SearcharxivSearch

arXiv subjects

Anna Saburova

Publications and source records attributed to Anna Saburova.

12 recordsLinked to original sources

Star formation in low brightness galaxies and in the extended gaseous disks of normal galaxies

We analyze the available observational data on the radial distribution of gas and young stellar populations in the disks of low surface brightness (LSB) galaxies and in the outer regions or the extended disks of normal brightness (HSB) galaxies. These cases involve star formation under special conditions of low volume and surface gas density. There is no well-defined boundary between these subgroups of galaxies that we consider, but in non-dwarf LSB galaxies the rate of current star formation within the wide range of radial distances appears to be higher compared to the outer disks of most of HSB galaxies at similar values of the surface gas density. The factors that could stimulate the compression of the rarefied gas at the periphery of galaxies are briefly discussed. Attention is drawn to the idea that the densities of LSB disks estimated from their brightness may be underestimated.

astro-ph.GA

New Generation Stellar Spectral Libraries in the Optical and Near-Infrared I: The Recalibrated UVES-POP Library for Stellar Population Synthesis

We present re-processed flux calibrated spectra of 406 stars from the UVES-POP stellar library in the wavelength range 320-1025 nm, which can be used for stellar population synthesis. The spectra are provided in the two versions having spectral resolving power R=20,000 and R=80,000. Raw spectra from the ESO data archive were re-reduced using the latest version of the UVES data reduction pipeline with some additional algorithms that we developed. The most significant improvements in comparison with the original UVES-POP release are: (i) an updated Echelle order merging, which eliminates "ripples" present in the published spectra, (ii) a full telluric correction, (iii) merging of non-overlapping UVES spectral setups taking into account the global continuum shape, (iv) a spectrophotometric correction and absolute flux calibration, and (v) estimates of the interstellar extinction. For 364 stars from our sample, we computed atmospheric parameters $T_\mathrm{eff}$, surface gravity log $g$, metallicity [Fe/H], and $α$-element enhancement [$α$/Fe] by using a full spectrum fitting technique based on a grid of synthetic stellar atmospheres and a novel minimization algorithm. We also provide projected rotational velocity $v\sin i$ and radial velocity $v_{rad}$ estimates. The overall absolute flux uncertainty in the re-processed dataset is better than 2% with sub-% accuracy for about half of the stars. A comparison of the recalibrated UVES-POP spectra with other spectral libraries shows a very good agreement in flux; at the same time, $Gaia$ DR3 BP/RP spectra are often discrepant with our data, which we attribute to spectrophotometric calibration issues in $Gaia$ DR3.

astro-ph.IM

ISM metallicity variations across spiral arms in disk galaxies: the impact of local enrichment and gas migration in the presence of radial metallicity gradient

Chemical abundance variations in the ISM provide important information about the galactic evolution, star-formation and enrichment histories. Recent observations of disk galaxies suggest that if large-scale azimuthal metallicity variations appear in the ISM, they are linked to the spiral arms. In this work, using a set of chemodynamical simulations of the Milky Way-like spiral galaxies, we quantify the impact of gas radial motions~(migration) in the presence of a pre-existing radial metallicity gradient and the local ISM enrichment on both global and local variations of the mean ISM metallicity in the vicinity of the spiral arms. In all the models, we find the scatter of the gas metallicity of \approx0.04-0.06 dex at a given galactocentric distance. On large scales, we observe the presence of spiral-like metallicity patterns in the ISM which are more prominent in models with the radial metallicity gradient. However, in our simulations, the morphology of the large-scale ISM metallicity distributions significantly differs from the spiral arms structure in stellar/gas components resulting in both positive and negative residual~(after subtraction of the radial gradient) metallicity trends along spiral arms. We discuss the correlations of the residual ISM metallicity values with the star formation rate, gas kinematics and offset to the spiral arms, concluding that the presence of a radial metallicity gradient is essential for the azimuthal variations of metallicity. At the same time, the local enrichment alone is unlikely to drive systematic variations of the metallicity across the spirals.

astro-ph.GA

Observational insights on the formation scenarios of giant low surface brightness galaxies

Giant low surface brightness galaxies (gLSBGs) with the disk radii of up to 130 kpc represent a challenge for currently accepted theories of galaxy formation and evolution, because it is difficult to build-up such large dynamically cold systems via mergers preserving extended disks. We summarize the in-depth study of the sample of 7 gLSBGs based on the results of the performed spectral long-slit observations at the Russian 6-m BTA telescope of SAO RAS, surface photometry and HI data available in literature. Our study revealed that most gLSBGs do not deviate from the Tully-Fisher relation. We discovered compact elliptical (cE) satellites in 2 out of these 7 galaxies. Provided the low statistical frequencies of gLSBGs and cEs, the chance alignment is improbable, so it can indicate that gLSBGs and cE are evolutionary connected and gives evidence in favor of the major merger formation scenario. Other formation paths of gLSBGs are also discussed.

astro-ph.GA

Multi-segment and Echelle stellar spectra processing issues and how to solve them

High-quality stellar spectra are in great demand now - they are the most important ingredient in the stellar population synthesis to study galaxies and star clusters. Here we describe the procedures to increase the quality of flux calibration of stellar spectra. We use examples of NIR intermediate-resolution Echelle spectra collected with the Folded InfraRed Echellete (R~6500, Magellan Baade) and high-resolution UV-optical spectra observed with UVES (R~80000, ESO VLT). By using these procedures, we achieved the quality of the global spectrophotometric calibration as good as 1-2%, which fulfills the requirements for the quality of stellar spectra intended to be used in the stellar population synthesis

astro-ph.IM

Observational insights on the origin of giant low surface brightness galaxies

Giant low surface brightness galaxies (gLSBGs) with dynamically cold stellar discs reaching the radius of 130 kpc challenge currently considered galaxy formation mechanisms. We analyse new deep long-slit optical spectroscopic observations, archival optical images and published HI and optical spectroscopic data for a sample of seven gLSBGs, for which we performed mass modelling and estimated the parameters of dark matter haloes assuming the Burkert dark matter density profile. Our sample is not homogeneous by morphology, parameters of stellar populations and total mass, however, six of seven galaxies sit on the high-mass extension of the baryonic Tully-Fisher relation. In UGC 1382 we detected a global counterrotation of the stellar high surface brightness (HSB) disc with respect to the extended LSB disc. In UGC 1922 with signatures of a possible merger, the gas counterrotation is seen in the inner disc. Six galaxies host active galactic nuclei, three of which have the estimated black hole masses substantially below those expected for their (pseudo-)bulge properties suggesting poor merger histories. Overall, the morphology, internal dynamics, and low star formation efficiency in the outer discs indicate that the three formation scenarios shape gLSBGs: (i) a two-stage formation when an HSB galaxy is formed first and then grows an LSB disc by accreting gas from an external supply; (ii) an unusual shallow and extended dark matter halo; (iii) a major merger with fine-tuned orbital parameters and morphologies of the merging galaxies.

astro-ph.GA

Sites of star formation in the tidal structures

We give a short review of the current results of studying of star formation sites observed beyond the main discs of galaxies in different interacting systems: Arp 270, Arp 194, Arp 305, NGC 4656 and NGC 90. The observations were carried out at the 6-meter telescope BTA in SAO RAS with the SCOPRPIO-2 spectrograph. The properties of star forming islands, their mass, dynamics, chemical abundances, their possible fate and the mechanisms inspiring star formation, appear to be different in different systems.

astro-ph.GA

Extreme kinematic misalignment in IllustrisTNG galaxies: the origin, structure and internal dynamics of galaxies with a large-scale counterrotation

Modern galaxy formation theory suggests that the misalignment between stellar and gaseous components usually results from an external gas accretion and/or interaction with other galaxies. The extreme case of the kinematic misalignment is demonstrated by so-called galaxies with counterrotation that possess two distinct components rotating in opposite directions with respect to each other. We provide an in-deep analysis of galaxies with counterrotation from IllustrisTNG100 cosmological simulations. We have found $25$ galaxies with substantial stellar counterrotation in the stellar mass range of $2\times10^{9}-3\times10^{10}$~\Msun. In our sample the stellar counterrotation is a result of an external gas infall happened $\approx 2-8$~Gyr ago. The infall leads to the initial removal of pre-existing gas, which is captured and mixed together with the infalling component. The gas mixture ends up in the counterrotating gaseous disc. We show that $\approx 90\%$ of the stellar counterrotation formed in-situ, in the counterrotating gas. During the early phases of the infall, gas can be found in inclined extended and rather thin disc-like structures, and in some galaxies they are similar to (nearly-)~polar disc or ring-like structures. We discuss a possible link between the gas infall, AGN activity and the formation of misaligned components. In particular, we suggest that the AGN activity does not cause the counterrotation, although it is efficiently triggered by the retrograde gas infall, and it correlates well with the misaligned component appearance. We also find evidence of the stellar disc heating visible as an increase of the vertical-to-radial velocity dispersion ratio above unity in both co- and counterrotating components, which implies the importance of the kinematical misalignment in shaping the velocity ellipsoids in disc galaxies.

astro-ph.GA

UGC 1378 -- a Milky Way-sized galaxy embedded in a giant low-surface brightness disc

The dominant physical processes responsible for the formation and longevity of giant gaseous and stellar discs in galaxies remain controversial. Although they are rare (less than 10 confirmed as of now), giant low-surface brightness (gLSB) discy galaxies provide interesting insights given their extreme nature. We describe observations of UGC 1378 including deep spectroscopy with the Russian 6m telescope and multi-band imaging with Binospec at the MMT. Galaxy UGC 1378 has both high surface brightness and an extended low surface brightness discs. Our stellar velocity dispersion data for the high-surface brightness, Milky Way-sized, disc appears inconsistent with a recent major merger, a widely discussed formation scenario for the very extended low surface brightness disc. We estimate the star formation rates (SFR) from archival Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer data. The SFR surface density in the LSB disc is low relative to its gas density, consistent with recent gas accretion. We argue that the unusually large size of UGC 1378's disc may be the product of a rich gas reservoir (e.g. a cosmic filament) and an isolated environment that has preserved the giant disc.

astro-ph.GA

What made discy galaxies giant?

I studied giant discy galaxies with optical radii more than 30 kpc. The comparison of these systems with discy galaxies of moderate sizes revealed that they tend to have higher rotation velocities, B-band luminosities, HI masses and dark-to-luminous mass ratios. The giant discs follow the trend $\log(M_{\rm HI})(R_{25})$ found for normal size galaxies. It indicates the absence of the peculiarities of evolution of star formation in these galaxies. The HI mass to luminosity ratio of giant galaxies appears not to differ from that of normal size galaxies, giving evidences in favor of similar star formation efficiency. I also found that the bars and rings occur more frequently among giant discs. I performed mass-modelling of the subsample of 18 giant galaxies with available rotation curves and surface photometry data and constructed $χ^2$ maps for the parameters of their dark matter haloes. These estimates indicate that giant discs tend to be formed in larger more massive and rarified dark haloes in comparison to moderate size galaxies. However giant galaxies do not deviate significantly from the relations between the optical sizes and dark halo parameters for moderate size galaxies. These findings can rule out the catastrophic scenario of the formation of at least most of giant discs, since they follow the same relations as normal discy galaxies. The giant sizes of the discs can be due to the high radial scale of the dark matter haloes in which they were formed.

astro-ph.GA

The insight into the dark side. I. The pitfalls of the dark halo parameters estimation

We examined the reliability of estimates of pseudoisothermal, Burkert and NFW dark halo parameters for the methods based on the mass-modelling of the rotation curves.To do it we constructed the $χ^2$ maps for the grid of the dark matter halo parameters for a sample of 14 disc galaxies with high quality rotation curves from THINGS. We considered two variants of models in which: a) the mass-to-light ratios of disc and bulge were taken as free parameters, b) the mass-to-light ratios were fixed in a narrow range according to the models of stellar populations. To reproduce the possible observational features of the real galaxies we made tests showing that the parameters of the three halo types change critically in the cases of a lack of kinematic data in the central or peripheral areas and for different spatial resolutions. We showed that due to the degeneracy between the central densities and the radial scales of the dark haloes there are considerable uncertainties of their concentrations estimates. Due to this reason it is also impossible to draw any firm conclusion about universality of the dark halo column density based on mass-modelling of even a high quality rotation curve. The problem is not solved by fixing the density of baryonic matter. In contrast, the estimates of dark halo mass within optical radius are much more reliable. We demonstrated that one can evaluate successfully the halo mass using the pure best-fitting method without any restrictions on the mass-to-light ratios.

astro-ph.GA

Tidal bridge and tidal dwarf candidates in the interacting system Arp194

Arp194 is a system of recently collided galaxies, where the southern galaxy (S) passed through the gaseous disc of the northern galaxy (N) which in turn consists of two close components. This system is of special interest due to the presence of regions of active star-formation in the bridge between galaxies, the brightest of which (the region A) has a size of at least 4 kpc. We obtained three spectral slices of the system for different slit positions at the 6-m telescope of SAO RAS. We estimated the radial distribution of line-of-sight velocity and velocity dispersion as well as the intensities of emission lines and oxygen abundance $12+\log(\mathrm{O/H})$. The gas in the bridge is only partially mixed chemically and spatially: we observe the O/H gradient with the galactocentric distances both from S and N galaxies and a high dispersion of O/H in the outskirts of N-galaxy. Velocity dispersion of the emission-line gas is the lowest in the star-forming sites of the bridge and exceeds 50-70 km/s in the disturbed region of N-galaxy. Based on the SDSS photometrical data and our kinematical profiles we measured the masses of stellar population and the dynamical masses of individual objects. We confirm that the region A is the gravitationally bound tidal dwarf with the age of $10^7 - 10^8 $ yr, which is falling onto the parent S- galaxy. There is no evidence of the significant amount of dark matter in this dwarf galaxy.

astro-ph.GA