based on observations of SDSS J104257.58+074850.5 (z QSO = 2.66521), a quasar at an angular separation from a foreground galaxy (z gal = 0.03321) of 25 (1.7 kpc in projection). The foreground galaxy is a low-luminosity spiral with on-going star formation (0.004 M yr–1 kpc–2) and a metallicity of …


The 2mass Color-Magnitude Diagram Of The Center Of The Sagittarius Dwarf Galaxy: Photometric Measurements Of A Surprisingly High Mean Metallicity, Andrew A. Cole Feb 2008

The 2mass Color-Magnitude Diagram Of The Center Of The Sagittarius Dwarf Galaxy: Photometric Measurements Of A Surprisingly High Mean Metallicity, Andrew A. Cole

Astronomy Department Faculty Publication Series

We present the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) (J−K, K) color-magnitude diagram for the region within 1◦ of the center of the Sagittarius dwarf spheroidal galaxy. Using the slope of the red giant branch (RGB), we determine a mean metallicity for the main stellar population of [Fe/H] = −0.5 ±0.2. The Sagittarius RGB possesses a blue tail that overlaps with the foreground Milky Way giant branch, and suggests that ∼ 1/3 of the RGB is more metal-poor than [Fe/H] ~−1. Direct comparison to the Large Magellanic Cloud confirms the metal-rich nature of the bulk of the Sagittarius population. Our …


The Resolved Stellar Populations Of A Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy In The Virgo Cluster, Patrick R. Durell, Ted Von Hippel, Et Al. Feb 2007

The Resolved Stellar Populations Of A Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy In The Virgo Cluster, Patrick R. Durell, Ted Von Hippel, Et Al.

Publications

We report on the discovery of a faint (MV ~ -10.6 ± 0.2) dwarf spheroidal galaxy on deep F606W and F814W Hubble Space Telescope images of a Virgo intracluster field. The galaxy is easily resolved in our images, as our color magnitude diagram (CMD) extends 1 magnitude beyond the tip of the red giant branch (RGB). Thus, it is the deepest CMD for a small dwarf galaxy inside a cluster environment. Using the colors of the RGB stars, we derive a metal abundance for the dwarf of [M/H] = -2.3 ± 0.3 and show that the metallicity dispersion …


Discovery Of A Primitive Damped Lyman Alpha Absorber Near An X-Ray Bright Galaxy Group In The Virgo Cluster, Todd M. Tripp, Edward B. Jenkins, David V. Bowen, Jason X. Prochaska, Bastien Aracil, Rajib Ganguly Apr 2005

Discovery Of A Primitive Damped Lyman Alpha Absorber Near An X-Ray Bright Galaxy Group In The Virgo Cluster, Todd M. Tripp, Edward B. Jenkins, David V. Bowen, Jason X. Prochaska, Bastien Aracil, Rajib Ganguly

Todd M. Tripp

We report the discovery of a low-redshift, sub-damped Ly_ absorber (DLA) in the outer periphery of the Virgo cluster near the X-ray bright NGC4261 galaxy group, in the direction of PG1216+069. We have obtained a new spectrum of PG1216+069 (zQSO = 0.3313) with the E140M echelle mode of the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS), and this spectrum reveals damped Ly_ absorption as well as O I, C II, Si II, and Fe II absorption lines at zabs = 0.00632. Notably, the absorber shows no evidence of highly-ionized gas: Si IV, C IV, and O VI are not signi_cantly detected at …


Effects Of Interaction Induced Activities In Hickson Compact Groups: Co And Fir Study, L Verdes-Montenegro, Min S. Yun, J Perea, A Del Olmo, P T P Ho Jan 1998

Effects Of Interaction Induced Activities In Hickson Compact Groups: Co And Fir Study, L Verdes-Montenegro, Min S. Yun, J Perea, A Del Olmo, P T P Ho

Min S. Yun

A study of 2.6 mm CO J = 1 → 0 and far-infrared (FIR) emission in a distance-limited (z < 0.03) complete sample of Hickson compact group (HCG) galaxies was conducted in order to examine the effects of their unique environment on the interstellar medium of component galaxies and to search for a possible enhancement of star formation and nuclear activity. Ubiquitous tidal interactions in these dense groups would predict enhanced activities among the HCG galaxies compared to isolated galaxies. Instead, their CO and FIR properties (thus, "star formation efficiency") are surprisingly similar to isolated spirals. The CO data for 80 HCG galaxies presented here (including 10 obtained from the literature) indicate that the spirals globally show the same H2 content as the isolated comparison sample, although 20% are deficient in CO emission. Because of their large optical luminosity, low metallicity is not likely the main cause for the low CO luminosity. The CO deficiency appears linked with the group evolution, and gas exhaustion through past star formation and removal of the external gas reserve by tidal stripping of the outer H I disk offer a possible explanation. The IRAS data for the entire redshift-limited complete sample of 161 HCG galaxies were reanalyzed using ADDSCAN/SCANPI, improving the sensitivity by a factor of 3-5 over the existing Point Source Catalog (PSC) and resolving better the contribution from individual galaxies. The new analysis of the IRAS data confirms the previous suggestion that FIR emission in HCG galaxies is similar to isolated, Virgo Cluster, and weakly interacting galaxies. Their H2 and FIR characteristics yield a star formation efficiency that is similar to that of these comparison samples. A factor 2 enhancement in the 25-100 μm flux ratio among the HCG spirals is found, which suggests intense localized nuclear starburst activity similar to that of H II galaxies. A number of early-type galaxies in HCGs are detected in CO and FIR, lending further support to the idea that tidal interactions and tidally induced evolution of the groups and member galaxies are important in our sample.